Is Brazil's 'Magnet Boy' really magnetic?

The video: An 11-year-old Brazilian boy, Paulo David Amorim, is being billed as a human magnet. Brazil's Globo TV network has broadcast images showing the child's father, Junior Amorim, demonstrating how metal objects — forks, spoons, cooking pans, and even a camera — stick to his son's chest, stomach, and back. (See a Sky News report below.) Junior Amorim says he discovered his son's odd ability when he asked for a knife and fork, and utensils stuck to him. The family's doctor, Dix-Sept Rosado Sobrinho, says in his 30 years in medicine, he has never seen such a case. Unsurprisingly, Paulo says his classmates, who call him "Magnet Boy," haven't either.

The reaction: This boy is no magnet, says Fox News Latino. All it takes is "a little bit of static by placing a metal object onto smooth, hair-free parts of the body," and metal sticks to the skin like glue. A 6-year-old Croatian boy once claimed the same superpower, but hordes of people in a Facebook group called "We are all Magneto Boy/Girl" debunked the claim by posting photos of themselves with metal objects attached. Well, "if it is a hoax, it's a pretty good one!" says Linda Shaw at Gather. Maybe anybody could get a fork or spoon to cling to them — but cooking pans? If this kid's not magnetic, he's at least awfully sticky. See for yourself:

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