Permanent magnets are made from material that is magnetized and creates its own persistent magnetic field
. Permanent magnets are made from hard materials which mean that they tend to stay magnetized; an example of a substance like this is alnico or ferrite. These substances are subject to special processing in power magnetic fields during their manufacturing. A common example of this kind of magnet is your standard ordinary fridge magnet, which typically is used to hold small objects to the metal surface of your fridge.
Although this technology seems like it may be quite advanced it is actually very old. Ancient people learned about magnetism from loadstones which are naturally magnetized pieces of iron or ore. The word magnet in Greek actually means stone from magnesia which is a part of ancient Greece where these load stones were found. These loadstones were used to make the first magnetic compasses by suspending the loadstone in and letting it naturally turn. From this ancient technology we now use magnets for hard disk drives, recording media such as VHS tapes, credit and debit cards, there are many uses in products that are engrained into our popular culture.
Permanent magnets are not as strong as rare earth magnets which despite their name are actually quite common. Rare earth magnets have a very strong magnetic field, and in some test were able to suspend a human man in the air by nothing but the magnetic attraction to the minerals in his belt buckle. Although this sounds like the magnetic field would pose a danger to the human in most cases this is not true. Most health risks involve prosthetic health care equipment or pacemakers. In some cases small children have been known to swallow small magnets and in this case there is some potential for tissue to get caught between the magnets which in an extremely rare case caused a pinched intestine.
Overall the uses and technology for permanent magnets is still being discovered. It hasnt been very long now that the common screwdriver has had its tip magnetized to prevent screws from falling as they are being driven into the work material. Comparatively hybrid and electric vehicles use power permanent magnets. Magnets currently being used in these kinds of vehicles are materials with high proportion of rare earths, which are both expensive and in short supply. This relatively simple technology is what keeps your refrigerator door closed and therefore your food from going bad. The technology itself is old but its uses are new. As we progress as a society we will continue to find new uses for magnetism to enhance the creature comforts that we seek in our lives. These technologies will likely evolve to enhance our understanding of magnetism even further, than it already is. For such an ancient technology it is amazing how much progress can still be made by understanding the physics of atom alignment. Permanent magnets will continue to reinvent what we thought was not possible as a new generation of science class students are walked through their first magnetism lesson and think of new possibilities for permanent magnets.