Circuit response changes when I put my hand near it.

[captainscarlet]

I don't know if this is a common occurrence, but I'm building an 8x8x8 LED cube at the moment and I'm in the process of debugging some problems.

First off, there's 64 anode column pins and 8 cathode layer pins. Now, some of the LEDs light up even when the cathode pins are not connected to ground. I presume that indicates a short somewhere, maybe the current is sinking to a logic 0 pin on the latch.
I'm also getting a substantial ghosting problem with nearly all the LEDs when I connect everything up.

But I'm seeing that the LEDs flicker when I put my hand near to some of the ICs on my stripboard. I grounded myself, but I'm still seeing some response. 
Can anyone give me an explanation for this?

[Skimask]

"Hand capacitance"
"Skin effect"
"Magic"
Google

[Paul Price]

The effect is caused by one or more pins on an ic on the circuit board that is an input pin and is not being pulled up or pulled down a connection to anything., it is.just floating and since it is a very high impedance it is able to be reacting to the electrostatic fields of your hand. Check you circuit carefully for floating inputs.

[MacAttak]

It might be helpful if you have a schematic to share that shows the design. Might be a bug.

[drew_the_mutant]

Magic is bad.
http://www.outpost9.com/reference/jargon/jargon_46.html


"It was clear that this switch was someone's idea of a silly joke. Convinced by our reasoning that the switch was inoperative, we flipped it. The computer instantly crashed. "

[KJDS]

You either have something oscillating or an open gate input.