Teen Makes a 9 year old's Prothetic Hand.....

This story has cute and heart warming all rolled into one.

16 year old Mason Wilde has always been a bit of a prodigy.  He was known at an early stage to take things apart and put them back together.  At 16 he built a computer from scratch.  It is his recent project though, has everyone talking.

Last year he changed the life of a family of a 9 year old boy who was born without most of his right hand.

From the article:

• Using a 3-D printer at the Johnson County Library, Wilde made a prosthetic hand that opens and closes and can even hold a pencil.  
• balance a book on it, even tie his own shoes

You can read the complete article here

Woman receives breakthru cyborg arm

A bombing survivor has been fitted with a clip-on arm that fuses directly with her own skin and bone. Surgeons carried out the pioneering operation during which a titanium alloy rod was attached to a bone in her arm, which protrudes through her skin. The skin has healed naturally and formed a protective seal around it, allowing prostheses to be attached. The technique, called Itap, is based on reindeer antlers, which naturally grow through the skin without any problems with the added benefit of doing away with the need for cumbersome straps and sockets. It also avoids the infections and pressure sores previously associated with attempts to fuse metal with bone. Sensors, placed on what is left of the arm, allow her to grip objects with her artificial left arm by flexing muscles in her upper arm. The unit is much easier to control and also is much more sensitive, which allows her to grip eating implements and feed herself with the arm. The next addition will be an electrically powered elbow joint.

Bluetooth-equipped prosthetic legs help double amputee walk again

From Engadget.com comes a very interesting "bionicique" development:

As we've seen, there's plenty of different solutions out there for controlling prosthetic limbs, but the artificial legs now helping Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua Bleill walk certainly have to rank up there with the most inventive, and they don't even rely on brain control. Instead, the legs employ tried and true Bluetooth technology, which has previously been used to allow a single prothestic leg to mimic the individual's other leg but, in this case, is being use to allow one prosthetic leg to mimic the other. To control them, Bleill simply applies force with his thigh muscles to get things moving or slow them down, with built-in motors in the legs allowing him to walk longer without getting tired. Click here for the CNN video