No Olympics for Blade Runner

Double-transplant is successful in Boston

(NEWSER) - Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital is renowned for face transplants, but it can do miracles with hands, too: A 65-year-old who lost his lower arms to a blood infection got a new set in a successful double-transplant, reports the Boston Globe . “It’s just like you can fly,” says patient Richard Mangino, who also lost his lower legs. “It’s like a bird that got its wings back.” More»

Numbers are up as more go on foot patrols

(NEWSER) - A new Pentagon report has some rough stats, mostly from the Afghan war:

• The number of troops who have had amputations rose from 86 in 2009 to 187 last year. The pace continues this year, with 147 so far.
• The number of troops who lost two or three limbs rose from 23 in 2009 to 72 last year; the figure is already 77 this year.

Health worker replaced working artificial limbs, sold them online: probe

(NEWSER) - Seeing this health worker could literally cost you an arm and a leg. A hospital official may have tricked his patients into replacing quality prostheses so he could trade the originals for cash on eBay, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The FBI is looking into whether the head of prosthetic devices at the University of Minnesota’s medical center falsely told his patients they needed new artificial limbs, then took the old ones home with him. More»

Jamaican jumped the gun, while Pistorius advances in men's 400 meter

(NEWSER) - The fastest man on the planet was disqualified today from the event he's dominated for three years, while the most unlikely runner on the planet advanced to the semis at today's track world championships. Usain Bolt's false start in the men's 100-meter final automatically booted him from the race under the sport's no-tolerance rule, giving fellow Jamaican Yohan Blake the win. "He's human, isn't he? I always knew he was human," Bolt's coach tells the AP . "He will pick himself up. He's a champion." More»

'Winter' stars in soon-to-be-released film with Morgan Freeman

(NEWSER) - If you've never heard of Winter the dolphin, get ready. She's about to be a movie star, reports the Huffington Post . Dolphin Tale, with Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd, tells the true-life story of how Winter lost her tail in a crab trap at age 3 months. Doctors fitted her with a prosthetic tail so she could swim properly and, voila, a star was born. Winter now performs at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, which has already seen a big jump in visitors and expects even more when the movie comes out in September. Click for more on Winter, including video of her at the aquarium. More»