US Child Gets Prosthetic Iris

Advanced prosthetic limb transfers feeling back to amputee

(NEWSER) - Electrodes implanted into an amputee allowed him to control a robot arm with his thoughts, scientists said today. Over the course of a month, 26-year-old Pierpaolo Petruzziello learned to manipulate the hand through a series of electronic implants connected to his nervous system, reports AP . More»

(NEWSER) - A one-eyed documentarian is planning a film on privacy shot using a camera implanted in his prosthetic organ, the AP reports. Rob Spence, who plans to become a "human surveillance machine," got the idea when he realized how small his cellphone camera was. His eye muscles will move the camera as they do his functioning eye, which he hopes will put his interview subjects more at ease. More»

Improvements in field have given amputees dexterity, independence

(NEWSER) - Artificial limbs have come a long way from the wooden legs and plastic arms of old: Today's prosthetics take messages directly from the brain. Their performance far exceeds that of the previous generation of devices, which required concentrated effort to make ungainly motions. "You think, and then your muscles move," a woman who has one of the newer artificial arms tells the New York Times. More»

Surgery aims to restore partial vision in blind men

(NEWSER) - British doctors have given two blind men bionic eyesight and say they will soon enjoy partial vision, the Telegraph reports. Using US technology, the surgeons inserted electrodes in the men's retinas last week. Studded on a metal plate, the conductors will be connected to a small eyeglass camera that enables users to see objects as blotches of light. More»

More sophisticated prosthetics sometimes require a sacrifice

(NEWSER) - Increasingly, amputees who have already lost limbs are going to their doctors to ask them to remove more. The choice, which the New York Times calls "once unthinkable," comes as artificial limbs are becoming vastly more sophisticated. For people like Ann Kornhauser, whose prosthetic foot left her in constant discomfort, a more high-tech model can offer relief—but, in Kornhauser's case and many others, it would only fit if she got her left leg amputated below the knee. "I knew that I would have a life" with the new leg, even though it meant losing more, she says. "I was able to walk again." More»