Revolutionary prosthetics, and new pandemic issues

These prosthetics break the mildew with third thumbs, spikes, and superhero skins

Historically, prosthetics designers have seemed to the human physique for inspiration. Prosthetics had been seen as replacements for lacking physique elements; hyper-realistic bionic legs and arms had been the holy grail. 

However we’re now witnessing a motion in different prosthetics, a type of assistive tech that bucks conference by making no try to mix in. As an alternative of creating gadgets that mimic the looks of a “regular” arm or leg, a brand new wave of designers are creating fantastical prosthetics that may wriggle like a tentacle, gentle up, and even shoot glitter. Learn the total story.

—Joanna Thompson

Joanna’s story is from the newest print challenge of MIT Know-how Overview, which is all about design. Enroll for a subscription to learn the total factor when it comes out later this month.

We don’t must panic a few chicken flu pandemic—but

How frightened ought to we be about chicken flu? Some have warned that avian flu would be the subsequent lethal pandemic. Others have mentioned the chance isn’t any completely different from what it was a number of years in the past.

There’s no denying that outbreaks of the virus have had a huge effect on birds in latest months, and that the present outbreak is considerably worse than what we’ve seen prior to now. However though we’ve seen a small variety of circumstances in folks, there’s no proof to counsel it poses a much bigger risk to people now than prior to now. Learn the total story.