For the Saturday instalment of Weekend Science, I invite you to join me in reading about pioneering work from Italy where a young man who had his forearm amputated was the first recipient of the 'LifeHand', an experimental biomechanical hand attached directly to his nervous system, allowing him to feel sensations in the hand and guide it through complex motions the way you and I move our hands - with thoughts.
Forgive me, but I have to start with a little piece of 70's Americana:
http://www.youtube.com/...
Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. We can make him better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.
I wasn't the only one to jump to a touch of humor with this, cnet starts their coverage with a small quip about our future robot overlords:
European scientists have successfully built a brain-controlled bionic hand that could be used to kill or maim hundreds of humans in the coming robot versus humans' civil war. Or, far more admirably, allow amputees to feel hand sensations and manipulate their limb--via the brain--as if it were still there.
Indeed, it is admirable. In fact, it's extraordinary. Attaching bionic machinery to the human nervous system has been done before, but it's always been something of a clumsy, hit-and-miss affair. Movements were basic, unrefined things with very limited control. Not anymore:
Pierpaolo Petruzziello was able to wiggle the fingers of the robotic hand, make a fist and hold objects, controlling the artificial limb via electrodes attached to the stump of his left arm.
The 26-year-old was even able to feel needles being jabbed into the hand, which he said felt almost like flesh and blood even though it was not attached directly to his body.
"It felt almost the same as a real hand," he told a press conference in Rome, where the breakthrough was announced. "It's a matter of mind, of concentration. When you think of it as your hand and forearm, it all becomes easier."
The Italian scientists behind the project said it was the first time a patient had been able to make such complex movements using his mind to control a biomechanical hand connected to his nervous system.
So complex, actually, that he'd be able to fit right in in New York:
During the LifeHand trial, which lasted a month, Petruzziello, 26, was able to experience sensations when grasping, making a fist, and apparently flipping the bird. No really. (There's nothing science can't do.)
(my emphasis)
The patient, Pierpaolo, had electrodes connected to his median and ulnar nerves, allowing a full range of motion control and sensation from sensors in the hand. The experiment lasted a month, and the next step is finding ways to permanently graft the nervous system to the electrodes for the hand. Welcome to the future my friends.
There's a more then slightly creepy video available from the BBC showing the hand in action. This hand is simply amazing, but also a little offsetting. I think I understand the concept behind the notion of an 'Uncanny Valley' for the first time in my life, but the improvement in quality of life for amputees could be astronomical.
Stories from CNet, New Zealand Herald, The Independent (UK), The Telegraph (UK), and the AP.