thInk AssignmentOne

A World Beyond Belief

Most scientists said it couldn't be done. Researchers are trying to prove that it is in fact possible to make life like limbs function just as well as the real ones. This article explains how researchers are trying to accomplish the goal of making prosthetic limbs have a sense of touch. Not only looking like a real limb but function like one using a sense of touch. After I read this article, I have learned that having a prosthetic limb that has a sense of touch is imperative to the recipient so that they may live a normal life.

            When people hear the word “prosthetic,” they automatically think people with robotic arms or legs that look like something you might see off of Star Wars, but as the years have progressed, prosthetics are improving more and more. Research has shown that when people loss a limb something in the brain slows down to accommodate the lost body part. Bensmaid, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, says, “If you lose your somatosensory system it almost looks like your motor system is impaired…” He continues to explain more about this, but the bottom line is that with a missing limb one’s body wouldn't function as it normally would.

            Many researches have spent a great deal of time performing test with Rhesus Macaques, better known as the Rhesus Monkey. Although, in my opinion, testing any type of product on animals seems to me inhuman and barbaric, in this case I find it necessary for animal testing since it enhances the chances of a better product.

            The world is forever changing. Within a blink of an eye something else great and new has been created. But for the time being prosthetic limbs will feel and sometimes look like man made tools, not reaching the full expectation of having a sense of touch.       

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