Three Thumbs Up

What could YOU do with a third thumb? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying … win a thumb wrestling contest – hands down! Prosthetics are a great solution for people who are missing limbs. But could they also give us a little something EXTRA? 

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Three Thumbs Up

What could YOU do with a third thumb? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science, saying … win a thumb wrestling contest – hands down! Prosthetics are a great solution for people who are missing limbs. But could they also give us a little something EXTRA? 

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Sweaty Fingers

Fingerprint in a glass

Dropped your phone again? Don’t sweat it! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Our fingerprints help us grip slippery smooth surfaces like phones or drinking glasses! But how? Seoung-Mo Yum at Seoul National University and colleagues started scanning fingerprints. Four participants pressed their finger pads

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Mind Over Robot

Scheme showing a monkey activating controller with its hand and its brain decoding the movement

  Mind over matter! And robots? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Advanced prosthetics hook up a robotic limb directly to your brain. Though still rudimentary, researchers hope to restore natural movement, and even touch, to amputees. But can brains really adapt and control this

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Robo-Situps

Happy hour for robots? Hey, it’s five o’clock somewhere! This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. Robots with artificial muscles that are flexible, durable, and responsive would be a dream! Unfortunately, robotic joints are too stiff and slow for human-like movement – yet! Shengqian Ma from

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The Nerve!

Are cockroaches lending a helping hand? This is Sandra Tsing Loh with the Loh Down on Science. I know – technically cockroaches don’t have hands… But they do have legs, and they’re revolutionizing prosthetic limbs. How? Yeongin Kim and colleagues at Stanford University have created an artificial nerve. It senses

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