Friday, July 26, 2019

Let Your Skyfingers Do the Skywalking

Being a child of the 1970s, it was inevitable that I would be a 'Star Wars' fan, albeit a lukewarm (HA!) one... I like the original movies, but I'm not obsessed with them. I'm more of a fan of written SF/Fantasy, a fan of the 'theater of the mind' that such fiction provides. Still and all, I am familiar with the movies and will often make reference to some of the better lines.

One of the iconic arcs in the original trilogy **SPOILER FOR DECADES OLD MOVIE** involves the loss of Luke Skywalker's hand and its replacement with a 'bionic' replica. In a nod to the movies (which makes me hope that some of the low-key tech in the movies will be developed), the developers of a prosthetic arm have named it in honor of Luke Skywalker. This prosthetic receives and sends signals via electrodes attached to nerves. It allows users to distinguish large objects from small, hard objects from soft. The good people of Mobius Bionics deserve some serious accolades. Ultimately, I believe that regenerative medicine will proceed to the stage at which limbs can be grown, these prosthetics are a great interim therapy.

Given the fact that this prosthetic is named after his signature character, I decided to check out Mark Hamill's Twitter feed and I found this reply to an actress who has a prosthetic arm:



Following this tweet down the rabbit hole, I discovered that this actress has tested various bionic arms. It's nice to see that she's received so much love from Mr Hamill, who, refreshingly, comes across as an unfailingly Good Guy. Now, I have to see about that leak in the roof, and figure out where this moisture is coming from, because it's not raining.

Post title taken from an old yellow pages ad... for anyone under the age of twenty-five, you'll have to look that up.

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