00 : CITE EVIDENCE --- In paragraph 4 the author says "In the digital age, we're seeing more sophisticated L i m b s" What details does he provide in support of this idea?
00 : PARAGRAPH 4 --- paragraph 4 says "The most obvious bionics are those that replace limbs. Olympian " B l a d e Runner " Oscar Pistorius, now awaiting trial for the alleged ...... of his girl friend, made a splash with his Cheetah carbon fiber prostHeses Yet those are a relatively simple technology -- a curved piece of slightly springy, super-strong material. In the digital age, we're seeing more sophisticated limbs.
00 : OTHER PARAGRPAHS --- If you need it to gather more evidence, " Consider the thought-controlled bionic leg that Zac Vawter
used to climb all 103 floors of Chicago's Willis Tower. Or
the nerve-controlled bionic hand that Iraq war veteran Glen
Lehman had attached after the loss of his original hand.
Or the even more sophisticated i-limb Ultra, an artificial
hand with five independently articulating artificial fingers. Those limbs
don't just react mechanically to pressure. They actually respond to
the thoughts and intentions of their owners, flexing, extending,
gripping, and releasing on mental command.
The age when prostheses were largely inert pieces of
wood, metal, and plastic is passing. Advances in
microprocessors, in techniques to interface digital
technology with the human nervous system, and in battery
technology to allow prostheses to pack more power with
less weight are turning replacement limbs into active parts
of the human body.
In some cases, they're not even part of the body at all.
Consider the case of Cathy Hutchinson. In 1997, Cathy
had a stroke, leaving her without control of her arms.
Hutchinson volunteered for an experimental procedure that could one
day help millions of people with partial or complete paralysis. She let
researchers implant a small device in the part of her brain
responsible for motor control. With that device, she is able to control
an external robotic arm by thinking about it.
That, in turn, brings up an interesting question: If the arm isn't
physically attached to her body, how far away could she be and still
control it? The answer is at least thousands of miles. In animal
studies, scientists have shown that a monkey with a brain implant
can control a robot arm 7,000 miles away. The m0nkey's mental
signals were sent over the internet, from Duke University in North
Carolina, to the robot arm in Japan. In this day and age, distance is
almost ir relevant. "