Provide names of other journalists involved.
Editing by Mary Beth Aberlin, editor-in-chief of The Scientist
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Sept. 1, 2012
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Touch is perhaps our most valuable sense. It allows us to grasp delicate objects, detect our limbs in space, and caress the cheek of a loved one. Well, most of us. There are currently no prosthetic hands available, commercially or in clinical trials, that provide a sense of touch. Upper-limb prosthetic users have no tactile feedback, and therefore must look at their artificial hands the whole time they use them. Because of this, upper-limb amputees cannot perform many basic tasks, such as grabbing a potato chip inside a bag or grasping a loved one’s hand without looking. Though tactile feedback might do the most to improve upper-limb prosthetics, the majority of the prosthetics research community is instead putting its effort into making arms with wider ranges of motion and more powerful motors. This article chronicles the challenges of incorporating touch into prosthetics, and follows the work of a small group of researchers pursuing that tantalizing goal via cutting edge new approaches, such as rewired nerves and bionic fingertips.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
For this article, I read numerous research papers and watched many videos of experiments using brain-machine interfaces and other techniques attempting to incorporate touch into prosthetics.
Explain types of human sources used.
Human sources were the leading source of information in this piece. I interviewed over 15 individuals, including researchers, surgeons, and amputees using prosthetic limbs. I also visited the offices of a company engineering fingertip sensors in downtown Los Angeles, and met with an amputee using their device.
Results:
N/A
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No corrections.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
It is easy with a medical story to just speak with doctors and researchers, but talking to prosthetic users was one of the most valuable parts of reporting this story. To find out exactly what prosthetic users want from an upper-limb prosthetic, and how a sense of touch would be most valuable, I needed to hear their opinions and experiences firsthand.