Slashdot Mirror
Dolphin Jumps Again with Artificial Fin
Ant writes "This Yahoo! News story mentions Fuji, a mother dolphin that lost 75 percent of her tail due to a mysterious disease, being able to jump again with the help of what is believed to be the world's first artificial fin. The 34-year-old dolphin held at Japan's largest aquarium in the southern island of Okinawa wears the rubber fin for about 20 minutes a day allowing her to jump and to swim at the same speed of other dolphins."
Well, its not as if they went out and found a physically challenged wild dolphin, and laughing at Darwin, gave it an artificial fin. This was a captive dolphin that contracted a disease and lost some finnage. That's hardly a natural situation, and I don't think the long-term genetic health of the species will be affected.
Trolls: The high-tech version of those morons that scrawl obscenities in public bathrooms.
Andrew Lourake is an American jet pilot, who had his leg amputeed in 1998. Now he has a C-Leg and in October 2004 he returned to his job. He works for the federal government carrying government officials, congressmen and the like in the C-20 Gulfstream. During the training his performance during some exercises (saving passengers from a burning plane after a crash, for example) was better than that of two healthy novice pilots training together with him.
Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
In the current Survivor:Vanuatu one of the contestants has an artificial lower leg. He is one of the best competitors in the physical challenges. The only test that he seems to have a bit more trouble than the others in is walking a narrow balance beam. He was voted off last night after 29(?) days and making it to the final 8.
Depending on whether you believe they actually live in that shelter on the beach for 39 days when the cameras aren't turned on or not, his leg doesn't seem to be having any trouble with the salt water, sand, dirt, etc. I'm actually very interested in seeing some interviews with him after the show ends on some of the particular problems he faced with it.
"Unheard of means only it's undreamed of yet,
Impossible means not yet done." ~~ Julia Ecklar