Check out this video about the next generation of prosthetics (below the fold):
More at Wired Science.
This is interesting to me because of the microprocessors that they put in the arm as controllers. Most people don't think about this but movement in the human body is coordinated by a variety of subsystem, many of them in the spine. It is sort of like your brain triggers a motion, but then delegates the coordination of that motion to other systems -- often beneath your conscious perception. The microprocessors in the arm are in some sense taking over for these subsystems.
A very interesting technique in prosthetics design.
Hat-tip: Slashdot
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