Welcome to the Cool Stuff Ride Home podcast. Yes, this is a new episode. If you're listening, I suppose you might be wondering where we've been. Well, I apologize again for not being a better communicator here, but sometimes life happens and it forced us away from the mics

for a bit. We are back here with you now. And with all apologies to our detractors, this non-AI

human voices back with some more cool stories for you all to enjoy. Hopefully that is. So with that,

let's get right to it. Turning to ZME science and author Rupendra Brahambat. For decades above the knee amputees

have had to live with stiff, uncomfortable prosthetics that felt more like rigid tools than natural

limbs. As a result, climbing stairs, stepping over objects, or even just walking at a decent pace

becomes a constant struggle.

However, MIT researchers have developed a bionic knee so well integrated with the body

that users begin to feel it as part of themselves, not just mechanically but neurologically, too.

In early clinical trials, users with this new prosthesis walked faster, navigated obstacles more

naturally, and even reported a sensation of owning the limb as if it were truly their own.

Per Hugh Heurr, one of the researchers and a professor at MIT, quote,

a prosthesis that's tissue integrated, anchored to the bone, and directly

controlled by the nervous system is not merely a lifeless separate device. It's not simply a tool

that the human employs, but rather an integral part of self, end quote. This innovation could

mark a turning point in bionics, a field that is long promised

to life-like prosthetics, but often failed to match the human body's complexity. Now, the MIT team

developed a system called the Osseo-integrated mechanoneural prosthesis, or OMP, which is the result of

years of effort to restore not just movement, but the feeling of having a real leg again.

Traditional prosthetic limbs rely on sockets that wrap around the residual limb.

These sockets are often uncomfortable, can cause skin infections, and offer limited stability or control.

More importantly, they do not tap into the nervous system's natural signals,

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