By Catharine Paddock PhD An implantable artificial kidney could transform prospects for people whose kidneys have failed and who have to rely on dialysis or the rare chance of a transplant to stay alive. Now, researchers working on the first-of-its-kind device that aims to meet this need says they are hopeful of running pilot trials in humans withi...

By Emily Reynolds | Nature Researchers have perfected a method of turning human stem cells into kidney tissue. Professor Melissa Little, head of the Kidney Research Laboratory at the Murdoch Children's Research Institute in Melbourne, first grew a mini-kidney in 2013, forming two key cell types. But now her team has grown an organ that forms a...

INAL Center, Italy  This hand comes from the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa, in collaboration with the INAIL Prosthetics Center in Budrio.  It's a new robotic hand prosthesis that will allow patients to recover 90% of the functionality of a natural hand. The device does not need implants or surgical operations, as it is controll...

By Ian Birrell - The Guardian John Nhial was barely a teenager when he was grabbed by a Sudanese guerrilla army and forced to become a child soldier. He spent four years fighting, blasting away on guns almost too heavy to hold, until one day the inevitable happened: he was seriously injured, treading on a landmine while he was on morning patrol. "I...

US Department of Veteran Affairs,   Center for Limb Loss and MoBility  Our aim is to improve prosthetic prescription by investigating the efficacy of prosthetic components used in current clinical practice and by developing novel approaches to improve the current standard of care. Our amputee-centric research encompasses improving pa...

By Mary Bates ​ Far from science fiction, brain-machine interfaces present a glimpse of the future of technologies powered by thought. Devices that convert brain activity from algorithm to action are giving those who are unable to speak or use their limbs independence once again. 'The Woman Who Drank the Coffee' In 2012, Cathy Hutchinson became kno...

London, UK | AP Television A new material is being used to make organs, which allows patients to grow stem cells inside their bodies rather than in a laboratory - according to scientists. The team at University College London say it'll be clinically trialled this year in operations to create ears for teenagers and stents and valves for people with ...

by Susan Young Rojahn  Elias Konstantopoulos gets spotty glimpses of the world each day for about four hours, or for however long he leaves his Argus II retina prosthesis turned on. The 74-year-old Maryland resident lost his sight from a progressive retinal disease over 30 years ago, but is able to perceive some things when he turns on the bio...

NHS | UK ​ A computerised tomography (CT) scan uses X-rays and a computer to create detailed images of the inside of the body. ​ CT scans are sometimes referred to as CAT scans or computed tomography scans. They're carried out in hospital by specially trained operators called radiographers, and can be done while you're staying in hospital or during...

Department of Radiology, MGH Martinos Center , Harvard Medical School ​ Diffusion spectrum imaging ( DSI ) is a variant of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in which a magnetic field maps the water contained in neuron fibers, thus mapping their criss-crossing patterns. A similar technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is also used to explore...