Prosthetics

Jennifer French is one of the nicest cyborgs you’ll ever meet. Nine years ago, French became paralyzed from the waist down at the age of 26 - but today she’s able to stand up from her wheelchair unaided, due to pushbutton-activated electrodes implanted in her leg muscles. Now she’s looking forward to the day when all she’ll need to do is think about walking, and she’ll walk.

About 1.8 million Americans live without one or more of their limbs, according to the National Limb Loss Information Center. Until recently, amputees could expect no more than a plastic mold of their arm or leg that requires manual control.