News from the future: Bionic lady undergoes nerve-remapping treatment

There’s really no way to describe this story without making it sound like it’s from the future. This lady, who has one of the world’s most advanced bionic arms after losing one in a motorcycle accident, has begun feeling her missing arm again.

This is nothing new in itself; phantom limb pain is an established phenomenon as old as amputation. However, this case is different: she feels something in her arm when something touches her chest — and that’s the way it’s supposed to be. The nerves which would normally carry information to the brain about what’s happening in her arm were rewired to an area of her chest, and now that they’re starting to work again.

It’s all very mad scientist-y, isn’t it? Right down to the madman himself stating, and I quote, “We have rewired her.” She’s the testing ground for future work in prosthetics and nerve remapping, and she’s a success. It’s still pretty rough but that’s how it always starts out.