
'Sophisticated' prosthetic hand found on medieval skeleton
If you thought prosthetic hands were too advanced for people living hundreds of years ago, think again. Archaeologists have found the remains of a man who died in Medieval Germany, who had prosthetics in place of several fingers. The grave was found by pipeline workers in Freising, a town near Munich. The Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation said: “Even for experienced archaeologists, this was a particularly special find: a skeleton in which parts of the fingers of its left hand are missing.” The archaeologists removed the metal from the man’s skeleton to restore and analyse it. They came to the conclusion that he had lost his fingers at some point in his life. Walter Irlinger, deputy of the general conservator at BSOMP, said: “The hollow prosthetic on the left hand replaced four fingers. The index, middle, ring and pinky fingers are individually formed out of sheet metal and are immobile. The prosthetic fingers lie slightly curved, parallel to one another.” The prosthetic also had scraps of fabric and leather, suggesting that the fingers had a leather cover, and were tied to the hand using straps. There was also a gauze-like material inside the fingers, which may have acted as a cushion for the man’s skin from contact with the metal. That period of German history included the Thirty Years’ War, which ended in 1648, which would have increased the need for amputations and prosthetics. One of the most famous amputees from the time was Götz von Berlichingen – or “Götz of the Iron Hand”. He was a German knight who lost his right hand from a cannon injury at the siege of Landshut in 1504. “In the past, prosthetics looked very much like what they were replacing,” said Jacky Finch, a researcher in the KNH Center for Biomedical Egyptology at the University of Manchester. “Nowadays, implants are placed in the sensory system to control nerve action, rather than devices attached to the body by straps or artificially powered.” The BSOMP statement continued: “Doctors at that time were already thinking about how they could make life easier for amputees. “In central Europe, there are currently around 50 similar prostheses from the late middle ages to early modern age that are known.” How to join the indy100's free WhatsApp channel Sign up to our free indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
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Elon Musk gives his verdict on the existence of aliens
Elon Musk has shared his thoughts on whether aliens really exist out there in the universe. The 52-year-old billionaire is CEO of SpaceX, which manufactures and launches rockets into space with the "goal of enabling people to live on other planets," and now he's given his take on whether there is life beyond Earth. Musk appeared via video link at the International Astronautical Congress in Baku, Azerbaijan on Thursday (October 5) where his ambition to launch his Starship spacecraft to Mars was discussed, along with what future endeavours into space will look like. While aliens were also mentioned, Musk said he has seen "no evidence" they exist. "People often ask me if I’ve seen any evidence of aliens and I unfortunately have seen no evidence of aliens yet," Musk said. "We are the aliens, as far as I can tell." He added: "And I think if anyone would know, it would probably be me, and I’ve not seen any evidence of aliens. "So, what that perhaps suggests is that this tiny candle of consciousness that is humanity is all that exists in a vast darkness, and we should do everything we can to ensure that the candle does not go out." It's not the first time Musk has discussed this topic as he shared a similar opinion during an interview in April with with then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson. However, he added that if knew aliens were real he would tweet this information out to the world. "I'm, you know, very familiar with space stuff," he said. "I’ve seen no evidence of aliens. I would immediately tweet it out. "That’d be probably the top tweet of all time. 'We found one, guys!' It's the jackpot with some 8billion likes." Definitely worth keeping an eye on Musk's tweets then, you know, just in case... Meanwhile, the business magnate has claimed he is in fact an alien himself. "I keep telling people I’m an alien, but no one believes me," Musk recently tweeted. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
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