Word: legging
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Motala had her foot blown off by a land mine; Fuji lost most of her tail to a mysterious disease; Stumpy crippled her leg in an unknown injury in the wild. Only a few years ago, a wounded elephant, dolphin and kangaroo like these would not have had much hope. Under the rough rules of the wild, they would have quickly died of predation, infection or starvation. Compassionate humans who intervened might have been able to make the animals more comfortable but never could have made them whole...
When Motala the elephant stepped on a land mine eight years ago in Thailand, her prospects were bleak. Veterinarians were forced to amputate what was left of her mangled foot and part of her leg. The operation saved her life but left her hobbling around on only three legs for the better part of six years. Finally, in 2005 surgeons at the Friends of the Asian Elephant Hospital in Lampang, Thailand, designed a 22-lb. (10 kg) shoelike prosthetic foot that is little more than a canvas sack filled with sawdust and held in place by a giant sling...
While osseointegration has worked for at least half a dozen animals and has been attempted in at least 60 humans, mainly in Scandinavia, every animal presents surgeons with a different biomechanical challenge. Attaching a leg to a nimble, bouncing animal like a kangaroo is different from creating a limb for a plodding one like an elephant. When Stumpy the kangaroo lost her hind leg, surgeons designed a prosthetic foot--held in place by a traditional stump and socket--that is made of carbon fiber, which has the ability to spring back to its original shape after it is bent. This...
There are no shortcuts when it comes to learning, and that applies to becoming a prodigy as well. Popular videos such as the Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby series have attracted millions of parents eager to give their babies an intellectual leg up. But a recent study shows that these products may be doing more harm than good. Experts at the University of Washington reported early in August that for every hour each day that infants watched the kaleidoscope of changing images and music on these DVDs, they understood an average of seven fewer words than babies...
...early June, the Indonesian authorities made a stunning capture. After pursuing a suspected militant to a safe house in central Java, police say they shot him in the leg as he tried to flee. The target was Abu Dujana, the alleged head of the military wing of the extremist group Jemaah Islamiah (J.I.). That same day, the police made more busts. A squad of Indonesian commandos stormed into a home in Yogyakarta, nabbing Zarkasih, whom the authorities say is a veteran jihadist and J.I.'s overall leader. And just a few months earlier, the police uncovered an arsenal of deadly...