Very Necessary Hand.

As Pioneer Consultant plastic surgeon and professor of hand surgery, Simon Kay, began investigating the possibility of carrying out the UK's first hand transplant ten years ago. As hand transplants have already been carried out by doctors in the United States, Austria and France leading the way for other transplant operations of such organs as the face, abdominal wall or larynx. The first major organ to be transplanted successfully was a cornea, by Eduard Zirm in Olmutz, Czech Republic in 1905. But not until nearly 50 years later, in 1954, doctors in Boston successfully transplant a kidney. The first successful heart transplant was by Dr Christiaan Barnard in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1967, and was followed by the first heart and liver transplants in the UK the following year.

Not until 1983 did Britain see the first combined heart and lung transplant. In 2005, the first partial face transplant was carried out, in Amiens, France where Isabelle Dinoire, a 38-year-old woman who had been mauled by her dog, was given a new nose, chin and lips. Five years later the first full face transplant was carried out, in Barcelona, Spain, on a farmer known only as Oscar who had been injured in a shooting accident. He received the entire facial skin and muscles - including cheekbones, nose, lips and teeth - of a donor. In October 2006, surgeon Peter Butler at London's Royal Free Hospital was given permission by the NHS ethics board to carry out a face transplant. His team will select four adult patients for operations. Mr Cahill’s operation nine days ago became a world first when his original hand was removed in the same procedure. 'Feelings are starting to come back'. Mark describes sensation in new hand While there have been 70 hand transplants world-wide, in those cases recipients had already lost the limb before the surgery.

As Professor Kay said it could be 18 months before the operation is considered a success up to 2014. ‘If all goes well, I would hope he has quite strong grasp, and have good sensibility, a good ability to feel, and he’ll have a precision pinch,’ he said. Mr Cahill, who has had psychological help to enable him to accept the new hand as his own, continues to be kept in isolation at hospital to reduce risk of infection.  ‘The feelings are starting to come back and everything’s looking very good,’ he said. ‘It feels like my hand.’ Immediate success: Just one week after Mr Cahill, pictured with Sylvia and surgeon Simon Kay, had his new hand attached he was able to move his fingers for the first time in years The 51-year-old former pub landlord, who lost the use of his right hand five years ago, said the implications of his surgery were still sinking in. As he continued to marvel at being able to wiggle the fingers of his new hand, he said he hoped to regain his independence and enjoy family life to the full. Speaking of his grandson Thomas, he said: ‘Anything I can do will be a bonus. Holding his hand is going to be great.’ Mr Cahill, from Greetland, West Yorkshire, lost the use of his right hand – and some from his left – when it became infected during a severe attack of gout, a condition he had suffered for 20 years. The surgeon who carried out Britain’s first hand transplant last night praised the donor’s family for bringing about good from the ‘awful tragedy of a loved one’. Professor Simon Kay, who led the complex eight-hour procedure at Leeds General Infirmary, said their permission had to be sought soon after their relative’s sudden death on Boxing Day. There is no tick box for ‘limbs’ on donor register forms so next-of-kin must be consulted ‘individually by the hospital’.

This has changed my life' Mark Cahill, pictured yesterday with wife Sylvia, underwent the first hand transplant eight days ago The plastic surgeon said: ‘I really think we have to acknowledge the circumstances that this hand was given, at Boxing Day, at a time of enormous tragedy and loss. I would like to acknowledge the extraordinary gift. ‘Organ donation of any kind plucks something positive from that awful tragedy of a loss of a loved one.’ It is not known what tragedy befell the donor but sources say it was most likely to have been a car crash or a stroke. Professor Kay spoke as the recipient, Mark Cahill, continued to recover in hospital and revealed that his next milestone is to be able to hold his three-year-old grandson’s hand for the first time. After celebrating Christmas with his family, Mark Cahill was all set for a holiday with his wife in Goa. But shortly after 8pm on Boxing Day he received the phone call telling him he was to undergo a hand transplant. By 1pm the next day he was preparing for the eight-hour landmark surgery at Leeds General Infirmary. ‘I had to go into hospital to cut the infection out and it left me with a paralyzed hand,’ he said. He and his wife Sylvia, 47, had to leave their beloved village pub, the Shears Inn near Halifax, and he has been unable to work since. ‘It made it virtually impossible to do anything,’ he said. ‘My wife had to help me dress and cut my food up. You can imagine without any hands it’s very difficult.’ A friend told yesterday how so far, for all of Thomas’s life, Mr Cahill has had to settle for ‘just observing’ the little boy, rather than be able to play with him. ‘He’s the apple of his eye,’ the friend added.

Under Roboy Service.

Book Club wishes all a happy 2013 as new printable robotic parts become more readly available. All one needs to do, is to plug into a socket to interact with Roboy. It could be the key to self motovation as it will have a skeleton similar to a human's and will be operated via special artificial tendons that flex like our own muscles. The team has already signed up 15 project partners and over 40 engineers and hope to fund the project using a combination of commercial partners with crowd funding. As they told Book Club'Financing the project through sponsorship and crowd funding enables us to implement an extremely ambitious project in an academic environment", said Professor Rolf Pfeifer, which is leading the project. The team hope Roboy will become a blueprint for 'service robots' that work alongside humans. Scientists have revealed an ambitious plan to create a humanoid helper robot with artificial muscles - in just nine months. Engineers at the University of Zurich's Artificial Intelligence Lab hope that 1.2m tall Roboy, designed to look like a child, will eventually help the sick and elderly by acting as a mechanical helper. To help the robot move, the team are developing radical artificial 'tendons'. An artist's impression of how Roboy could look. Scientists plan to spend nine months creating him, and hope he could become an automated helper for the sick and elderly

The service of robots become vital to parenting and other indoor activities has not yet become an industry as they are machines that are to become, in a certain extent, able to execute services independently. These services maybe replicated for instant similarity without inconsistency just for the convenience of human beings,' the researchers say. 'Since they share their 'living space' with people, user friendliness and safety are of great importance'. The project will use artificial tendons. 'Thanks to his construction as a tendon-driven robot modeled on human beings ('normal' robots have their motors in their joints).

Roboy moves almost as elegantly as a human,' the team claim. 'Our aging population is making it necessary to keep older people as autonomous as possible for as long as possible, which means caring for aged people is likely to be an important area for the deployment of service robots. 'We can very safely assume that service robots will become part of our environment in the future, as is already the case today for technologies such as smart phones and laptops. Most social-interactions were left up to canine as their sociable acceptance key into their genetic especial the dog which work incredible hard'

The team is already developing parts of the Roboy, such as its skeleton like chest which houses spring-like artificial tendons Work has also begun on Roboy's hands, which will be covered with a soft 'skin' to make it comfortable to the touch 'Creating humanoid robots presents researchers with great challenges,' the researchers say. 'Elements such as quick, smooth movements or robust, flexible yet soft skin are difficult to recreate. 'Fundamental new findings are needed for this purpose. It is precisely through projects like Roboy that innovation is possible.'  Roby is expected to be 'born' in March 2013, when it will be unveiled at the Robots on Tour event in Zurich. The lab is seeking donations to fund the work and is offering to put a logo on the machine for £34,000 ($55,000). As these set to become cheaper in to the future they give manufactures more exact data like automobile industry of today.

Time On ISON.

Comet ISON is Due 11-2013 will probably outshine the moon as astronomer Dr David White house, writing for A Y Media says, the comet will be visible to the naked eye in the night sky by late November. Look to the skies next year. Comet ISON could produce a spectacular show when it flies by next year it expected to be similar to the 1997 appearance of Hale-Bopp (pictured). Book Club hopes it doesn’t knock our planet off it axes as it approaches the Earth still plenty of time to land on this object with cameras detectors. Although astronomers around the world are tracking with eager anticipation the arrival of a comet next year which could even outshine our Moon in the night sky. Comet ISON is expected to draw millions into the dark to witness what is likely to be the most brilliant comet seen in many generations. It is visiting the inner solar system for what is thought to be the first time and is set to put on spectacular views for the Northern Hemisphere across November and December as it heads towards the sun. Halley's comet has passed within a fraction of the Earth before - in 1910 the Earth even moved through the comet's tail. Sadly, the 1986 re-appearance was the worst for 2,000 years, as the Earth and the comet were on opposite sides of the sun.
The comet will begin brightening once it gets within Jupiter's orbit, as the sun's heat begins boiling the ice locked within the comet, converting it directly into gas. It is likely to recall the excitement of Comet Hale-Bopp, which sailed past the Earth in 1997, appearing as a static-looking smear in the skies across the Northern Hemisphere. It is also set to outshine 'the greatest comet of the last century' - Comet Mc Naught, which shone brighter than Venus as it passed above the southern hemisphere in 1965. Comets are known as 'dirty snowballs', although technically a better definition would be 'snowy dirtballs', as comets are generally rocky at the surface, with chemical-laden ice within the interior. As the ice and chemicals heat up, they erupt as brilliant jets which can form tails lasting hundreds of thousands of kilometres in length. The comet is expected to be bright throughout late November and early December.

Robin Scagell, vice-president of the Society for Popular Astronomy, said: 'This is a very exciting discovery. 'The comet looks like it could become a very spectacular sight in the evening sky after sunset from the UK in late November and early December next year. Our members will be eagerly following it as it makes its first trip around the Sun and hoping to see it shining brilliantly and displaying a magnificent tail as it releases powerful jets of gas and dust.' How Hale-Bopp looked above Alaska: Next year's comet is predicted to be even more spectacular, and remain in the skies for weeks. It may prove to be brighter than any comet of the last century - visible even in daylight - and this may end up being its one and only trip to the solar system, as its trajectory may see it plunge into the sun in a fiery death. It is currently moving inwards from beyond Jupiter, and as its a 'dirty snowball' could produce a dazzling display, burning brighter than the moon and potentially being visible in broad daylight. Spotted in space: Two astronomers from Russia discovered the icy ball, pictured here dimly lit against background stars. 'Its tail could stretch like a searchlight into the sky above the horizon,' Dr Whitehouse writes. Then it will swing rapidly around the Sun, passing within two million miles of it, far closer than any planet ever does, to emerge visible in the evening sky heading northward towards the pole star. Halley's comet is the most well-known, named after Edmond Halley who noted the regular 75-76-year appearance of a comet, and predicted it would return in 1758, although sadly the astronomer died 16 years before he was proved correct.

Comet ISON could be by the "unaided eye" be a shining object for months. When it is close in its approach to the Sun it could become intensely brilliant but at that stage it would be difficult and dangerous to see without special instrumentation as it would be only a degree from the sun.'The comet, which was discovered by astronomers using the International Scientific Optical Network (ISON) telescope in Russia, will pass within two million miles of the sun's surface - making it a 'sun-grazing' comet. It is on a 'parabolic' orbit, which means it probably originated from the outer skirts of the solar system, perhaps from the Oort cloud - a mass of icy debris which lies 50,000 times further from the sun than the Earth does. If comet ISON survives the encounter, it could take thousands - potentially millions - of years before the comet passes back through the inner solar system. Hale-Bopp sailed overhead, leaving two trails: An ionic trail of magnetically-charged particles facing directly away from the sun (left), and a trail of dust and debris (right) Comets are dusty balls of ice, which generally originate from the Kuipler belt - a region of icy small bodies beyond Neptune.

Occasionally, a comet gets dislodged from its orbit, and plunges in to the inner solar system. They differ from asteroids, which are made of metal or rock, and are usually the left over remnants of planets or moons. Comets are not really reflective - they only reflect 4 per cent of the the Sun's rays, about the same as coal. So although they look brilliantly white from Earth, they are black at the surface. As Comets are unpredictable, one will probably knock the pants off humanity for sure.

Space X Sails.

What goes up must come down and in all of one piece means a refuel stop with an in-between. It has been a successful launch SpaceX's prototype reusable Grasshopper rocket flew 131ft and hovered before safely settling back down on to its launch pad. Although impressive conventionalist prefer sea landings due to safety but sea landings destroys equipment straight into a rebuild which cost more each time making for unnecessary factors. An all in one can park in space refuel for lunar landings as it also carries within its shell a lot of extra space. California-based SpaceX documented last week's successful test launch at their test pad in McGregor, Texas, in a YouTube video published last night. It was accompanied by a series of humorous tweets from the pioneering company's eccentric billionaire founder  'To provide a little perspective on the size of Grasshopper, we added a 6ft cowboy to the rocket,' he wrote. SpaceX's prototype Grasshopper reusable rocket took a giant leap for commercial space flight last week when it rose 131ft and landed safely back on Earth. The latest launch by the private space travel company, which has already run resupply missions to the International Space Station, is a major step in their ambition to produce a reusable space vehicle. In its previous two flights the Grasshopper has managed to hover at six feet and 17ft before settling back down.

Powered by a Falcon 9 rocket and Merlin 1D engine, the 10-storey-tall Grasshopper rocket is designed to take off and land vertically - part of SpaceX's plant to develop a rocket that can return to a launch pad for rapid reuse. It has four steel landing legs with hydraulic dampers and a steel support structure to keep it intact when it settles back down to terra firma. Vertical-takeoff space vehicles developed thus far rely on disposable lower stages as this adds millions of dollars to the cost of launching spacecraft into orbit leaving extra disposable space or even an all in one moon trip from space.
A new generation of reusable rockets that can launch, fly and land would dramatically slash the cost of travelling into space. In the 29-second test flight conducted December 17, the Grasshopper rocket rose to a height of 131ft - around ten storeys - and hovered before landing safely on its launch pad using closed loop thrust vector and throttle control. Mr Musk declared the launch a success, writing on Twitter: 'No problem.'

SpaceX founder Elon Musk says the tech could help establish Mars colony. Its perspective the six-foot tall cowboy dummy that rode the Grasshopper rocket all the way - and survived unscathed shows that this flying tower really has potential as well as long line of purchasers from varied countries a two week visit to International space station with its five bedroom accommodation ready to expand. As well as the Grasshopper project, SpaceX has already achieved the accolade of becoming the first private company to launch a successful mission to the International Space Station. It's first launch of its unmanned Dragon capsule was in May, with a follow up mission to the ISS completed successfully in October.
But Mr Musk's even more ambitious long-term goal is to establish a colony on Mars, and he has said that reusable rockets like the Grasshopper are 'the pivotal step' in achieving that making space a future exploratory even for locked out countries the hog engine type may need a lot more power 'rel might be a the safer option' but to do a mars space landing will require a 'martian space port' its all on the horizon with 'Those magnificent men in their flying machines'.