Winter the dolphin gets fitted with prosthetic tail

It's been a while since we last heard about a dolphin getting fitted with an artificial tail, but it looks like Fuji finally has some new bionic company, with Winter the dolphin now starting to get used to a prosthetic tail of its own. Unlike Fuji, Winter lost her both her tail flukes and her peduncle, which posed additional problems for the team of researchers that developed the tail, ultimately requiring them to "MacGyver" one as they went along (a term the researchers themselves used to describe it). While it's apparently not perfected just yet, Winter has started to learn to swim with a prosthetic sleeve, which will eventually be outfitted with artificial tail flukes that could allow it to keep pace with other dolphins. In addition to helping Winter, the researchers behind the tail say that the lessons learned from it could also help human amputees, with the gel sleeve used to hold the tail into place apparently already adapted for use with a human prosthesis.

[Photo courtesy of AP]

[samson @ Aug 29th 2007 10:30AM]

I better not find a piece of gel sleeve in my tuna sandwich...

[Chris @ Aug 29th 2007 10:32AM]

I am gonna go out on a limb (pun intended) and say that dolphin prosthetics does not qualify as a gadget, or even gadget related.

[Grey Acumen @ Aug 29th 2007 12:09PM]

If it has a specific function, it's a gadget. It may not be electronic, but it's still a gadget.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gadget
gadget - a device or control that is very useful for a particular job

[Chris @ Aug 29th 2007 12:59PM]

uhhh... useful for a particular purpose... that could be just about anything, so the definition you provided is useless.

I will defer to the American Heritage Dictionary which defines a gadget as "a small specialized mechanical or electronic device"

[Grey Acumen @ Aug 29th 2007 3:52PM]

you're forgetting that mechanical and machines are very broad terms of their own.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
Mechanical-
1. Of or relating to machines or tools:
3. Of, relating to, or governed by mechanics
5. Relating to, produced by, or dominated by physical forces
7. Of or relating to manual labor, its tools, and its skills.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.
Simple Machine -
A simple device, such as a lever, pulley, or inclined plane; a machine without moving parts.

Sorry, but prosthetics STILL are covered by gadgets.

[Chris @ Aug 29th 2007 4:01PM]

That doesn't look mechanical to me, it looks like a piece of rubber. Sorry, not a gadget... and what, no love for my pun? Come on!!

[NHAnimator @ Aug 29th 2007 10:39AM]

Do all humans who need a prosthetic limb (or forehead) currently have one? If we are going to give away prosthetics, I just want to make sure the humans all have theirs (especially military personnel) before we start donating them to other species.

[Jon @ Aug 29th 2007 11:14AM]

To be close minded, it could be an extreme form of animal testing. And if we can make a prosthetic appendage for another species, it allows these talented individuals a chance to think outside of the box, and hopefully apply their new found skills and knowledge to better us measly humans.

[Grey Acumen @ Aug 29th 2007 12:14PM]

It's more than just simply extreme animal testing. This is very much an "outside of the box" thought process.

"No problem can be solved on the same level of thinking in which that problem was created" - Einstein

By seeking problems outside of the traditional perspective, we are forced to seek completely new approaches that result in answers that would never have been considered otherwise.
I agree that we should be addressing our fellow humans' needs first, but this has the potential to improve our knowledge so that we can BETTER address our fellow humans' needs.

[Hardik @ Aug 29th 2007 10:46AM]

NHAnimator, ya maybe we should give it to humans first. But i think we should first make sure that there are no detrimental effects from wearing these sleeves. I mean maybe an animal wasn't the best choice, but using them on a dolphin ensures that they will stay on in "Extreme" conditions.

[umrain @ Aug 29th 2007 11:10AM]

I think it is definitely beter to test prosthetic tails on animals first before fitting them to humans.

[R Hamel @ Aug 29th 2007 12:08PM]

Im pretty sure they made it to help the dolphin more than to test for human prosthetics.
believe it or not; some people actually care about the environment and animals. Specially since the disease could probably be our fault. And as far as i see it, a high tech prosthetic seems like a gadget to me.

[Grey Acumen @ Aug 29th 2007 12:20PM]

Actually, there's one very obvious clue that what you say isn't entirely the case. The gel sleeve used to hold the tail in place has already been adapted for human use.

There are 3 ways to look at this.

1) That poor dolphin! We should help!

2) Hey, if we can fix this dolphin, I bet we can fix people too.

3) Hmm... this problem is intriguing, I bet it'll be interesting to figure out how to solve it...

More than likely, all 3 of these factors went into the reason behind this project. So making it sound like they only have one reason and none of the other reasons had any bearing on their decision seems rather silly.

[Hel @ Aug 29th 2007 12:11PM]

I agree with hamel there. Lots of people are big on helping animals, alot of times animals come first to them. usually the money comes from research grants given to these people to help.

[rickane58 @ Aug 29th 2007 12:13PM]

hmm, peduncle sounds like that relative who gave you all those nightmares that ended up ruining your childhood.

[Grey Acumen @ Aug 29th 2007 12:22PM]

pedobear...

pedolphin?

[Oddsoul @ Aug 29th 2007 1:46PM]

Animal prosthetics can help researchers understand how the brain and the body work instinctually with an artificial limb, taking out that whole humans thinking about their prostheses factor.

[monstroy @ Aug 29th 2007 2:07PM]

So how long until we can get sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads?

[Ryan @ Aug 29th 2007 2:28PM]

Old news guys:

http://www.reefbuilders.com/blog/2007/08/14/dolphin-and-iraq-veteran-share-wonder-of-prosthetics/