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Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
[An article appearing in] Nature Communications, suggests that instead of being seen as aberrations that ought to be surgically removed, extra fingers can bring benefits. The results also highlight how flexible the human brain can be, a feature that will be central to the design of brain-controlled robotic appendages.
For the study, bioengineer Etienne Burdet of Imperial College London and colleagues worked with a 52-year-old mother and her 17-year-old son, both born with six fingers on each hand. These extra fingers, positioned between the thumb and index finger, resemble thumbs in the versatile ways that they can move.
Brain scans and anatomical MRI scans revealed that the extra fingers are controlled by a dedicated brain system, along with muscles and tendons. That means that these extra fingers aren't just along for the ride, controlled by the muscles that move the other fingers, as some doctors had thought.
A short video on YouTube shows the extra dexterity in action.
Source: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/having-six-fingers-can-offer-major-dexterity-advantages
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 07 2019, @07:52PM (1 child)
Again, Runaway enlightens us with his medical expertise and personal experience. And, Runaway, that is not what a "lobotomy" is.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday July 07 2019, @09:16PM
It does occasionally happen with humans. There was a six-fingered slide guitar player on the cover of a magazine many years back, and you might guess on which finger he placed the slide.
Hannibal Lecter, in the books, also had a sixth finger on one hand, and eventually had it surgically removed in Brazil if I recall correctly. Probably the left hand but whatever it was was the most rare form of human polydactyly.