The black angus heifer was bought from the neighboring ranch they found it on, and operated on by vets and students at Colorado State University.

It's a sweet story and all, but does this seem a wee bit misguided to anyone else? Thousands of dollars to save a cow that was halfway to burgertown? If you want to help out animals, you could spend that money in a way that would save many animals instead of just one. But hey, it does look pretty adorable! [wtop via Neatorama]

And, as an elephant, she weighs three tons. That kind of weight—excuse me for saying so, ma'am—requires one strong prosthesis. It took a few years of work to get right.

In the interim, Motola was forced to use a temporary prosthesis. This was completely unbecoming of her status as a respected 48-year-old pachyderm.

But she was patient, and today she took her first steps. They were a success. To celebrate the occasion, Motola sucked up some dirt and blew it skyward like dusty fireworks. She has some work to do, but the limb held her massive frame, and she'll hopefully be walking with some semblance of normalcy for the rest of her days.

We can rebuild her. They did rebuild her. Motola: The Million Dollar Elephant. [SFGate]

Mullins has been instrumental in changing the public perception of prosthetics. After setting multiple world records at the 1996 Paralympic games, she has used her modeling, athletic and film careers to end the idea that prosthetics are a mark of disability. Instead, she's shown the world that bionic limbs can enable some amazing things. As a guy who's barely 5'8" on a good day, listening to Mullins talk about how easy and fun it is to change her height on a whim does sound like a pretty incredible ability to have.

TEDMED annually explores a wide range of issues in health care. Topics this year range from ethical questions in the face of medical advancement to the theoretical capabilities of medicine. The fifth TEDMED conference will be held October 27-30 in San Diego. Be sure to keep an eye on the conference come fall. [TEDMED, image via Women's Sports Foundation]

Her original prostheses never fit perfectly, causing her pain and great difficulty when walking. So, with the financial help of their community, Ellie May's parents took her to Dorset Orthopaedic where doctors designed an extra small pair of carbon fiber legs—the same type of prostheses used by Olympic sprinters—costing about $15,000.

She'll need a new pair of legs every two years as she grows up.

But while doctors were originally worried that she'd have a tough time balancing on her new limbs, Ellie May is moving twice as fast as she did before. And as one specialist put it, "Within seconds of having them on, she was off. It will change her life." [Echo via Neatorama]

In the second part Kamen talks about how the arm's control systems were developed, simplifying an 18-degrees of freedom movement space so that it could be controlled almost subconsciously by the user.
Part three is where Kamen talks about his not-for profit scheme to get young people interested in science through robots: "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology" (FIRST); "like sports, nobody ever walks around saying 'I wanna be second'."

Interesting stuff, as I said, and the Luke arm seems to have a pretty astounding future ahead of it. I can't help thinking I'd've asked a few more direct questions though. Is the arm dexterous enough for it to let a wearer/user use the toilet? When the Luke arm gets to that level of sophistication—and, more importantly, when its developer/users trust it enough to do intimate tasks like that with it—that's the point at which I reckon the arm will stop being a science-technology showpiece and really make a difference in people's lives. Over to you in the comments. [Kara.AllthingsD]

Developed for above-knee veteran amputees, the system is so advanced that leg swing adjustments can be made on the fly, easily altering for activities requiring different gates to perform properly. And while standing, the C-Leg automatically relieves the pressure from the natural limb, supporting the user's entire body weight (up to 275 lbs.) all on its own.

For its $30,000 to $40,000 pricetag, we'd be showing our C-Leg off to everyone. "Nice Lexus. Oh, what's this? Just a ROBOTIC LEG. But really, your car is quite nice. Cup holders and everything."[Product Page via wired and usatoday]