The surgeons took healthy nerves from the man’s body and used them to bridge the damaged nerves affecting his hands. The operation was performed at the Washington University School of Medicine, and the doctors hope that the operation could prove to be a breakthrough for people suffering from spinal cord injuries.

Once the new nerves were connected to the damaged areas, the man received extensive physical therapy. Eight months after the operation, he was able to move the thumb and fingers of his left hand, and after 10 months he was able to move the fingers of his right hand. Prior to the surgery, the man had limited movement in his arms, but lacked the ability to grasp or hold things in either hand. The man is now able to feed himself and write to a limited extent. Unfortunately, they cannot restoring truly “normal” function using this procedure. In this instance, for example, the man had to teach his mind to use a nerve that normally bends the arm and elbow to make the grasping hand movements.

[via Journal of Neurosurgery via Guardian]

The car is the Porsche 918 Spyder and this sexy beast is a plug-in hybrid. The car uses a traditional four-liter V8 engine producing 500 hp along with a pair of electric motors. The V8 engine propels the back wheels, while each of the front wheels gets its own electric motor making for an all wheel drive vehicle. The car is capable of using the electric power alone to propel itself up to 94 mph. The 918 pushes out an incredible 770 horsepowere when the V8 and electric engines are combined, and consumes 3 liters of fuel for every 100 km driven. Top speed is 199 mph and it can hit 60 mph in 3.1 seconds.

It’s not clear how long the car can drive on electric power alone, but it apparently gets 78 mpg on the EU test cycle. The car you see in the picture here is a prototype wearing black and white camouflage, reminiscent of Porsche 917 racecars from the past. Of course, all of this comes at a price – the 918 Spyder hybrid is expected to sell for $845,000 (USD) when it’s released by the end of 2013.

[via Autoblog Green]

Made by MoreThanArtToWear, these modified Nike Dunk High sneakers are packed with Iron Men. They’ve got the crimson and gold colors locked down, an Iron Man lace accessory on each shoe, Iron Man’s mask painted on the heels and a mini-arc reactor on the tongue. That’s not all: the shoes come in a suitcase similar to the Mark V armor seen in Iron Man 2. Finally, there’s a replica of the arc reactor inside the suitcase that you can detach and place on your chest or wherever you fancy. The shoes have built-in batteries to power the lights. Sadly they don’t have jets. At least not yet.

Now for the bad news: the shoes cost $750 (USD) to make. Now for the badder news: due to high demand, MoreThanArtToWear has temporarily stopped taking orders for them. Now for the baddest news: Guys, once and for all, I do not have the plans for this arc reactor replica. This guy does. Not me.

[via The Fancy via Gadget Review]

The brown patches in the image above are electrodes coated with genetically modified M13 bacteriophage, a virus that only attacks bacteria and is harmless to humans. When the electrodes are pressed, the viruses convert the force into electricity, as evidenced by the LCD display on top. The setup produces 6 nanoamperes of current and about 400 millivolts, about a quarter of the voltage of a triple-A battery. While there are already numerous piezoelectric technologies available, but Berkeley Labs states that those involve toxic materials and are “difficult to work with.” The modified M13 on the other hand is harmless, self-replicating and arrange themselves into organized films, making them quite promising.

I guess the video doesn’t really explain what’s going on in layman’s terms, but the full article at the Berkeley Lab News Center does have a more understandable breakdown of the research. The takeaway here is that if this virus-powered generators become fully developed, we’ll see more devices such as these that convert what would be otherwise wasted mechanical energy into electricity. Now where are the friendly worms and trojans?

[via Engadget]

That’s probably what Brazillian clothing retailer C&A is using as basis with their Facebook “Like” hangers. C&A has hooked up their hangers with a display the shows the number of likes the same article of clothing has received on their website.

Doing this works both ways, of course. If a person is on the fence about something and sees that it has ten thousand Likes, then he or she will probably end up buying it. But if it has just one or two Likes, it’ll probably go back on the rack.

[via New Launches via Oh Gizmo!]

The Leica M Monochrom Camera has got an 18 MP CCD that stores true luminance values, which means that it can’t see any colors. Unlike other digital cameras, it doesn’t start with a color picture and then remove the color. Instead, it shoots true black and white only.

The rangefinder camera has Leica’s typically rugged build quality and classically minimal styling. ISO goes up to 10,000, it also has a 2.5-inch LCD screen, a maximum shutter speed of 1/4000 sec, and it’s compatible with all sorts of Leica M lenses. Unfortunately, the M Monochrom will cost you almost $8,000, so better sell your car if you want this baby.

You can find some hi-res sample images over on the Leica website, and check out the video below for a L-Camera Forum’s review of an early build of the Leica M Monochrom:

[via Uncrate]

It’s a pretty simple concept, what with the vents and zippers and all. But it turns out to be a pretty good combination, because aside from providing your with cushy bedding, it lets you stay cool by unzipping the vents, exposing only the parts of your body you want.

When it’s chilly out, you’d obviously want to keep it all zipped up. But you’ll appreciate having all the vents when you’re out camping during those warm summer nights.

The Zipper Vents Sleeping Bag can be purchased online from Hammacher Schlemmer for $119.95(USD).

[via Gadgets Matrix]

The UNI-CUB’s control system uses a self-balancing, omni-directional driving wheel set up that allows the rider to lean and control the vehicle in any direction. The vehicle can also be controlled via a smart phone or other touchscreen device. This personal mobility vehicle is an evolution of the U3-X that Honda launched in 2009.

Top speed for the UNI-CUB is 6 km/h, and Honda promises the vehicle is agile enough and easy enough to control that it can be used around pedestrians without worry. It’s intended for indoor use and has 6 km range per charge of its lithium-ion battery.

This is the reason why I think the Ö Case concept design by Löytö Esineiden is such a good idea. It’s probably going to be a huge hit, too, since I know a lot of people who are looking for something exactly like it.

Aside from keeping your phone safe and secure, it comes with a screen-cleaning slider that will get rid of all those annoying fingerprints and grease marks, just by swiping it up and down the screen.

It also has two slots at the bottom where you can hook your earphones through it after you wind it over your device, so you can finally say goodbye to messy and tangled earphones. Pretty neat, huh?

[via Yanko Design]

Since the helmet flips up you can rest your head on either Iron Man or Tony Stark. It all depends who you want to cuddle with I guess.

[via Albotas]

Regardless, a game with as much hype and cost as Diablo III should take a REALLY LONG time to beat. If this is really true, I guess the game is not as epic as many of us thought, which is a shame. Oh well. We have plenty of other games to play anyway.

[via Ubergizmo via Geeky-Gadgets]

Created in Northern Ireland by jewelry artist William White, the Killer Charm Bracelet comes with a Walther PPK, a hand grenade, hatchet, monkey wrench, a cleaver and a chainsaw. The deadly sterling silver charms sort of remind me of the game pieces from Clue – except there’s no tiny noose or candlestick here. What makes this bracelet really cool is that thanks to its deadly charms, it could be worn by either a girl or a guy too. Personally, I’ve never worn a bracelet, but I might start with this one.

If the $230 to $300(USD) bracelet is too much for your wallet, be sure to check out William’s Etsy shop, where you can also find individual weapons on necklaces or earings for $50 to $80 each.

[via r/SUATMM]

I can also imagine that there are some very angry gamers out there when they tried to login to play the video game for the first time only to be greeted with error messages. Blizzard has acknowledged that some users have been getting an error 37 message when they try to login to play the game. Blizzard says if you’re getting that error message just give it some time and try again.

However, once gamers are able to login you aren’t guaranteed to be able to create a character play the game. Other errors are happening during the character creation phase of the game that have caused the game to crash kicking some people back to the login screen to start over again. Presumably, once launch day traffic dies down the servers will be more stable and gamers can play.

[via Geek.com]

The Moshi iGlaze with VersaCover was unveiled at CTIA last week and it will allow you to prop up your tablet in portrait or landscape orientation by flexing it at various fold points. The cover attaches to your iPad using magnets, and has a soft microfiber finish to protect your screen. I’ve always thought that the Smart Cover was nice, but a bit limited in terms of the angles you can use it at.

The VersaCover package includes an iGlaze, which is a clear backing case for your iPad to protect it from scratches too. It will be available this June and will sell for $60 (USD).

[via Gizmag via Ubergizmo]

The wood and aluminum camera is wirelessly mated to a digital photo frame, to which you can send your images when the camera is nearby. This is the only way to view the photos since the camera has no LCD viewer of its own – just an analog viewfinder. The camera only has a small amount of storage, so you’ll be forced to send your photos wirelessly to the frame frequently.

Brian is a design student at the University of Dundee in Scotland, and he wrote a series of posts about how he came to his design over at his blog, and more details on the build here.

[via Yanko Design]

It also comes with a mouse pad with a gimmick that only makes sense if you place the mouse on Mario or Luigi’s hands. Although judging from how cheap the mice are, I think you might need the mouse pad for traction anyhow. You can order the Koopa shell USB mouse from NCSX for about $31 (USD). It comes in red and green. Because a blue shell would destroy you and anyone you ever loved.

[via Wonderland]

The cranial confectionery was the brainchild of 3D tech company Inition. I’ve already outlined the steps above, but in case you need something that makes more sense, watch the video below:

They would’ve skipped a couple of steps if they just used this 3D printer instead, although I guess it would take way longer. Inition also put up an Instructable for those interested in eating chocolate brain, including an MRI file containing a scan of Millns’ brain. I can’t decide which is weirder: eating a chocolate brain based on another person’s brain or one that’s based on your own brain. Or that Chocolate Rain song.

[via Ubergizmo]

The Rukus Solar comes with two speakers with a built-in carrying handle. The front panel has the music controls as well as a monocrystal solar grid. The control panel uses e-ink, for added visibility and low power consumption. The battery will power the speakers for 8 hours, and it takes 6 hours to juice it up in direct sunlight. It can also be connected via an AC adapter for speed up this process. Rukus comes with a USB port so that it can charge up other devices.

The Rukus is available in green, black, and white. You can get it for $150(USD) over at Amazon.

[via designboom]

Despite the fact that it’s a wristwatch, I think the time-telling function of the Watch Boy is just a bonus. You’ll look at it not to figure out the present but to remember the past.

The Watch Boy is no longer in production, adding to its appeal to collectors and gamers alike. It’s not surprising then that a seller on eBay is asking for at least $100 (USD) for his Watch Boy, and the price will keep going up until the auction ends on May 19th. That’s a ridiculous price for a plastic and rubber wristwatch, but I say it’s worth it.

[via Fancy]

The wreck is believed to have sunk in the 1840s, and has already given up its bountiful booty including the world’s oldest bottle of champagne considered drinkable. That champagne was auctioned off and now scientists have turned their tech to a bottle of beer discovered in the wreck.

According to the researchers, the beer they analyzed had not stood the test of time well, but did retain its pale golden color. The scientists believe the beer originally had hints of rose, almond, and cloves. The researchers say that with their chemical analysis and the help of a master brewer it’s possible to re-create the beer so beer fans can have a taste of what sailors drank 170 years ago.

[via Reuters]