Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. I write about neuroscience and its intersection with technology. How many times have you said to yourself ‘if I only had an ...

He’d long wanted to take a peek at the anatomy ... Dissection revealed that aye-ayes have an extra thumb, which researchers call a pseudo-thumb. The small structure made of bone and cartilage ...

An extra thumb, huh? I don’t know, that could be pretty cool ... like a carpenter who’s using a hammer all day long. And people have this expression, they say it’s like the hammer becomes an extension ...

“By studying people using Dani's cleverly-designed Third Thumb, we sought to answer key questions around whether the human brain can support an extra body part, and how the technology might ...

but scientists don’t actually know if the human brain can meaningfully support an added body part or the long-term consequences of the extra cognitive load. A user’s view of the Third Thumb.

The average user wore the thumb for just under 3 hours a day. To understand how the extra thumb affected people’s brains, the researchers gave them an MRI scan before and after the experiment.

All of the eight mole species had some form of extra thumb, Dr Mitgutsch explained, but some did not develop past a small milimetre-long bone at the bottom of their paws, while others, like the ...