Weird News

Eyelash transplants sweep Nip/Tuck world

Inspired by procedures used by the hair-loss industry for balding men, surgeons can now use a “plug and sew” technique to give women “long, sweeping lashes” that were once only obtainable through mascara and temporary extensions.

The procedure, which costs around $3,000 an eye, consists of removing 30 to 40 hair follicles from the back of the scalp and then sewing each follicle onto the patient’s eyelids.

Though the procedure was first only used for patients suffering from burns or malformations of the eye, is now primarily done 80 percent of the time for cosmetic reasons.

The transplant, though, is not without a downside. Those with very curly hair are not good candidates for the procedure due to “kink” in the eyelashes, and like head hair, the transplanted eyelashes need to be trimmed regularly.

Full facial transplants given go-ahead in Britain

According to a spokeswoman for the Royal Free Hospital in London, British surgeons are truly changing the face of cosmetic surgery by receiving ethical permission to perform full face transplants.

Though surgeons in France performed the world’s first partial face transplant last year for a victim that was mauled by a dog, the UK Face Transplantation team hopes to make medical history and to simply change a few lives now that they’ve been given the go-ahead by the Research Ethics Committee of the Hospital.

Though the microsurgery techniques needed for the transplant surgery are well developed, the team’s main concerns are “about the psychological impact and the long-term risk of the drugs the patient will need to take to avoid rejection of the new face.”

Japan embraces robotic nannies

In Japan, busy parents can now leave their children in the care of the newly engineered ‘humanoid’ robot, called PaPeRo. The 38-centimeter robot, nicknamed for Partner-type Personal Robot, develops a personality based on how it is treated and features the latest in image recognition technology. It can also send pictures of the child to parents on demand through cameras installed in each eye.

Besides its ability to track children moving at 20-centimeters-per second, the robot also has a built-in mobile phone and will locate and play with the child when the parents call it. Parents can also send text messages and talk to children using PaPeRo’s microphones and speakers.

Created as a part of a deal between computer company NEC and Japanese telecommunications company NTT, the robotic nanny can do more than just watch children. It can also check e-mail, keep records of favorite TV channels, sports game scores and even dance.