Claudia Mitchell, a former US Marine, who lost an arm in a motorcycle accident, is the first woman to be fitted with a new prosthetic arm controlled by her own nerves, says The Times.
“The night before she showed off the left arm at a news conference, she used it to cut a steak — the first she had been able to eat in a conventional way since her accident more than two years ago. ‘That was a very big thing for me,’ she said.
“High-tech prosthetic limbs have a chequered history. More often than not, patients fitted with them give up and revert to simple devices with a good appearance but little functionality. But engineers keep trying to achieve the ideal — a limb that is controlled by the brain and works well while looking near-normal.
“Ms Mitchell, 26, is one of six people trying out the latest model, developed by the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. With her older prosthetic arm, she could do only one thing at a time — either open her elbow or open her hand. And to do so, she had to concentrate on a particular muscle…..”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.