The Bionic Man

Les Baugh lost both his arms when he was 17; now he's 59. He has adapted to life using just his mouth and feet. This process of adaptation is remarkable but laborious—he's able to drive a car, prepare food, and perform the activities of daily life, but it's all slow, awkward, and frustrating. Thanks to experiments with Johns Hopkins University, Baugh may become a cyborg with working arms and hands.

In this video, we meet Baugh, then we see the research process involved in using mechanical limbs, which are controlled by his mind (!). This is, frankly, amazing. Look:

The saddest moment in this film is realizing that Baugh can't take the prototype arms home with him. It's easy to imagine what life with arms would mean for him, and it's painful to realize that the technology isn't ready yet.

For more on the research and Baugh's story, check out the full story from The New York Times. (Warning: auto-plays a video!)