Rex – The Bionic Man

Science has a habit of catching up with science fiction. Its happened time and again that a Sci-Fi author has described a futuristic gadget and a couple of decades down the line scientists actually produce the gadget or a very close likeness to it. That’s why the Bi-centennial man of science fiction is now represented by Rex, the very first bionic man.

This humanoid has been the result of the combined effort of more than 18 universities and companies. He’s got state of the art artificial organs like kidneys, pancreas and spleens from University College London. His artificial lungs were provided by Swansea. The prosthetic legs and ankle were contributed by MIT. He even has synthetic blood from Sheffield University.

Rex was introduced to the world at the Science Museum in London in the first week of February. What drew attention were his brown eyes and six and half feet height. The whole scientific project cost more than one million dollars. What the project has proved is that now it is scientifically possible to create an artificial man from scratch.

It may even be possible to improve on human abilities by providing advanced prosthetic limbs to those who have suffered the loss of their natural limbs. Each advancement in the field makes it easier to find treatment for accident victims. Each science project brings more hope.