The Body Builders

Completing the Human Spirit and Body

The human spirit craves completeness. Patients facing great physical and mental adversity strive to overcome illness and injury. Dedicated scientists work to repair damaged bodies and brains using revolutionary new techniques. But where is the boundary between “restorative” treatment and “augmentation” enhancements? Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius showcased the issue of bioengineering restoration versus augmentation. And, skeptical observers like Stanford economist Francis Fukuyama warn against medically engineering people into “gods.”

“Moving”: Mountaineer Hugh Herr

Frostbite cost mountaineer Hugh Herr his legs below the knees. Doctors told him to forget climbing. He doggedly built his upper body strength, returning to the rocks in seven weeks. Then he designed new climbing prostheses, including long adjustable legs. Herr drew from the 1950s work of physiologist Giovanni Cavagna, who suggested the importance of “elastic recoil energy” in powering a leg. He knew of zoologist R. McNeill Alexander and others who demonstrated the crucial role of the highly elastic tendons – such as the Achilles – in providing the energy to...