Novel prosthetic design offers a remarkable opportunity for persons to do better, or be just plain different, than normal. Hence this imaginative 'tentacle' design by Kaylene Kau, a recent graduate of the Industrial Design Department at the University of Washington. Like an octopus, users of this appendage can wrap their limb around an object to pick it up or manipulate it--a qualitatively different approach to interacting with the environment.

McQueen made this ensemble with carved prosthetic legs for Aimee Mullins. Mullins is a world-class Paralympic athlete, and she modeled the boots for his 1999 show, No. 13.

I am certain that you have heard of Weta Workshop before, since they are the group responsible for the special effects for "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Chronicles of Narnia" movies. They also did the effects for that live action Peter Pan film that involved mermaids. In the film, they created tails for actresses, and now they have created this fully functional mermaid tail for a double leg amputee.
 
The amputee, Nadya Vessey, was at the pool one day and a little child saw her with her prosthetic legs. The child asked her a lot of questions, and she jokingly referred to herself as a mermaid. This gave her an idea, and she consulted Weta Workshop's prosthetic department to make the mermaid tail. They gave Nadya a “mermaid makeover”, and she was able to swim quite well in the pool.

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