Long-term solution close at hand

WERE you aware that the first prosthetic hand was created in 1551? You really do learn something new every day, do you not? Or certainly every Wednesday, the night this show of Hannah Fry's goes out.

- By MIKE WARD

The mechanical hand in question, Hannah tells us, was invented by a man called Ambroise Paré.

“He was really upset when he saw how many soldiers would commit suicide in the French army after losing a limb in battle,” she explains. “So he set about creating this device that used a series of catches and springs.”

Obviously, by modern-day standards, this replacement hand had its limits. I'm guessing it was a right pain to text with, for example.