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The programme that explains the present by exploring the past.

The Forum: Hands

Discussion & Talk

Hands by Shan Pillay (created and photoed by Shan Pillay)

28/12/2013 GMT

Hands

BBC World Service - The Forum, Hands

Do our hands mark us out as human? Plus hand transplants and hands that make music

Bridget Kendall talks to hand transplant pioneer, surgeon Simon Kay, MIT researcher Lynette Jones who studies tactile sensations, and leading conductor Sakari Oramo about hands.

Some say that the hand is where the mind meets the world. So what happens if you lose a hand? What are the options for a replacement? Are we focusing too much on the hands' ability to grip and hold and overlooking their sensitivity to heat and cold, to smooth or rough surfaces? And the power of the human hand to create music out of chaos: how does a conductor communicate his musical vision to an orchestra. Bridget Kendall's guests are: Professor Simon Kay, a surgeon based in Leeds, who performed the first hand transplant in the UK; New Zealander Lynette Jones, Senior Research Scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who studies tactile sensations; and Sakari Oramo, a Finnish musician who recently became the Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.  

Photo/illustration by Shan Pillay

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