Selected Press
Podcasts
Cyborg Shifts – embedding technologies into our bodies. Fast Forward by Tomorrow Unlocked, July 2023
This episode delves into the evolution from prosthetics to full-body augmentation, with Dani Clode and Neil Harbisson exploring how implants and sensory extensions are redefining what it means to be human.
The Age, Monotremes, Third Thumb & Bird Dream Sounds. Quirks & Quarks - CBC Radio One, June 2024
Quirks & Quarks explores how researchers are developing and testing a robotic “third thumb,” giving people extra dexterity and insight into how our brains adapt to new body parts.
How does a person get to grips with an extra thumb? The Naked Scientists - BBC Radio 5, May 2024
Cambridge scientists reveal how training with a robotic third thumb helps people quickly adapt to using an extra digit for complex tasks.
Handy Third Thumb. Health Check - BBC, July 2022 Claudia Hammond is at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition and speaks to Professor Tamar Makin and designer Dani Clode to find out whether a Third Thumb might be handy.
Tamar Makin on brain plasticity. UCL Brain Stories, November 2021 In this podcast, Tamar discusses her research on brain plasticity, artificial limbs, and the potential for human augmentation.
Is it possible to enhance and rewire the adult brain? The Guardian Science Weekly Podcast, March 2018
In this podcast, Tamar discusses the possibilities for enhancing brain plasticity in the later stages of life.
Talks & Videos
6 Arms, 3 Thumbs, WIRED, May 2025
WIRED explores a 3D-printed sixth digit at Cambridge, designed by Dani Clode and Tamar Makin, showing how a “third thumb” can enhance dexterity and expand human capabilities.
Testing the Third Thumb, Cambridge University, May 2024 Designer Dani Clode talks about how testing technology on a diverse range of people is essential for ensuring new technologies are inclusive and can work for everyone.
Upgrade Your Hand With This Extra Thumb, Great Big Story, December 2023
The Great Big Story team travels to Cambridge to learn more about designer Dani Clode, Professor Tamar Makin and the Third Thumb, exploring the potential applications of the third thumb by getting a crew member to test it out.
Bionic 3rd Thumb: The future of human augmentation | Hard reset, Freethink, January 2023 The Freethink team flies to the UK to learn more about designer Dani Clode and the Third Thumb. Together, they discuss perspectives in human body augmentation.
Blogs & Feature Articles
Phantom Limbs Revisited, The Conversation, August 2025
Our new study shows that the brain’s hand map remains remarkably stable after amputation, with phantom finger movements activating the same areas as before, challenging decades of assumptions about cortical reorganisation.
Can a third thumb make me the first robotically enhanced reporter?, The Times, June 2024
The Times’s science reporter tries out what it is like to have an extra thumb, and feels like he has developed (small) superpowers
Prosthetic hands are easier to control using unrelated muscles, New Scientist, April 2024
Clare Wilson reports on Hunter Schoen’s Nat Human Behaviour paper about biomimetric versus arbitrary motor control strategies for bionic hand skill learning
Why Prosthetic Limbs Need Not Look Like Real Ones. The Economist, February 2024
The Economist explores how prosthetic design is shifting from mimicking natural anatomy to enhancing function and expression, challenging traditional norms and embracing individuality.
The Brain Isn’t as Adaptable as Some Neuroscientists Claim, Scientific American, November 2023
Professor Tamar Makin and John Krakauer explain that the idea of treating neurological disorders by marshalling vast unused neural reserves is more wishful thinking than reality
An Extra Robotic Thumb Quickly Changes How The Brain Represents And Uses Its Biological Hand, Forbes, July 2021 Prof Gabriel Silva reports our recent Science Robotics paper about neural changes driven by using The Third Thumb
New Theory of Phantom Pain Could Mean End for Illusory Treatments, Technology Networks, February 2020 Ruairi J Mackenzie reports from a recent talk from Tamar on new theories on phantom limb pain and how they inform clinical approaches
How the brain remembers amputated limbs – and continues to control them, The Conversation, February 2019 Researchers at UCL reveal that amputees retain detailed cortical maps of their missing limbs, suggesting the brain's remarkable ability to maintain sensory and motor representations even in the absence of physical input.
To the Brain, a Tool Is Just a Tool, Not a Hand Extension, Scientific American, May 2021
This article discusses the implications of our findings on the future of prosthetic design.
News
The Brain’s Body Map Remains Stable, Nature, August 2025
Our study reveals that even after limb loss, the brain’s hand map stays largely unchanged, with phantom sensations activating the same regions as before.
Why you (and everyone else) could soon be wearing this ‘third thumb’, BBC Science Focus, June 2024
BBC Science Focus covers the Science Robotics study on the useability of the third thumb at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.
Robotic Third Thumb Supercharges Your Hand, and Your Productivity, Forbes, June 2024
Leslie Katz covers the Science Robotics study on the useability of the third thumb at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.
Human Augmentation with Robotic Parts is At Hand, The Guardian, March 2023
An overview of the Third Thumb project and possible implications for the future.
In a digital era, we’ll all be prosthetic fingers and thumbs, The Times, March 2023
An overview of the Third Thumb project and possible implications for the future.
Humans could soon be wearing tentacles, thumbs and wings, The Telegraph, March 2023
An overview of the Third Thumb project and possible implications for the future.
What Painting With Your Feet Does to Your Brain, New York Times, Sept 2019
Our new findings about toe maps in foot artists discussed on the New York Times