Flesh-eating bacteria amputee Aimee Copeland now uses the latest technology in prosthetic hands to chop vegetables, pick up tiny items like Skittles, and comb and iron press her hair. (CNN)

The villain in “Inferno,” Brown’s sixth novel, follows a movement called transhumanism. Brown, 48, who spent more than two years in Florence researching the book, has been interested in the controversial concept of transhumanism for years. (Today)

Revenge plastic surgery is becoming more common. A 2011 survey by the Transform Plastic Surgery Group in the United Kingdom found that over a quarter (26%) of their patients were recently divorced women, while 11% were newly single men. (CNN)

In 2013, neither Barry Bonds nor Roger Clemens made the Baseball Hall of Fame, even with their clearly superior records, because they used steroids. This was despite the fact that, as a New York Times editorial put it, the Hall of Fame is hardly a Hall of Virtue, filled as it is with “lowlifes, boozers and bigots.” Steroid use is apparently a different level of sin: It is cheating. (Slate)

The 12-year veteran will also “receive autologous stem cell injections” next week to help stimulate the regeneration of tissue in his knees. (L.A. Times)

The idea of superintelligent machines may sound like the plot of “The Terminator” or “The Matrix,” but many experts say the idea isn’t far-fetched. Some even think the singularity — the point at which artificial intelligence can match, and then overtake, human smarts — might happen in just 16 years. (Discovery News)

Turkey’s economy is getting hairier, as a booming medical sector profits from a growth spurt: mustache transplants. (Wall Street Journal)

American researchers found that the gene, which has previously been implicated in Parkinson’s Disease, extended the healthy lifespan of fruit flies by more than 25 per cent. (The Telegraph)

Scientists say they have found a way to restore hair colour with a drug. (BBC)

Devon Carrow spends his days like many other second grade students: He goes to school, says hello to friends in the hallway and practices his multiplication tables. But to do this safely, Devon cannot be in the classroom. (ABC News)

A breakthrough bionic ear that can ‘hear’ radio frequencies beyond the range of normal human ears has been created by scientists at Princeton University. The researchers used a radical 3D printing technique to create the ear with the electronics of a hearing aid inside it. (Daily Mail)

The weight of evidence from epidemiological studies indicates cosmetic breast implants are not associated with increased risk of breast cancer, but concern remains because implants may impair the ability to identify breast cancer at an early stage by mammography because cosmetic breast implants are radio-opaque, impairing the visualization of breast tissue with mammography and making detection of breast cancer at an early stage more difficult. (UPI)

A Spanish doctor accused of running one of the world’s largest sports doping rings has received a one-year suspended sentence for endangering public health. (BBC)

Google has always been an artificial intelligence company, so it really shouldn’t have been a surprise that Ray Kurzweil, one of the leading scientists in the field, joined the search giant late last year. Nonetheless, the hiring raised some eyebrows, since Kurzweil is perhaps the most prominent proselytizer of “hard AI,” which argues that it is possible to create consciousness in an artificial being. (Wired)

We’re in the midst of a bionic revolution, yet most of us don’t know it. (CNN)

Dermal fillers are no more controlled than floor cleaner, according to a UK Department of Health review of cosmetic interventions published today. (New Scientist)

The cosmetic procedures industry is booming. It has undergone an estimated five-fold increase in turnover in a decade. At any period that would be astounding growth - in the teeth of a recession it is all the more astonishing. (BBC)

The stem-cell face-lift starts with liposuction to harvest fat from a place that has extra (like the stomach or thighs) that can later be injected into a place that doesn’t have enough (like the hollows of the cheeks or around the eyes). So where, exactly, do the stem cells come into play? That is the million-dollar question. Or more accurately, the $5,000 to $10,000 question, since that’s about how much people are paying for the procedure. And the answer very much depends on whom you ask. (New York Times)

Scientists have rediscovered a centuries-old procedure for supercharging your brain. Depending on how it’s used, it could improve anything from focus to motor control to mathematical or even moral reasoning. It’s simple. It’s relatively cheap. The known side effects are minimal. And it’s so easy that you can do it in your own home, anytime you want. All you need are a pair of electrodes and a power source. (Slate)

Overachievers are popping Adderall to get ahead. Is that a good idea? (Slate)

Drugs such as Ritalin and Adderall are intended to treat severe attention deficit, but some young people with comparably normal brains use them as study drugs to sharpen their academic focus. The practice is neither ethical nor safe, according to experts. Doctors call this off-label drug use neuroenhancement. (The Epoch Times)