Morning Rounds: Can you DIY a bionic hand?
(CBS News) CBS News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook and CBS News contributor Dr. Holly Phillips joined "CBS This Morning: Saturday" to discuss the major medical stories of the week.
Two years ago, Paul McCarthy began searching for an inexpensive yet functional prosthetic hand for his son Leon, who was born without fingers on one of his hands. McCarthy came across a video onlinewith detailed instructions on how to use a 3D printer to make a prosthetic hand for his son and he turned a dream into reality. Leon now has use of a do-it-yourself bionic hand.
Leon told CBS News' Michelle Miller that it is "special instead of different."
One of the most interesting parts of this story is that it appears that anyone can make their own bionic hand instead of a traditional prosthetic. LaPook told the "CBS This Morning: Saturday" co-hosts that the materials only cost $5 to $10, but the printer itself costs $2,500, which was paid for by Leon's school.
"It's cheap enough that he's on his fourth version soon," LaPook said, "and he calls it the cyborg hand."
McCarthy told LaPook that his son is actually turning his disability into a teachable moment by telling other students about his bionic hand.
"He said that the next thing is that Leon is teaching other kids in the school as part of a school project how to design and make these," said LaPook. "Their plan is to design them for kids locally, be able to give them to them and then eventually go internationally, so really it starts off as something for him, but it's becoming a big, community project."
Also, researchers at Cornell University reported this week that families who sit down to the dinner table together, with no television, have lower rates of obesity. What's more, the study also found that when families eat anywhere except the kitchen or dining room, both parents and kids have a higher risk of weight problems.
LaPook explained that this occurs when families sit down for dinner together because instead of just focusing on food, everyone is also paying attention to each other. He said that it's the idea of getting rid of "mindless eating," which he said people do all the time.
"I think that you're talking to each other, you're eating mindfully as opposed to the mindless eating that you do in front of a television set, where you just sorta shovel it in, you're not even thinking," he said.
LaPook said that he "loves" this idea and that it's something that anyone can do because it doesn't cost any money.
Phillips explained that this is something she does with her own children, who are 2 and 4 years old.
"I do want them to get the sense that meal time isn't just about, you know, putting the food on your plate, in your body," she said. "It's really a social time. It's time to talk and enjoy, you know, each other's company."
She said that she also tries to limit snacks to fruit or "something really healthy."
"I say, 'OK, if you want a snack while you're doing this, there's your grapes,'" she said. "So, I think that makes a difference."
For Dr. Jon LaPook and Dr. Holly Phillips' full roundup on this week's medical stories, watch the video in the player above.