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Building A Better Bionic Leg, Nature's Way

Zac Vawter practices walking with an experimental "bionic" leg at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 in Chicago. (Brian Kersey/AP)
Zac Vawter practices walking with an experimental "bionic" leg at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 in Chicago. (Brian Kersey/AP)

Prosthetic limbs have come a long way since someone first strapped on a wooden peg in about 300 B.C. Inspired by the animal world, a group of scientists at Northern Arizona University is now working on a way to make a computerized bionic ankle act like a real leg by getting muscles to behave like springs. From member station KNAU, Melissa Sevigny reports.

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