MILITARY TO FUND PROSTHETICS RESEARCH

The Department of Defense is beginning a multimillion dollar research program to improve upper-body prosthetics, prompted by the large number of troops who have lost hands and arms in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, USA Today reported.

Over the next four years, the Pentagon will spend nearly $35 million to develop improved artificial arms, which perform more like a real arm. The device would be guided by the central nervous system.

The investment is the largest pool of funding for prosthetics in at least a decade, a spokeswoman for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said. That office will award the research contracts.

A total of 337 U.S. troops have lost at least one limb in Iraq or Afghanistan. Of those, 93 have lost either an arm or hand.