A Danish amputee has become the first person to receive a bionic hand that allows life-like sensations to be felt from the device's artificial fingers.
Surgeons in Italy connected the left hand to nerves in Dennis Aabo's upper arm, allowing him to interact with it in real time directly from his brain, the BBC reports.
Mr Aabo, who lost his hand in a fireworks accident nearly 10 years ago, says he is able to sense the shape and hardness of objects without looking at them.
During an operation in Rome, four electrodes were implanted onto nerves in his upper arm. These were connected to the artificial sensors in the fingers of the prosthetic hand, so allowing touch and pressure feedback to be sent direct to the brain.
Mr Aabo, 36, a property developer, spent a month doing laboratory tests, firstly to check the electrodes were functioning, and then with these fully connected to the bionic hand.
Scientists say they need to improve the hand's precision and dexterity before it can be marketed in about five years.
The details were published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.