A tortoise in Brazil has received a new lease of life thanks to a one-of-a-kind 3D-printed prosthesis. Filó the 25-year-old Chelonoidis carbonarius – or jabuti‚ as the species is known locally – had been left unable to walk following surgery to correct a severe reproductive condition‚ yet now zips around on wheels.Veterinary doctor Giuliano Setem told IFLScience that he had “never had a [tortoise] patient with such a bad injury” prior to encountering Filó. Weighing 20 kilograms (44 pounds)‚ the reptile was placed in Dr Setem’s care after developing complications from an operation to treat egg retention.This occurs when poor diet‚ lack of sunlight‚ or other lifestyle factors disrupt a tortoise's ability to produce calcium. This‚ in turn‚ results in weak-shelled or misformed eggs that break inside the animal’s reproductive system‚ releasing their contents and creating the ideal conditions for bacterial infection.When egg retention is diagnosed‚ vets usually carry out a routine operation to remove the eggs along with the entire reproductive system. Unfortunately for Filó‚ her surgery was conducted by a veterinarian who was not a reptile specialist.After the operation‚ the tortoise suffered necrosis of the plastron bone‚ which forms the bottom of the shell and protects the abdomen. Part of the plastron then broke off‚ exposing the coelomic membrane.   “In addition to the loss of a portion of her shell‚ Filó has also developed paresis [partial paralysis] of the pelvic limbs‚ which has become more critical in recent months‚” explained Dr Setem. “This makes it difficult for her to move around and obtain food‚ and she frequently becomes soiled.”It’s currently unclear if the hind leg mobility problem was caused by nerve compression due to egg retention or “some carelessness by the surgeon during the procedure”. Regardless of the cause‚ Dr Setem knew that he would have to think outside the box to find a solution‚ and called upon the services of 3D designer Cícero Moraes.A CT scan of Filó's injury.Image courtesy of Giuliano Setem/Cícero MoraesHaving previously created the world’s first 3D-printed tortoise shell‚ Moraes studied computerized tomography (CT) scans of Filó’s injury before designing a prosthetic that both protects the wounded region and enhances the tortoise’s mobility. Describing the contraption to IFLScience‚ Moraes explained that “it is a base that attaches‚ in a non-retentive way‚ to the defect caused by the surgical procedure‚ in order to protect the region from external elements‚ [and] at the same time four structures [that] come out‚ each with a wheel rotating‚ which allows Filó to walk without putting all her weight on [her] paws.” As can be seen in the above video‚ Filó has been testing the limits of the device‚ which stands up well to everything she throws at it.

When I’m interviewed about liberal tilt in the media‚ I’m usually pretty confident. But I can still be rattled for a moment when someone breaks out the silly old Eric Alterman argument – his book in 2003 was titled “What Liberal Media?” When I appeared on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal‚” host Kimberly Adams read a passage to me from Eric Levitz at Vox.com. It hummed with that addled Alterman vibe: “Trump has a much better apparatus for maintaining the approval and enthusiasm of his party’s voters‚ and for seeding politically favorable narratives‚ than Biden does.” The subhead plainly claimed: “The US media landscape is tilted against Biden.” In this alternative universe‚ “Fox News is more consistently propagandistic than MSNBC and boasts a 42 percent larger viewership. Right-wing talk radio dwarfs the influence of progressive alternatives.” The idea that Fox is more “propagandistic” than MSNBC is mere opinion. But the idea that Trump has a larger messaging machine ignores the overwhelming power of the “legacy media‚” the big brands. The evening newscasts of ABC‚ CBS‚ and NBC far outnumber Fox. In one weekly ratings period in January‚ ABC had 8.77 million viewers‚ NBC 7.34 million‚ and CBS 5.44 million. That’s about 21.5 million combined. The average primetime ratings number for Fox is 1.8 million. Their last Trump town-hall program with Sean Hannity gathered 3.2 million viewers. As for the idea that conservative talk radio “dwarfs the influence of progressive alternatives‚” that completely ignores National Public Radio‚ whose programming is distributed to more than 1‚000 public radio stations across America. Their marketing website proclaims they have the number-one and number-two “drive time news/talk radio programs in America.” They claim a weekly audience of 44 million‚ and argue “84 percent of NPR listeners take action in response to something heard on NPR.” But C-SPAN viewers didn’t hear the most hilarious Eric Levitz passages. He insists “there is a fundamental asymmetry in the media diets of Democrats and Republicans. The former tend to trust‚ and seek out information from‚ formally independent and nonpartisan news outlets‚ while the latter almost exclusively trust conservative opinion journalism such as that produced by Fox News and right-wing talk radio.” This is the lamest dodge imaginable. “Our” outlets are “formally independent and nonpartisan‚” which is about as persuasive as “Bill Clinton was formally monogamous.” Anyone who thinks MSNBC viewers want “formally independent TV” hasn’t noticed how they bellyache on social media when they let Republicans appear‚ or a host like Andrea Mitchell is deemed as insufficiently hyperpartisan. Then there’s this gem: “And although the [New York] Times and [Washington] Post might subject Trump to withering scrutiny‚ they feel no obligation to boost Democrats’ political fortunes.” Stop‚ we all need to breathe between laughing fits! Anyone who’s recently become familiar with the argumentation of Eric Levitz might start with his unintentionally humorous discourse on how people may have found headless babies after Hamas terrorists rampaged through Israel last October 7‚ but “the report established that babies were found headless‚ a fact that lends plausibility to claims of beheading‚ but which does not prove them.” The “progressives” at Vox may envy Fox‚ and they may try to blame Biden’s cratering approval ratings on insufficient levels of propaganda from the “nonpartisan” media outlets they prefer. But it’s ridiculous to argue Donald Trump is receiving more positive and promotional press treatment than Biden in 2024.

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