Prosthetic limbs that can feel and heal?

Recently, while waiting for my ride at the airport, I saw a man with two prosthetic arms. At the end of each arm was what looked like a hook split in half. He was able to move each hook apart in order to pick things up.

 At first, I tried not to stare, much like everyone else around. But, what can I say? I'm human. It was different and I was fascinated. Initially, I felt bad for him. But, as I watched him dial a number on his cell phone and take things out of his pockets with relative ease, I was actually quite impressed. What advancements we have made in the past few years! Fifty or so years ago this man would have been helpless. And it turns out, this is only the beginning.

I recently came across this article, describing a new polymer material capable of healing itself when cut and sending electric signals when pressure is applied to it. So, here's a riddle: What else can heal itself and send electric signals when touched? 

Yeah, skin. And that is exactly what these scientists at Stanford are creating it for (possibly other applications as well?). They intend to use for prosthetic limbs just like my friend at the airport had. 

Currently, it seems their only problem is the elasticity of the material. It doesn't quite stretch like our skin does. But, I have a feeling they'll be figuring that out soon enough. 

Now all we need is light sabers. :)

Wait, what?

So, I recently learned about this 100 Year Starship project. This is just about the coolest goddamn thing I have ever seen in my life. I had to check around to make sure the internet wasn't just pulling a fast one on me. It's not. This is real.
I'll admit, I am a pretty big sci-fi nerd. I love BSG, Stargate, Firely, Star Trek, you name it, all the starship-involving series. However, my utter fascination with this project goes beyond the whole sci-fi morphing into sci-fact thing. I do physics and I majored in astrophysics as an undergrad. So, I have a pretty decent understanding of just how difficult it really is to traverse the interstellar medium. Pretty difficult. It's basically like a dustmite trying to crawl to Miami from Seattle (the is not an exact analogy, just off the top of my head, but you get the gist).
You've probably heard that the closest star is a little over four light years away. That means that if you somehow managed to find a way to travel AT the speed of light, you'd get there in a little over four years. But our current technology only enables us to travel at an insignificant fraction of the the speed of light. It would take thousands of years to get to that closest star. But alas, the 100yss people are trying to figure out faster ways for us to travel! There are a few possibilities, even FTL, according to this: warp drive?
Yeah, that's right, NASA is trying to find a way to travel Star Trek style.
Beyond the propulsion technology, this whole endeavor will require enormous efforts from all sorts of people all around the world. This project has the potential to bring humanity to the next level of civilization. Maybe even bring us together?