The world’s most advanced, commercially available, bionic hand has clinched the UK’s top engineering prize.

The i-LIMB, a prosthetic device with five individually powered digits, beat three other finalists to win this year’s MacRobert award.

The technology has been fitted to more than 200 people, including US soldiers who lost limbs during the war in Iraq.

The device started life in Scotland in 1963 as part of a project to help children affected by Thalidomide.

The complex device finally went on sale in July 2007. It is produced by a company called Touch Bionics based in Mid Calder, Livingston.

“It’s such a fantastic invention,” Ray Edwards, a quadruple amputee and one of the first people in the UK to be fitted with the device, told BBC News.

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A team of historians says the lost city of the Incas, Machu Picchu, in Peru was discovered more than 40 years earlier than previously thought and ransacked.

Machu Picchu, now Peru’s biggest tourist attraction, was famously believed to have been discovered in 1911 by US explorer Hiram Bingham.

The ruins are the crown jewel of Peru’s archaeological sites in Peru and draw thousands of tourists every day.

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Steve Jobs unveils the price and features of the 3G iPhone

Apple has unveiled a second generation of its iPhone, with support for faster 3G wireless networks.

The company is hoping to boost its share of the smartphone market, which is dominated by Nokia and Blackberry.

The new devices were launched by Apple boss Steve Jobs who said the phone would be “more affordable” for consumers, starting at $199 (£100).

The new iPhone also comes with GPS satellite navigation built in for location-based services.

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A 2,500-year-old gold cup which had spent 60 years in a box under the owner’s bed has sold for £50,000 at auction.

The cup was given to John Webber by his rag-and-bone man grandfather, William Sparks, who acquired it in the 1930s.

Mr Webber, 70, said he remembered the cup as a small boy and “it’s been quite exciting finding out what it was”.

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More than four million Britons will be hit by a “diabetes explosion” by 2025, mostly fuelled by the obesity crisis.

Unhealthy diets and a lack of exercise will lead to the crisis, according to the charity Diabetes UK.

New figures suggest that by 2025 there will be 3.6 million people suffering from the condition in England – 6.5% of the population.

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Colorado police say two suspected robbers dubbed the “thong bandits”, after they used women’s underwear to disguise themselves, have been caught.

The two men used skimpy underwear as masks, but much of their faces remained visible in a CCTV tape broadcast across the US state.

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In contrast, skipping meals can lead to lower levels of the brain chemical that keeps a person on the emotional straight and narrow and holds careless and impulsive behaviour in check.

This is because of a link between the chemical – serotonin – and emotional influence on decision-making, say scientists from Cambridge University.

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For most women, a dependable handbag is de rigeur, but for fans of designer couture, the ultimate accessory has just arrived in the UK.

Valued at £1m, the diamond-encrusted platinum handbag will go on display at jewellery shops around London to mark the inaugural London Jewellery Week.

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Beauty therapists and hairdressers are the happiest at work, a new survey shows.

The poll of 1,000 adults found workers are more likely to be happy in their job if they get on well with colleagues or have managers who take an interest in them.

And fewer than half stayed in a job because of the size of their pay packet.

The study, for City & Guilds, said beauty therapists and hairdressers were the happiest workers in the UK – with builders and bankers the least content with their working lives.
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Syria may already boast some of the world’s best food, but now it can also claim the world’s largest restaurant.

The 6,012-seat Damascus Gate has taken the accolade from a Bangkok eatery serving a mere 5,000 diners.

The crucial test for Guinness World Record officials is all the tables are properly catered for, and they likened the Syrian kitchen to a “mini-factory”.

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