When Florida Atlantic University graduate student Charles Weinthal saw a disabled classmate, he wanted to give him a hand. Literally.
Chad Coarsey, 25, was born with knuckles but no fingers on his left hand, which has hindered his ability to do everything from tying his shoes to playing guitar to holding test tubes in science classes.
Weinthal had been reading articles about how 3-D printers could inexpensively melt polylactic acid, a plastic material similar to fishing line, into colorful prosthetic hands. He thought it might work for Coarsey, an engineering graduate student who was taking a class with him.