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Conjoined twins can now look into each other’s eyes

Ervina and Prefina Bangalo were born in Mbaïki, in the Central African Republic, with the back of their heads joined together. A pioneering neurosurgeon managed to separate them.

Ervina and Prefina Bangalo were born in Mbaïki, in the Central African Republic, with the back of their heads joined together. Their chances of surviving were incredibly low. By chance, Italian doctor Mariella Enoc was visiting the paediatric ward they were in. She immediately fell in love with the babies and decided to take them and their mum, Ermine Nzotto, to the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital in Vatican City, where pioneering neurosurgeon Dr Carlo Efisio Marras and a team of 30 doctors and nurses were able to separate them. It took almost two years and three surgeries to complete the separation. In June 2020 the children were finally able to look into each other’s eyes.

One day, German artist Bartholomäus Traubeck was looking at the rings on a tree that had been sliced through, and noticed they looked like the patterns on a vinyl disc. So he devised a record player that can translate wood into music. His project is called Years.

Former NASA scientist Robert J. Lang is one of the world’s foremost origami artist. Along with a team in Japan, he pioneered a system that took origami from 30 folds to hundreds of possibilities. One of his creations took seven years to complete.

Picture: Ervina and Prefina Bangalo with their mum Ermine Nzotto.
Credit: Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital.

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44 minutes

Last on

Wed 12 Aug 2020 02:06GMT

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  • Tue 11 Aug 2020 11:06GMT
  • Tue 11 Aug 2020 17:06GMT
  • Wed 12 Aug 2020 02:06GMT

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