An American soldier who lost all four of his limbs has successfully undergone a rare and complicated double arm transplant. Brendan Marrocco, 26, was hit by a roadside bomb in 2009, and was the first soldier to survive quadruple limb loss from the war in Iraq.

While Mr Marrocco is not the first person to undergo a double arm transplant – he is the seventh – surgeons at Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore, where the operation took place, say his was “the most complicated one” so far.

England and the NHS is facing the biggest baby boom in 40 years, just as cutbacks in maternity budgets hit our hospitals. More than a quarter of UK Heads of Midwifery reported that their budget has been cut in the last 12 months, and the Royal College of Midwives has warned that this is putting NHS Maternity Services under enormous pressure.

Business Secretary Vince Cable has recently visited the Science Museum in London, opening the Make it in Great Britain Exhibition which takes place for six weeks during the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

The London 2012 Olympics began in spectacular style with Danny Boyle’s opening ceremony being watched by millions of people around the world.

More than 150 surgical instruments belonging to the Nazi German concentration camp Auschwitz have been found in a nearby house in Oswiecim. The gynaecological instruments were found in a house that was located inside a strictly closed zone surrounding Auschwitz during the war.

There is something about buying a product with a Lifetime Guarantee that instils confidence in the consumer. However, when you take a closer look at the small print is it really that straight forward?

Former steel worker Steve Medhi is to submit plans for a forty metre ‘Man of Steel’ sculpture to be built, overlooking the city of Sheffield. The piece is planned for a former landfill site near to the M1 Motorway and Meadowhall Shopping Centre, close to where the Tinsley Towers used to stand. This ambitious proposal is for the first of three giant sculptures which could stretch across the Don Valley. It is hopeful that this sculpture (which is twice the height of the Angel of the North in Gateshead) will become a well known landmark, a gateway to the South Yorkshire region.

A college dedicated to specialist technical industries is to open its doors in Sheffield in 2013. The Sheffield University Technical College (UTC) will offer teenagers specialised learning within the engineering and digital sectors.

February 2012 sees Platts & Nisbett celebrate 35 Years of British Manufacturing excellence. Quite an achievement considering the difficult times the manufacturing industry has faced over the years.

The Sheffield Steel industry is famous around the world, with its factories being vital to Britain’s wartime success. During both World Wars, women were drafted in to keep the steel works running, doing jobs which had previously been carried out by men. When the men of Sheffield were called up to fight it fell to the women of the city to keep the steel mills working, with thousands balancing family life with working in heavy industry. The work they undertook was both back breaking and dangerous, and many women risked their lives.