Hands-on Dad

Ben Ryan’s two year-old son, Sol, was born with a blood clot in his arm. Following amputation, the medical advice was to wait until Sol’s third birthday before fitting a prosthetic that grabs. But former psychology teacher Ben saw the developmental benefit of acting much sooner... In this astonishing interview with Olly, he recalls his rollercoaster of emotions when Sol was born; the sponge ‘arm’ he initially botched together with cotton wool and Micropore tape; and how he learned to use 3D printing and CAD software to help Sol and other children around the world. Ben’s business, Ambionics, involves parents in early rehabilitation and ultimately aims to develop printable hydraulic arms for babies at low clinical cost. He’s a finalist in the 2018 Nesta Inventor Prize, and is currently seeking more funding. Discover more at amibionics.co.uk. Meanwhile, in this week’s Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart investigates the real meaning of his SMS exchanges with Olly, using ‘texting relationship analyzer’ app Crushh; tests out Sandow's fizzy cold brew coffee; and explores the trend for ‘fashion drops’. If you have a challenge for Ollie to try for the next season of the Modern Mann, reach out via the ‘Feedback’ form on our website. Elsewhere, in an especially NSFW edition of The Foxhole, Alix Fox provides an erotic review of podcasts and audiobooks designed for aural foreplay. On the menu: Rose Carraway’s ‘Kiss Me Quick’; Girl On The Net’s audio hub; Peach Booth podcast ‘Sugarcast’; Bijoux Indiscret’s Orgasm Sound Library, and the Reddit Gone Wild collection. If you have a question of sex for Alix, submit it via the ‘Feedback’ form on our website. Many thanks to MyCondom.com for their sponsorship of The Foxhole throughout this series. They have an incredible range of toys, lube and contraceptives at great value prices, and they dispatch in discreet packaging. Remember, you get 15% OFF your entire order if you use our discount code, ‘FOXHOLE’. For this week’s Lifehack, food and drinks journalist Johanna Derry offers up her Top 3 tips on how to get the best meal when eating out - check the quality of the ingredients, don’t put up with a snooty atmosphere, and ignore the hype! You can find more from Johanna on Twitter @johanna_derry. Our record of the week, 'Next Day' from solo artist Inner Tongue, is out soon on Mount Silver Records. But you can check out his other great work now at innertongue.com. That’s it for this season of The Modern Mann - we’ll be back for our eighth season on June 26th. If you would like to sponsor a future edition of the show, or if you have a suggestion for a future guest, please be in touch via the Feedback form on our website. And if you enjoy the show, please consider buying us a beer - you can do it monthly, as a one-off amount or via PayPal. Your donations are what keeps the show going, thirty episodes per year.  All the links are on our website, ModernMann.co.uk See You Next Month! Presenter: Olly Mann. Contributors: Ollie Peart, Alix Fox, Ben Ryan, Johanna Derry, Inner Tongue. Producer: Matt Hill. Theme Music: 'Skies Over Cairo' by Django Django. Graphic Design: Jenny Mann Design. Copyright: Olly Mann / Rethink Audio 2018. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices