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A piece of surgical showmanship. That’s how many saw the first transplant of a human hand from a cadaver two years ago. The patient, a New Zealander called Clint Hallam, didn’t help. Apparently, he had lost his hand in an accident while in prison. His doctors had known little about his past-even microsurgeon Earl Owen who brought Hallam to France for the operation and who co-led the operating team. Owen is medical director of the privately funded Microsearch Foundation in Sydney. Could his pioneering procedure pave the way for transplanting whole limbs, faces, penises even? Rachel Nowak talked to…