Special effects replace medicine

Richard Taylor's Weta Workshop has received several Oscars for his work in special effects and costumes for «Lord of the Rings».

Weta recently designed a «mermaid's tail» prosthesis for a New Zealand woman whose legs had been amputated below the knee when she was a child.

Thanks to the tail, Nadya Vessey, can now swim, realizing a lifelong dream. Taylor says Vessey wanted the tail to look «realistic»: «What became apparent was that she actually physically wanted to look like a mermaid.»