Watch the Discovery Channel special ?Human Body: Pushing the Limits? and be awed at the spectacular ways the human body works to keep us alive. The Discovery Channel went all out to simultaneously educate and entertain the viewer in making ?Human Body: Pushing the Limits.?
Originally aired in 2008, ?Human Body: Pushing the Limits? contains four separate segments: Sight, Strength, Sensation and Brain Power. Each one hour episode contains incredible 3-D computer generated graphics. The animated graphics assist in the demonstration of how the body reacts in various life threatening situations.
The human body is an incredible intricate structure composed of various systems and organs working in synergy. ?Human Body: Pushing the Limits? educates and fascinates the viewer as it displays the human body at its best.
Learn how the eyes quickly focus on precise objects, how the muscles and bone work under stress and how the brain instructs us what to eat to stay alive. Discover how the brain makes time seem slower so life saving decisions can be made. See how the human body summons untapped strength and speed in dangerous situations.
?Human Body: Pushing the Limits? provides first-hand accounts of how the body functions for the sole purpose of survival. Interviews with survivors, doctors and scientists provide insightful information to educate the viewer.
?Human Body: Pushing the Limits? is fascinating, educational and interesting. I highly recommend this four part series. The computer graphics will astound you while the information will amaze you. Watch and learn what a fantastic structure the human body is at rest and in survival situations.
Dr. Donald A. Ozello DC
Dr. Donald A. Ozello DC is the owner and treating doctor at Championship Chiropractic. 2595 S. Cimarron Rd, Suite #100, Las Vegas, NV 89117. ?His web address is?www.ChampionshipChiropractic.com. He can be contacted at (702) 286-9040 and?DrO@ChampionshipChiropractic.com.
Dr. Donald A. Ozello?s mission is to educate and inspire others to live healthier, fitter, more functional lives.
Dr. Donald A. Ozello DC writes a weekly health, fitness, exercise and nutrition column for The Las Vegas Informer. He is published in?OnFitness?magazine,Livestrong.com,?SpineUniverse.com?and?eHow.com.
Dr. Donald A. Ozello DC is an award-winning public speaker. He has spoken to numerous groups on health, fitness, exercise, ergonomics and nutrition.
Dr. Donald A. Ozello DC loves to exercise. Bike riding and kettlebell training are his current favorite types of exercises. He credits Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno and Sly Stallone as major influences during his teens and early twenties.
Before pursuing his career in Chiropractic, Dr. Donald A. Ozello DC served in the United States Navy aboard the USS Bremerton, SSN 698.
Contact: Sean Bettam s.bettam@utoronto.ca 416-946-7950 University of Toronto
TORONTO, ON An international team of astrophysicists has shown that planetary systems with very distant binary stars are particularly susceptible to violent disruptions, more so than if they had stellar companions with tighter orbits around them.
Unlike the Sun, many stars are members of binary star systems where two stars orbit one another and these stars' planetary systems can be altered by the gravity of their companion stars. The orbits of very distant or wide stellar companions often become very eccentric ie. less circular over time, driving the once-distant star into a plunging orbit that passes very close to the planets once per orbital period. The gravity of this close-passing companion can then wreak havoc on planetary systems, triggering planetary scatterings and even ejections.
"The stellar orbits of wide binaries are very sensitive to disturbances from other passing stars as well as the tidal field of the Milky Way," said Nathan Kaib, lead author of a study published today in Nature describing the findings. "This causes their stellar orbits to constantly change their eccentricity their degree of circularity. If a wide binary lasts long enough, it will eventually find itself with a very high orbital eccentricity at some point in its life."
When a wide binary orbit becomes very eccentric, the two stars will pass very close together once per orbit on one side of the orbital ellipse, while being very far apart on the other side of the ellipse. This can have dire consequences for planets in these systems since the gravity of a close-passing star can radically change planetary orbits around the other star, causing planets to scatter off of one another and sometimes get ejected to interstellar space.
Kaib, a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University and a National Fellow in the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, conducted computer simulations of the process with Queen's University physics professor Martin Duncan and Sean N. Raymond, a researcher at the University of Bordeaux and the Centre national de la recherche scientifique in France. They added a a hypothetical wide binary companion to the Earth's solar system which eventually triggered at least one of four giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) to be ejected in almost half of the simulations.
"This process takes hundreds of millions of years if not billions of years to occur in these binaries. Consequently, planets in these systems initially form and evolve as if they orbited an isolated star," said Kaib, who will present the findings this week at the 221st meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California. "It is only much later that they begin to feel the effects of their companion star, which often times leads to disruption of the planetary system."
"We also found that there is substantial evidence that this process occurs regularly in known extrasolar planetary systems," said Duncan. "Planets are believed to form on circular orbits, and they are only thought to attain highly eccentric orbits through powerful and/or violent perturbations. When we looked at the orbital eccentricities of planets that are known to reside in wide binaries, we found that they are statistically more eccentric than planets around isolated stars like our Sun. "
The researchers believe this is a telltale signature of past planetary scattering events, and that those with eccentric orbits are often interpreted to be the survivors of system-wide instabilities.
"The eccentric planetary orbits seen in these systems are essentially scars from past disruptions caused by the companion star," said Raymond.
The researchers note that this observational signature could only be reproduced well when they assumed that the typical planetary system extends from its host star as much as 10 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Otherwise, the planetary system is too compact to be affected by even a stellar companion on a very eccentric orbit.
"Recently, planets orbiting at wide distances around their host stars have been directly imaged. Our work predicts that such planets are common but have so far gone largely undetected," says Duncan.
###
Note to media: Visit www.artsci.utoronto.ca/main/media-releases/wide-binary-stars-study to view a simulation of the process described here.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Nathan Kaib
Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, Northwestern University & Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto
440-290-9387 (cell)
847-467-3017 (office)
nathan.kaib@northwestern.edu
Sean Bettam
Communications, Faculty of Arts & Science
University of Toronto
s.bettam@utoronto.ca
416-946-7950
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Sean Bettam s.bettam@utoronto.ca 416-946-7950 University of Toronto
TORONTO, ON An international team of astrophysicists has shown that planetary systems with very distant binary stars are particularly susceptible to violent disruptions, more so than if they had stellar companions with tighter orbits around them.
Unlike the Sun, many stars are members of binary star systems where two stars orbit one another and these stars' planetary systems can be altered by the gravity of their companion stars. The orbits of very distant or wide stellar companions often become very eccentric ie. less circular over time, driving the once-distant star into a plunging orbit that passes very close to the planets once per orbital period. The gravity of this close-passing companion can then wreak havoc on planetary systems, triggering planetary scatterings and even ejections.
"The stellar orbits of wide binaries are very sensitive to disturbances from other passing stars as well as the tidal field of the Milky Way," said Nathan Kaib, lead author of a study published today in Nature describing the findings. "This causes their stellar orbits to constantly change their eccentricity their degree of circularity. If a wide binary lasts long enough, it will eventually find itself with a very high orbital eccentricity at some point in its life."
When a wide binary orbit becomes very eccentric, the two stars will pass very close together once per orbit on one side of the orbital ellipse, while being very far apart on the other side of the ellipse. This can have dire consequences for planets in these systems since the gravity of a close-passing star can radically change planetary orbits around the other star, causing planets to scatter off of one another and sometimes get ejected to interstellar space.
Kaib, a postdoctoral fellow in the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University and a National Fellow in the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, conducted computer simulations of the process with Queen's University physics professor Martin Duncan and Sean N. Raymond, a researcher at the University of Bordeaux and the Centre national de la recherche scientifique in France. They added a a hypothetical wide binary companion to the Earth's solar system which eventually triggered at least one of four giant planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) to be ejected in almost half of the simulations.
"This process takes hundreds of millions of years if not billions of years to occur in these binaries. Consequently, planets in these systems initially form and evolve as if they orbited an isolated star," said Kaib, who will present the findings this week at the 221st meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Long Beach, California. "It is only much later that they begin to feel the effects of their companion star, which often times leads to disruption of the planetary system."
"We also found that there is substantial evidence that this process occurs regularly in known extrasolar planetary systems," said Duncan. "Planets are believed to form on circular orbits, and they are only thought to attain highly eccentric orbits through powerful and/or violent perturbations. When we looked at the orbital eccentricities of planets that are known to reside in wide binaries, we found that they are statistically more eccentric than planets around isolated stars like our Sun. "
The researchers believe this is a telltale signature of past planetary scattering events, and that those with eccentric orbits are often interpreted to be the survivors of system-wide instabilities.
"The eccentric planetary orbits seen in these systems are essentially scars from past disruptions caused by the companion star," said Raymond.
The researchers note that this observational signature could only be reproduced well when they assumed that the typical planetary system extends from its host star as much as 10 times the distance between the Earth and the Sun. Otherwise, the planetary system is too compact to be affected by even a stellar companion on a very eccentric orbit.
"Recently, planets orbiting at wide distances around their host stars have been directly imaged. Our work predicts that such planets are common but have so far gone largely undetected," says Duncan.
###
Note to media: Visit www.artsci.utoronto.ca/main/media-releases/wide-binary-stars-study to view a simulation of the process described here.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Nathan Kaib
Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics, Northwestern University & Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto
440-290-9387 (cell)
847-467-3017 (office)
nathan.kaib@northwestern.edu
Sean Bettam
Communications, Faculty of Arts & Science
University of Toronto
s.bettam@utoronto.ca
416-946-7950
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2012 file photo Lindsey Vonn, of the United States, speeds down the course on her way to win an alpine ski, women's World Cup super-G, in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Lindsey Vonn is feeling better and has returned to Europe and started training again as she prepares to return to the World Cup circuit this month after an unscheduled midseason break. Rainer Salzgeber, the racing director of Vonn's equipment supplier Head, tells The Associated Press that the four-time overall winner arrived in Austria on Wednesday and began light training on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013. Salzgeber says Vonn is planning to start racing again in the downhill and super-G in St. Anton, Austria, on Jan. 12-13. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati, Files)
FILE - In this Dec. 8, 2012 file photo Lindsey Vonn, of the United States, speeds down the course on her way to win an alpine ski, women's World Cup super-G, in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Lindsey Vonn is feeling better and has returned to Europe and started training again as she prepares to return to the World Cup circuit this month after an unscheduled midseason break. Rainer Salzgeber, the racing director of Vonn's equipment supplier Head, tells The Associated Press that the four-time overall winner arrived in Austria on Wednesday and began light training on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013. Salzgeber says Vonn is planning to start racing again in the downhill and super-G in St. Anton, Austria, on Jan. 12-13. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati, Files)
Lindsey Vonn is feeling better and has returned to Europe to train. Meanwhile, it's less likely Bode Miller will race this season.
Vonn started training for a return to the World Cup circuit after a midseason break to recover from an intestinal illness.
Rainer Salzgeber, the racing director of Vonn's equipment supplier Head, told The Associated Press that the four-time overall winner arrived in Austria on Wednesday and began light training on Thursday. He said Vonn plans to race in the downhill and super-G on Jan. 12-13 in St. Anton, Austria.
Miller still hasn't started training, working his way back after left knee surgery at the end of last season. Salzgeber said Miller was still expected back in Europe at the end of the month, but likely won't race this season.
"I don't know what he expects, but I don't expect it," Salzgeber said
Vonn has not competed since falling in the opening run of a giant slalom Dec. 16 in Courchevel, France. After that event, the American announced she was going home to recover from an intestinal illness that landed her in the hospital in November.
Vonn is training in Hinterreit, the Austrian resort where she crashed badly in training two seasons ago and sustained a concussion. This week, ski technician Heinz Haemmerle joined her at the resort.
"Heinz said she did a lot of free skiing today, and did some (giant slalom)," Salzgeber said. "The plan has always been for her to come back at St. Anton."
U.S. women's head coach Alex Hoedlmoser wouldn't confirm Vonn's return in St. Anton.
"We all want her to come back and she obviously wants to race but it will depend on how well things are going during training the next couple of days," he said. "The first downhill training is (next) Thursday, so there is no hurry. We still have some time left."
A return at the Austria events would mean Vonn will miss a total of six races, leaving little chance of defending her overall title. She has dropped from fourth to sixth in the standings, trailing leader Tina Maze of Slovenia by 725 points.
After St. Anton, the women have a slalom in Flachau, Austria, followed by more speed races next weekend in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. It remains unclear if Vonn will enter every event the rest of the season.
"That depends on how it goes," Salzgeber said.
However, returning in St. Anton ? on a course Vonn has won on before ? gives her plenty of time to get back into top form for the season's highlight, the world championships Feb. 5-17 in Schladming, Austria. A year before the Sochi Olympics, Vonn will be looking to regain the downhill and super-G world titles that Austria's Elisabeth Goergl took from her in 2011 when Vonn was slowed by the concussion.
Last November, Vonn stayed two nights in a hospital in Vail, Colo., after suffering from severe intestinal pain. She returned to the circuit and won three consecutive races in Lake Louise, Alberta.
Vonn also won a super-G on Dec. 8 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, but struggled in her last three races. She had an uncharacteristic fall in downhill, her best event, in Val d'Isere, France.
With 57 career wins, Vonn needs just five more to match all-time leader Annemarie Moser-Proell of Austria.
___
Associated Press writer Eric Willemsen in Zagreb, Croatia, contributed to this report.
4 January 2013Last updated at 05:26 ETBy James GallagherHealth and science reporter, BBC News
A former pub landlord from West Yorkshire has become the first person in the UK to have a hand transplant.
Mark Cahill, who is 51, had been unable to use his right hand after it was affected by gout.
Doctors say he is making good progress after an eight-hour operation at Leeds General Infirmary.
It is still very early to assess how much control of the hand will be gained - so far he can wiggle his fingers, but has no sense of touch.
'My hand' Continue reading the main story
The new hand
It is early days to assess what level of function Mr Cahill will achieve with his new hand.
Surgeons hope that within 18 months it will be a huge improvement on what he had before.
Prof Simon Kay said: "I would hope that he has a quite a strong grasp, good sensibility in the hand, good ability to feel and a precision pinch."
Both doctors and patient are pleased so far.
Hand transplants raise more ethical questions than other transplants, such as the heart, as they improve the quality of life rather than saving a life.
Yet Mr Cahill will need a lifetime of drugs to suppress his immune system in order to stop his body rejecting the donor hand. This can leave him vulnerable to infection.
Mark Cahill, from Greetland near Halifax, said: "When I look at it and move it, it just feels like my hand.
"Right now it feels really good, it's not a lot of pain, it looks good, it looks a great match and I'm looking forward to getting it working now."
Mr Cahill's new hand is still bandaged up, but he can already move his fingers. It is hoped that with time he will gain much greater levels of movement and sensation.
He developed gout in his toes and feet 20 years ago. Five years ago it spread to his right hand leaving him unable to open his fingers or use his hand for anything.
One option would have been a bionic hand, but he volunteered for the pioneering surgery.
As well as being a first for the UK, it was also the first time a recipient's hand has been amputated during an operation to attach a donor hand.
The fresh cut, made where you would wear a watch, allowed surgeons to connect nerves in Mr Cahill's arm with those in the donor hand with great precision - along with the bone, blood vessels and tendons.
The operation took place on 27 December when a donor hand became available.
'Extremely challenging'
Prof Simon Kay, a consultant plastic surgeon at the hospital, said: "The team was on standby from the end of November awaiting a suitable donor limb, and the call came just after Christmas.
"It was extremely challenging to be the first team in the UK to carry out such a procedure.
"It is still early days but indications are good and the patient is making good progress."
He also paid tribute to the donor and their family.
Continue reading the main story
Milestones
Transplants have a long history with the first taking place more than a century ago - in 1905. Alois Glogar was blinded in an accident working with lime. Dr Eduard Zirm grafted corneas from an 11-year-old boy onto both eyes - one failed, but the other allowed Mr Glogar to see.
The first successful kidney transplant took place in 1954 between identical twins.
Dr Christiaan Barnard was the first to perform a successful heart transplant in South Africa in 1967.
The first hand transplant was in 1998.
In 2005 the first partial face transplant was carried out in France. Isabelle Dinoire, who had been mauled by her dog, was given a new nose, chin and lips.
The first full face transplant took place in 2010.
Leeds General Infirmary already has a reputation for reattaching hands which have been accidentally cut off.
This operation has been planned for more than two years and the hospital was in touch with plastic surgeons across the country looking for people who might be suitable.
Potential patients had to be assessed - both physically and psychologically - to ensure they were suitable for the procedure.
The surgical team also liaised with surgeons in France who performed the first hand transplant in 1998.
'Mentally detached'
The first recipient was Clint Hallam, from New Zealand, who had lost a hand in an accident with a circular saw more than a decade earlier.
He later had the hand removed, complaining it was like a dead man's hand with no feeling in it.
He said he felt "mentally detached" from the transplant, which was wider and longer than his own. The skin was also a different colour.
Surgeons do try to find hand transplants which are a close physical match to a patient, however, they are very visible, unlike a transplanted internal organ such as a kidney.
Ensuring a patient is prepared for the mental challenge of living with a hand which is not their own is considered as important as the surgical element of the transplant.
More than 60 hand transplants have been carried out around the world.
Prof Norman Williams, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons, said: "This is yet another example of life-changing surgical advancements that are now possible."
"As with all procedures that improve the quality of life rather than save it, there is an ethical balance to be struck - especially as the lifelong anti-rejection medication that the patient would need to take carries its own risks.
"Care always needs to be taken in choosing suitable patients who understand the risks and benefits."
Jennifer Lawrence is an actress that is beautiful, but doesn’t seem to realize it or take herself too seriously. Maybe that is what makes her so endearing? The 22-year-old strikes a sexy pose for Vanity Fair magazine, but describes herself as “vastly uneducated”. Lawrence told Vanity Fair, “Not to sound rude, but [acting] is stupid. ...
Sen. Michael Crapo, R-Idaho, center, followed by his wife Susan, arrives at Alexandria General District Court in Alexandria, Va., on Friday, Jan. 4.
By NBC News staff and wire
?
Idaho Republican Sen. Michael Crapo will lose his license for a year after pleading guilty Friday to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge in a Virginia court.?
In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped a charge of failing to obey a traffic signal.
After the hearing, Crapo gave a statement outside the Alexandria City courthouse apologizing for his actions. The senator said he had been drinking vodka and tonic at home on the night of the offense, became restless, couldn't sleep and went out for a drive.
?
His Dec. 23 arrest stunned colleagues and constituents alike, not only because of his squeaky-clean image but also because he's Mormon and had said he didn?t
drink, in accordance with his church's practices.?
Crapo said the night of his arrest was the first time he had ever driven under the influence, but that he has, in the last year or so, imbibed
alcohol on occasion. He apologized for that.?
"As a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I have endeavored all my life to be an outstanding member,?Crapo said. "I will carry through on appropriate measures for forgiveness and repentance in my church."?
He had been driving for about 30 minutes when he realized he was in no condition to drive and started to return home, he said. It was then that he ran a red light and was pulled over.?
"I am grateful, truly grateful, that no one was injured," Crapo said.
The senator was?stopped after a patrol officer saw his vehicle go through a red light. After failing field sobriety tests, he was arrested and ?taken into custody without incident,? according to Alexandria police. He registered a blood alcohol level above the legal limit, police said.
After his plea, Crapo received a $250 fine and a 12-month suspension of his driver's license. He will also be required to complete an alcohol safety program. As long as he remains on good behavior, he will not have to serve a 180-day suspended jail sentence.?
"There was no refusal (to take sobriety tests), no accident, no injuries," Alexandria Police spokesman Jody Donaldson told The Associated Press at the time of Crapo's arrest.
Crapo has served in the Senate since 1998, where he has built a reputation as a staunch social and fiscal conservative. He is currently in his third term and won't have to run again until 2016.
Crapo said he felt like he owed people a full explanation of his behavior and took numerous questions outside the courthouse.?
He is from Idaho Falls, Idaho, and has five children with his wife, Susan.
NBC's Frank Thorp and The Associated Press contributed reporting.
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Jennifer Lawrence is an actress that is beautiful, but doesn’t seem to realize it or take herself too seriously. Maybe that is what makes her so endearing? The 22-year-old strikes a sexy pose for Vanity Fair magazine, but describes herself as “vastly uneducated”. Lawrence told Vanity Fair, “Not to sound rude, but [acting] is stupid. ...