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views:834
00:09:57
23/05/2010
Diets From Hell
At any one time, one in four people in Britain are on a diet. There are more fat people in Britain than anywhere else in Europe. This is despite the f
act that the UK spends about 18 million pounds a year on slimming products. And this is despite the fact that by the time they reach an age of 18, eight out of ten women in the UK have been on at least two diets.
Many women are serial dieters – they will try any slimming product that comes on the market, no matter how much it costs, in the hopes that it will help them to lose weight. And yet no matter how much they weigh, they will never be happy with how they look. Thus, they will never stop dieting. Dieting takes over their lives.
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOllhcPTu6I
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt-fFBw8J3c
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCG5EoQLVUk
Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghMV9FR2qac
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Keywords:low carb, Marc Sage, vegan, vegetarian, cooking, health, diet
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views:1455
00:04:27
17/05/2010
Discovery of Viagra
Viagra, the fastest selling drug of all time, is not used for what it was first designed. This is not unusual – many medicines are used for illnesses
that they were not initially designed for.
UK92480 was one of millions of compounds created by Pfizer, to be used to relax blood vessels around the heart, as a treatment for angina. But its trials in humans were a failure as far as angina was concerned. However, test users reported a side effect – lots of erections.
Scientists decided to test these reports, and found them to correct. Relaxed penile blood vessels mean more blood flow to the penis, and so an erection. Scientists took penile blood vessels from impotent men, and added UK92480 to them. They immediately converted these blood vessels to functional ones.
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Keywords:Viagra, erectile disfunction, Pfizer, UK92480, Sildenafil citrate
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views:1144
00:04:22
16/05/2010
Humans and Machines
Human beings control their bodies with their minds, however the minds can be tricked. An example is when we drink too much alcohol it slows down the f
unctions of our brain cells. Experiments were conducted in which a group of people were given drinks, which they were told are laced with vodka. In actuality, there was no alcohol in the drinks. Yet, the majority of them displayed the symptoms of drunkenness shortly after imbibing, because their minds have been conditioned to expect that reaction.
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-TBBosNY64
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsRk9DtDBu8
Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grzxP5LvfcM
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Keywords:evolution, science, conditioned response, Prof Stafford Lightman, mind over matter
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views:1346
00:05:46
11/05/2010
Winning vs. Losing
Mankind has the instinct to compete, and have done for three million years. There’s a simple reason. Our bodies are designed to give us a massive “kic
k” when we’re winning – whether it is getting a job, being top of the class, or winning an Olympic gold, our responses are the same the world over. When we are close to winning, our brain and body works in harmony to make sure victory is sweet.
What is the “full reward” of achieving a victory? The chemical “dopamine” stimulates the pleasure center of our brain, creating a profound sense of well-being. Next, endorphins rush through our body, fighting exhaustion and making us feel euphoric. This is the body’s natural high. Endorphins also block pain, by stopping the sensation reaching our spinal cord or brain. Adrenalin and testosterone then flood through our bloodstream. Now they keep us alert and speed our recovery. This enables us to be primed to take on the world again. Losing, on the other hand, is overwhelming.
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Keywords:natural high, winning, losing, endorphins, dopamine, brain, human life, Robert Winston
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views:1586
00:05:12
10/05/2010
Endorphins: The Brain's Natural Morphine
Stress associated with the uncertainty of combat led to the abuse of a variety of drugs during the Vietnam war. One of the outcomes of this was that t
he US government then provided a number of grants to study the nature of drug addiction and the neural mechanisms involved.
What is heroin? How did it work? Scientists had always wanted to know this, but after the Vietnam war, the government wanted to know, too. Hans Kosterlitz said, “It’s now time to look for morphine in the brain.” This was in the early 1960s. In 1972, he found this morphine. The substance produced naturally in the brain affected the body just like heroin had. That’s why an extract from the poppy can affect the brain…the brain uses something similar, naturally.
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Keywords:morphine, endorphins, neuroscience, brain, chemicals of the body
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views:1510
00:04:19
05/04/2010
How Food Affects Our Mood
The place to find mood boosting cures could be…the kitchen. Everything we eat has the potential to change our brain chemistry, and as a result, the wa
y we feel. The brain isn’t isolated from the rest of the body, it’s affected by what people eat and drink, just as is every other part of the body.
Certain types of foods do have an effect on the way an individual thinks and feels. After years of struggling with the problem of night club patrons leaving the bars and pubs and then getting involved in fist fights, an experiment was held – those leaving the bars and pubs were given chocolate. The chocolate affected people’s moods and prevented much violence.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEdPhWhJBWI
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9RnRvsswM4
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Keywords:BBC Documentaries, Discovery documentaries, mood food, recipes, cooking, science of nutrition, health, diets for the brain, stress management, eating lovers, special effects, educational, eternity, Storyteller, Media Explorations Broadcast Marketing, energy, thought policing, innovation, chocolate
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views:928
00:09:48
21/03/2010
Super Bugs
The World Health Organization claims that 10 million people around the world die each year because antibiotics don’t work anymore. It’s a growing prob
lem and it’s all because of a germ’s genes.
Since their discovery in the last century, anti-microbial agents have substantially reduced the threat posed by infectious diseases. Over the years, these medicines have saved the lives and eased the sufferings of millions of people. But these gains are now threatened by the advent of anti-biotic resistant microbes. These bacteria owe their drug insensitivity to resistance genes, typically on little rings of DNA called plasmits. When one bacterium develops such a gene, it is passed on to all its descendants. Two strains of drug-resistant Staph have spread around the world. University genetics labs are trying to find out how to fight them.
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Keywords:vcu virginia commonwealth university richmond rams germs bacteria gene dna science health cells biology genetics medicine
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views:1039
00:10:03
15/03/2010
A Green Light for Biology
Bioluminescence is an ability some creatures have to create their own light. Dr. Osama Shimomura looked at these creatures and found that some of thes
e creatures aren’t luminescing at all, but rather flourescing.
The difference between bioluminescence and bioflorescence is the source of the light. Creatures that are bioluminescent create their own light from a certain enyzme combined with oxygen. Creatures that are bioflourescent use incoming light to produce their own light, using a different enzyme.
No one knows why jellyfish evolved to emit blue light which they then convert to green light. Regardless, the protein used by these creatures has practical use by humans. Scientists call it GFP, or green florescent protein. This protein has made the invisible life of cells visible.
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Keywords:vcu, Virginia, commonwealth, university richmond rams medicine, gene, dna, science health, cells, molecular biology, Shimomura, Nobel prize
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views:1352
00:06:03
28/01/2010
What is Cancer?
There are over 100 common types of cancer. All cells in our bodies divide and grow, to replace cells that die on a regular basis. However, when someon
e develops a cancer, certain groups of cells grow at an uncontrolled rate. These not only grow in an uncontrolled fashion, but also eventually invade and destroy other tissues. Those that remain in one local area are benign. Others that spread to different locations in the body via lymph or blood, and continue their destruction everywhere are called malignant cancers.
Cancers are divided into five main types. Sarcomas are cancers that originate in muscle and fibrous tissue (soft tissue sarcomas), or in bone and cartilage. Leukemias are cancers of the blood cells, which arise in the blood forming organs, bone marrow and spleen. Lymphoma affect the lymphatic system, a network of vessels and nodes that act as the body’s filters. Carcinomas (80% of all cancers) arise in the body’s organs. Examples of carcinomas are breast cancer and prostate cancer. There are a few cancers that don’t fit into these five main categories.
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Keywords:Cancer information, education, metastisis, sarcoma, leukemia, lymphoma, carcinoma
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views:903
00:05:15
26/01/2010
What Does Diabetes Do?
Diabetes is a disorder in the way the body metabolizes food. In people with diabetes, the body either does not produce enough insulin, or does not res
pond as it should to the insulin it does receive. Insulin, a hormone produced in the pancreas, enables cells to absorb glucose in order to turn it into energy. If glucose accumulates in the blood it is called hyperglycemia, and leads to various potential complications.
During, and immediately after a meal, our body begins to break down food molecules, including carbohydrates, into sugar molecules. One of these sugar molecules is glucose. Glucose is a simple sugar, which supplies the fuel that every cell in our body needs to survive. After we eat, glucose is absorbed directly into the blood stream, and our blood sugar levels rise sharply. This sends a signal to the beta cells of the pancreas, instructing them to secrete just the right amount of insulin to manage the sugar. The task of insulin is to make it easier for the glucose to enter the body’s cells, in particular the cells of the muscles and liver. There, glucose is used to power the cell’s activities, or stored for future use.
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Keywords:health answers, diabetes, Diabetes Type II, Type I, sugar levels, Dr. Lauren Streicher
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