Summary: Not every machine can recharge and repair itself on a regular basis. Fortunately, the human machine can-quickly rebounding to a state of alertness, adaptability, and high-gear action. This program explores the staggering capabilities of the body's interlinked devices, from the sleeping brain to the wide-awake reproductive system. Viewers learn about the photographic powers of the eye, which...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although facial and body hair are the most visible signs of male puberty, the process of becoming a man actually involves major organs like the heart and lungs. No one demonstrates that better than 14-year-old Jesse, whose physique is developing rapidly-while Mark, at almost the same age, poignantly awaits even the first hint of change. Meanwhile, 12-year-old choir member Dominic struggles to...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Although it is a major weight-bearing joint, the knee is surprisingly flexible in all manner of forward, reverse, and lateral motions. This program addresses the intricate mechanics of the knee joint's musculature, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. In addition, traumas to the menisci and the collateral and cruciate ligaments-the most commonly damaged structures-are described.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: Everything is wrong, complains Claudia-who, until her changing body lost its sense of balance, envisioned no obstacles to becoming a professional dancer. Identical twins Jessica and Rebecca prepare for high school and the social stress it will bring, with bra shopping at the top of their worry list. And Alex, now 13, sheds light on the trauma of starting puberty at age seven. Incorporating...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: When used with delicacy, the hand is capable of manipulation that goes far beyond what might be expected of its mechanical design. This program demonstrates how the hand functions, spotlighting the opposable nature of the thumb, and how the nerve network and blood vessels deploy. The pathologies of common damage, including carpal tunnel syndrome, wrist fractures, "mallet finger," and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: A ball-and-socket joint capable of a complex range of motion, the shoulder achieves its mobility through the sacrifice of stability, relying on surrounding muscles and tendons for strength. This program presents the technical specifications of the shoulder: what muscles sheathe it, how it functions, and its range of motion. Conditions such as bursitis, tendonitis, dislocation, and fracture of...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program airs conflicting viewpoints of biologists, nutritionists, and geriatric experts as it presents efforts being made to dramatically slow the process of aging. Factors impacting the rate of aging and bodily changes associated with aging are analyzed, and insights into the telomere hypothesis, the oxidative stress hypothesis, and hormone depletion associated with aging are provided....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: Raging hormones. Exploding sexual passion. Rebellion punctuated by tattoos, pierced lips, and unfathomable music. What happens during the teen years to make kids so different? In this fascinating ABC News special, John Stossel talks to a variety of teens and their parents and visits the Harvard Medical School's Brain Imaging Center to reveal some surprising physiological reasons for teen...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: 1.Colon Cancer: Could something as simple as aspirin prevent this deadly disease? Possibly, but researchers are also honing in on colon cancer’s genetic causes, using one of the best DNA databases in the world—Utah’s Mormon population. 2.Cancer: Compiling the Catalog: In this report, researchers at the University of Michigan are assembling an encyclopedia of cancer genes which will help...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: In an escalating war between humans and microbes, catastrophic disease may have the edge. This program studies the ubiquitous threat posed by super viruses and describes scientific efforts to prepare for viral disease epidemics. Documenting the World Health Organization's response to the 2005 Angolan Marburg virus outbreak, the program examines strengths and weaknesses in the WHO...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: 1.In the Blood: In this report, doctors attempt to use a leukemia patient’s own bone marrow as a source of life-saving stem cells. 2.Sickle Cell Anemia: The most common genetic disease in America is also one of the most painful and debilitating. But an experiment on mice has raised hopes with an anti-sickling gene therapy. 3.Using a Killer to Cure: This segment highlights work at MIT and...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: Despite its slowed responses in old age, the human body, with help from modern medicine, can still fight injury and illness. This program demonstrates that sustained ability by following medical cases involving patients as advanced as age 80 and older. Entering the hospital with intense chest pain, Geoffrey finds he is facing a tiny enemy-a blood clot in one of the vessels feeding his heart....
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2008
View online at AVOD
Summary: The ankle, a major weight-bearing joint, is injured more than any other part of the body. After examining the surface features of the foot and ankle, this program probes the deeper layers, highlighting major bones, muscles, ligaments, blood vessels, and nerves. Special attention is given to the arches and the ankle joint with respect to stability. Common ankle and foot injuries, such as sprains...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this program, world-renowned anatomist Gunther von Hagens takes viewers into the inner workings of the respiratory and circulatory systems-exposing the path that oxygen takes through the human body. Von Hagens dissects lung tissue to reveal alveoli, delves into the atria and ventricles of the heart, and examines the intricate network of blood vessels that spreads through the abdomen, limbs,...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program describes the structure and functioning of the heart. It analyzes the three basic components of the heart-muscle, valves, and pacemaker-and shows how each one contributes to the proper functioning of the organ as a whole.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: For engine power and endurance, nothing beats the human heart. Over a 12-hour period it propels enough blood to fill 22,132 wine glasses. The human chassis isn't bad, either. Its bones are ultra-light and tough as steel, not to mention that they produce 139 million blood cells every minute. Using animation and dramatizations, this program offers up surprising and enlightening facts about the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Most animals, including humans, are essentially food-processing tubes. In this program, anatomy guru Gunther von Hagens lays out the human body's seven-meter digestive tract end-to-end, showing viewers each stop on the gastrointestinal highway. Beginning with the tongue, salivary glands, pharynx, and epiglottis, von Hagens uncovers and removes the esophagus, stomach, duodenum, small and large...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program shows the crucial part water plays in the body's functioning and the system for keeping it in balance. Drinking, sweating, and breathing are covered. The urinary tract is analyzed in detail, with particular attention to the functioning of the kidneys.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: In America, many AIDS patients receive as much as
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: America's frenzied debate over government health insurance has eclipsed another, no less challenging, national health care crisis-the plight of people with serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. This Fred Friendly Seminar sheds light on barriers to treatment, ethical and legal dilemmas, and fragmented social policies that are creating a nightmare for families, filling...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: The prescription of antibiotics is a medical tightrope-walk. The drugs save lives, but, because of overuse, may soon usher in a new era of super-germs. This program outlines the discoveries of bacteria and penicillin and sheds light on the frightening emergence of multi-resistant, often deadly microbes during the last six decades. Presenting interviews with researchers who are deeply involved...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: This ABC News program focuses on the good works being done by two remarkable AIDS crusaders who have taken the AIDS pandemic in Africa to heart: singer/songwriter Alicia Keyes and human rights maverick Stephen Lewis. Keyes' position as spokesperson for Keep a Child Alive, a nonprofit organization providing life-saving medicines directly to African children and families with HIV/AIDS, is...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006