The Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body

12 hrs. 37 min.

Popular Science

Language Russian

Author Frances Ashcroft

Narrator Natalia Kaznacheeva

Description

Everyone knows that electricity powers machines, but far less known is that the same can be said about us.

The ability to read and understand what’s written, to see and hear, to think and speak, to move our hands and legs, and even to realize our own “self,” is determined by the electrical activity of cells, initiated by ion channels. They regulate our life processes from conception to the last breath.

This book is almost like a detective story dedicated to a special kind of protein matter—the ion channel. It provides answers to many questions. What happens during a heart attack? Can you truly die from fear? Why can an electric eel shock you? How do poisons act on the body? What does botox actually do? What saved James Bond when he was poisoned? Why do people eat fugu? Why do red and yellow tones dominate in Claude Monet’s late paintings? Is love really a chemical phenomenon? The book is extremely educational for everyone interested in the nature of electricity and its role in our bodies.