On the Edge of the Possible: The Science of Survival

14 hrs. 40 min.

Popular Science

Language Russian

Author Frances Ashcroft

Narrator Mikhail Roslyakov

Description

One of the world’s most outstanding women scientists, Frances Ashcroft, has climbed Kilimanjaro and gone scuba diving, undergone something like a “trial by fire” in a hot Japanese bath, and even saved the life of a person who had fallen into icy water. Her book is not only fascinating reading and a work of science, but also a practical guide to survival.

And quite possibly, it will help you in moments of utmost strain—whether in sport, on a thrill ride, or in a struggle for life.

Contents:

Acknowledgments
Introduction
To the Top of Kilimanjaro
1. Life at the Top
Early Accounts of Mountain Sickness
Climbing Everest
Falling Barometric Pressure
Why Sudden Decompression Is Dangerous
Acute Mountain Sickness
Inhale-Exhale
Acclimatization
Lessons from Great Heights
A View from Above
Headlong into the Deep
2. Life Under Pressure
The Physics of Pressure
The First Divers
Bubbles in the Blood
You Have to Ascend Slowly
Diving and Caisson Disease
At the Water’s Edge
Organ Ruptures
Holding Your Breath
Scuba Diving
The Rapture of the Deep
A Little of a Good Thing
Feats on the Brink of Unconsciousness
Where Is the Limit?
Life at Depth
Delayed Danger
Into the Abyss
Worse than Bondage
Enjoy Your Steam Bath!
3. Life in the Inferno
Body Temperature
Feeling the Heat
Walking on Coals
Hot News
Cooling Down
Sweating Buckets
Keep Your Head Cool
Sizes and Shapes
Heatstroke
Fever
Life without Water
Salt of the Earth
Humanity’s Hot Cradle
The Blues of Cold Water
4. Life in the Cold
Fighting the Cold
How Much Cold Can a Human Endure?
Resistance to Cold
Freezing to Death
In Arctic Waters
Dangerous Fluctuations
Life after “Death”
Chapped Hands and Frozen Feet
Frostbite
Eskimos and Explorers
The Benefits of Cold
About Penguins and Polar Bears
Life at the Poles
5. Life in the Fast Lane
Questions of Energy
The Need for Oxygen
You Are What You Eat
Speed versus Endurance
Full Speed Ahead!
Staying the Course
Exhaustion
Training
The Limit
Gender Differences
Improving Performance
Wonders of the Animal World
Size Matters
A Test of Endurance
6. The Final Frontier
A Brief Excursion into the History of Space Exploration
Your Stomach in Your Boots and Eyes Popping Out
Ready for Launch!
Life Support
Free Fall
Weightlessness
Sleep
Infection
Space Sickness
The Price of Success
Cosmic Radiation
A Step into the Void
Return
Back to Earth
Where Next?
7. Extremophiles among Extremophiles
The Tree of Life
Some Like It Hotter
Addicted to Acid
Alkali Lovers
A Pinch of Salt
Life in Stone
Cave Dwellers
Life without Oxygen
A Hardened Character
Life in the Freezer
Anabiosis
A Million-Dollar Fortune on Microbes
Extraterrestrial Life?
A Note on Units of Measurement
Further Reading