Body in Numbers: Life's Mysteries Decoded

What is the number of cells contained in the human body? A hundred trillion, with 300,000,000 new cells being generated every minute. How many tears and how much perspiration are produced over a lifetime? The answers here are given in cups and buckets. What genetic information is in your DNA? Enough to fill over 500 large books that would take nearly 10 years to read aloud. Body in Numbers: Life's Mysteries Decoded—a four-part Discovery Health series filled with statistics about the human body—delivers its myriad facts while telling the story of human life from conception to old age, with the first episode centering on birth, the second on the early childhood years, the third running from pre-adolescence to middle age, and the last spanning an entire life. While not shying away from somewhat delicate matters (the changes that occur during puberty, for example), the treatment here avoids any hint of titillation, combining vibrant and colorful visuals and graphics with amusing “man on the street” segments in which people are asked various questions about the body before the correct answers are given. Presenting a huge amount of biological information in an imaginative and engaging package, this is recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)