‘Grey’s Anatomy” may be sexy but – in spite of its textbook title – it’s hardly educational. If you actually want to learn something about the human – as opposed to the Hollywood – body, pick up a copy of “Ouch!: How Your Body Makes It Through a Very Bad Day.”
The meticulously and disturbingly detailed book illustrates what happens to the body experiencing a sneeze, a sunburn, a cut. “We wanted to look at things a bit differently,” says author Richard Walker by phone from his London home. “We wanted to show how the body defends itself and fights against attack.”
The book, out this month from DK Publishing, comes with a nifty DVD that brings the book to life, sort of like a mini “Fantastic Voyage.”
While “Ouch!” will doubtless do well – we couldn’t stop looking at the popping zit! – Walker does not anticipate a sequel. “We have a range of fairly nasty bad things: People get spots and they vomit and have stings, but I think we’ve pretty well stretched it,” he explains. “I mean, would you want to amputate a limb?”
Suntan
A suntan actually starts deep in the layers of the skin. Sunlight’s UV rays pass through the thin epidermis to the deeper, melanin-producing melanocytes, which determine skin color. Stimulated by the UV rays, the cells produce more and darker melanin, which migrates up through the skin in the form of melanosomes. They soon reach keratinocytes, which constantly divide and replace worn-away skin. The melanin they carry toward the skin’s surface is what makes a suntan.
Bee sting
A humble bee sting produces nothing short of chemical warfare. The sting cuts through the top layer of skin, where pain receptors spring into action. The receptors trigger nerve impulses that travel quickly to the brain along tiny cables called nerve fibers. This is when you feel pain. At this point, the arteries, which carry oxygen-rich blood to the skin, widen to increase blood flow to the wound, and this extra blood brings germ-killers and healing properties, diluting the bee venom.
Adrenaline
When threatened, the body releases adrenaline, which increases the heart rate. The hormone fires up the sinoatrial node, or pacemaker. Electrical impulses from the pacemaker pass through the walls of the atria, triggering the heart’s contraction and squeezing blood to the ventricles, which in turn contract more rapidly, pumping out more blood to muscles and lungs.