The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed episode 1: Over your lifetime you undergo an extraordinary change – no other animal on earth goes through such a dramatic metamorphosis. In this programme, Chris and Xand van Tulleken explore the latest understanding of how we all grow. They uncover the reason our childhood is longer than any other creature on Earth and reveal the communities of microbes – our microbiome – that we cultivate throughout our lives. They uncover the mysterious trigger for our transformation from child to adult and, for the first time, show the remarkable spark of life that is emitted when sperm and egg first meet.
In this major three-part series, Chris and Xand van Tulleken uncover the latest secrets of our bodies. Doctors and identical twins Chris and Xand van Tulleken uncover some of the hidden secrets that surround the human body. Through a series of experiments and an analysis of the latest scientific research, the pair explore some key biological topics, including the facts behind why a human’s childhood is longer than that of any other living organism. Throughout the series, the doctors also take an in-depth look at a human’s ability to learn new skills, and the vital survival mechanisms practiced by the human body.
The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed episode 1
The human body is the structure of a human being. It is composed of many different types of cells that together create tissues and subsequently organ systems. They ensure homeostasis and the viability of the human body. It comprises a head, neck, trunk (which includes the thorax and abdomen), arms and hands, legs and feet.
The study of the human body involves anatomy, physiology, histology and embryology. The body varies anatomically in known ways. Physiology focuses on the systems and organs of the human body and their functions. Many systems and mechanisms interact in order to maintain homeostasis, with safe levels of substances such as sugar and oxygen in the blood. The body is studied by health professionals, physiologists, anatomists, and by artists to assist them in their work.
The study of human physiology began with Hippocrates in Ancient Greece, around 420 BCE, and with Aristotle (384–322 BCE) who applied critical thinking and emphasis on the relationship between structure and function. Galen (ca. 126–199) was the first to use experiments to probe the body’s functions. The term physiology was introduced by the French physician Jean Fernel (1497–1558). In the 17th century, William Harvey (1578–1657) described the circulatory system, pioneering the combination of close observation with careful experiment. In the 19th century, physiological knowledge began to accumulate at a rapid rate with the cell theory of Matthias Schleiden and Theodor Schwann in 1838, that organisms are made up of cells. Claude Bernard (1813–1878) created the concept of the milieu interieur (internal environment), which Walter Cannon (1871–1945) later said was regulated to a steady state in homeostasis. In the 20th century, the physiologists Knut Schmidt-Nielsen and George Bartholomew extended their studies to comparative physiology and ecophysiology. Most recently, evolutionary physiology has become a distinct subdiscipline.
