Superhuman - The Awesome Power Within

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1 General Information
2 Cover
3 Information
4 Screenshots
5 Technical Specs
- 5.1 NewMov release
- 5.2 MVGroup release
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[edit] General Information

Health-Medical Documentary hosted by Robert Winston and published by BBC in 2001 - Chinese, English Multilanguage narration

[edit] Cover

[edit] Information

We live surrounded by 20th Century technology, yet still have bodies that were designed for the Stone Age. The biggest challenge for modern medicine is to reconcile the two. This groundbreaking series shows how pioneers at the cutting edge of medicine are shaping the physical future by harnessing the body's extraordinary capacity for self-repair and re-invention. Superhuman shows the beauty and faults that lie within the human body, how it operates both in sickness and in health, and the extraordinary ways that it adapts and responds to the world. Stunning graphic embeds and imaging techniques illustrate how modern science is making the possibility of becoming superhuman a serious reality in the 21st Century.

[edit] Trauma

The body's superhuman abilities are most starkly revealed in the area of trauma - one of the world's biggest killers. Medical teams have traditionally tried to reverse the changes which occur when the body goes into trauma, but doctors are now beginning to realise that the changes which occur in the body after an injury such as the loss of blood and severe drops in temperature serve an important purpose in the recovery process. The programme explores case studies from the Falklands and Vietnam War - two situations where massive trauma was.

[edit] Spare Parts

The possibility of medicine to replace damaged organs in the body is making important headway. This programme reports on efforts to replace the most inaccessible organs with spare parts - the cochlea of a profoundly deaf two year-old and damaged retinal cells with light sensitive electronic chips are two case studies featured in the programme. The programme also examines how the body adapts to real life replacements instead of bionic substitutes in hand, limb and heart transplants and the issues surrounding the use of animal organs.

[edit] Self Repair

The human body is constantly regenerating itself, but as we get older, the ability for self-repair diminishes. The human foetus, however, has far greater powers of regeneration. The programme explores how modern medicine is looking at ways to tap into the superhuman power of the embryo to discover the genes that promote this process so they can be reactivated to create new cells and organs. Even delicate tissue such as spinal cords and brain cells can be regrown with the use of neural stem cells.

[edit] The Enemy Within

One in three of us will develop cancer and many will die from it. In response, medicine is making dramatic advances in the treatment of the disease which include the use of the poisonous African bush willow plant and gene therapy whereby the cancer cells are prevented from dividing. However, one of the most important ways to fight cancer is with the body's own superhuman powers - either with the an inherited knack to repair faulty genes or with the body's own immune system which can be boosted to attack alien invaders with a 'cancer vaccine'. Production of this programme was assisted by Dr Gordon Rustin of the Gray Laboratory - a centre for radiation research applied to cancer treatment.

[edit] Killers into Cures

Not all the microbes that live on us or inside us are benign, and it is only thanks to the superhuman nature of our bodies that we survive constant attack. However, humans are becoming increasingly vulnerable to disease. This programme examines the dramatic increase in allergic diseases such as asthma, eczema and hayfever. One explanation of this is the 'hygiene hypothesis' - the body's immune system overreacts with these allergic diseases because of insufficient exposure to everyday dirt. In fact, exposure to bacteria can actually save lives and the programme features a brain tumour being treated successfully with the Herpes Simplex virus.

[edit] The Baby Builders

Inherited genetic diseases are the second most common reason why babies die but people who carry defective genes, such as the ones that cause cystic fibrosis, are being helped by a technique called PGD - pre-implantation genetic diagnosis. This involves growing embryos in the lab, screening them for cystic fibrosis before placing one in the womb. The programme also explores ways in which eggs can be grown outside the body which could help an enormous group of people such as cancer patients who want to avoid exposing their eggs to chemotherapy. Genetic diseases might also be prevented by the genetic engineering of sperm - an idea that Professor Lord Winston discusses.

[edit] Screenshots

[edit] Technical Specs

[edit] NewMov release

Video Codec: XviD 1.0.2 +
Video Resolution: 640x352
Audio Codec: Dual VBR MP3
Audio Bitrate: 48KHz
Audio Channels: 2
Runtime per Part: 48 minutes
Number of Parts: 6
Part Size: 699 MB
Subtitles: English, Chinese

[edit] MVGroup release

Video Codec: DivX
Video Bitrate: ~1900 Kbps/part
Video Resolution: 672x384
Video Aspect Ratio: 7:4
Video Framerate: 29.97
Audio Codec: Dolby AC3
Audio Bitrate: 48KHz 192 kb/s
Audio Channels: Stereo (2/0)
Runtime per Part: ~48 minutes/part
Number of Parts: 6
Part Size: 746 MB/part, Full DVDR total
Subtitles: English
Ripped by: PolarBear

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