Life at the Extremes

The Science of Survival

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by Frances Ashcroft

University of California Press

Due/Published February 2002, 347 pages, paper

ISBN 0520234200

New in paper (S02)

The challenge of scaling the highest mountain, exploring the deepest ocean, crossing the hottest desert, or swimming in near-freezing water is irresistible to many people. Life at the Extremes is an exploration of what happens to our bodies in these seemingly uninhabitable environments. Frances Ashcroft weaves stories of extraordinary feats of endurance with historical material and the latest scientific findings as she investigates the limits of human survival and the remarkable adaptations that enable us to withstand extreme conditions.

What causes mountain sickness? How is it possible to reach the top of Everest without supplementary oxygen, when passengers in an airplane that depressurized at the same altitude would lose consciousness in seconds? Why do divers get the bends but sperm whales do not? How long you can survive immersion in freezing water? Why don't penguins get frostbite? Will men always be faster runners than women? How far into deep space can a body travel?

As she considers these questions, Ashcroft introduces a cast of extraordinary scientific personalities--inventors and explorers who have charted the limits of human survival. She describes many intriguing experiments and shows how scientific knowledge has enabled us to venture toward and beyond ever greater limits. Life at the Extremes also considers what happens when athletes push their bodies to the edge, and tells of the remarkable adaptations that enable some organisms to live in boiling water, in highly acidic lakes, or deep in the middle of rocks.

Review

Lately everything seems to be extreme. Even as we live with greater comforts, we are enthralled by pushing the limits and those who cheat death. Relaxing on the beach is no longer a sufficient vacation, we must sky dive, rock climb, or bungee jump. In a sense, this phenomenon is not entirely new to physiologists who have wondered how the body endures physical challenges? In her lively work, Ashcroft explores physiologists' concerns and methods in their attempts to sort out a host of puzzling questions about the body's ability to respond to extreme conditions. Life at the Extremes describes what happens when you find yourself locked in a freezer or stranded in the desert without water, why astronauts find it difficult to stand without fainting on their return to earth, and why deep-sea divers suffer from bone disease.

Ashcroft has divided her book into chapters, each focusing on a particular condition: heights (in a chapter entitled “Climbing Kilimanjaro: Life at the Top”); Underwater ("Taking the Plunge: Life Under Pressure”); Heat (“Getting Into Hotwater: Life in the Hot Zone”): Cold (“Cold Water Blues: Life in the Cold”); Speed (“Life in the Fast Lane”); and Space (“The Final Frontier”).

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