Herschel Walker: A Runner

Keywords: Herschel Walker, Football, All-Pro

The Story: Herschel Walker, famed NFL football star of the 1980's and 90's is known for his legendary work ethic. Apparently, he started young, and suddenly. According to the Academy of Achievement website, "Herschel Walker showed little interest in sports; he preferred reading books and writing poetry. At age 12, however, he began a crash exercise program. Over the next year, he did 100,000 push-ups, 100,000 sit-ups and sprinted thousands of miles." Let's do the math. Interpreting "thousands" to be 2,000 miles (it could be more), and assuming Herschel worked out all 365 days that year, this comes out to approximately 5.5 miles of sprinting, 274 pushups, and 274 sit-ups per day. This could be excruciating, if not dangerous work, even for a healthy adult. And this is Herschel just kicking off his routine. Herschel went on to trump numerous records, and received several awards en route to and during his time in the NFL. What does he have to say about starting this exercise routine at age 12? "...it just made me feel good."

Additional Reading:
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/wal0bio-1

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Horseshoe Crab: More Than a Fossil

Keywords: Horseshoe Crab, Evolution, Fossil, Endotoxins

The Story: Most people know the Horeshoe Crab as "the living fossil" for their mysteriously arrested evolution - fossil records show that they are morphologically unchanged; biologically, they are primitive. These creatures used to keep dinosaurs company, and have survived myriad other prehistorical climate turns and events since then. Besides fawning over their mysteriousness, we rely on them for our health, environmental health, and promise for future medical cures. A "CSI"-like investigation into one Horseshoe Crab's death lead to the discovery of bacterial endotoxins, and the crab's blood as a vehicle to detect them. Now Horseshoe Crab blood is harvested and used to test medical implants and drugs for bacteria. Shore birds devour Horseshoe Crabs eggs, giving the birds valuable energy for their long journy south. The crab's primitive eye structures are being studied in order to help scientists cure blindness. So, what are the keys for surviving as a species for millions of years? Among other things: develop a thick shell, get good at keeping bacteria out of your blood, and see just well enough to detect potential mates.

Additional Reading:
http://www.horseshoecrab.org/
http://wpni01.auroraquanta.com/pv/biohorse?img=1586

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Tabata: Timing is Everything

Keywords: Tabata, Athletic Training, Intervals

The Story: The Tabata interval was discovered by Japanese exercise physiologist, Dr. Izumi Tabata. It is a set of 8 continuous intervals of 20 seconds of high intensity work (commonly a weighted squat exercise) followed by 10 seconds rest. What is special about this interval, is that it taxes the anaerobic and aerobic systems in such a way that both are improved substantially on a regiment of these intervals. After 6 weeks on this program, gains of 14% in VO2 max and 28% in anaerobic capacity were said to be noted by Tabata. These types of gains are not paralleled in the longer-effort paradigms. A program consisting of moderate aerobic effort for 60 minutes, 5 days a week may result in about a 10% gain in VO2 max after 6 weeks, and likely nothing in the anaerobic department. If you do the math, the Tabata comes out to 4 minutes of working out (without the warm-up and cool-down). The secret ingredient of Tabata's interval sequence? The 10 second rest. Ummm...why didn't anyone think of this before?

Additional Reading:
http://www.achieve-fitness.com/ideal.htm
http://www.ms-se.com/pt/re/msse/abstract.00005768-199703000-00015.htm

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Melungeons: Possibly Portuguese

Keywords: Melungeon, Appalacian

The Story: Many theories surround the origins of the "lost people of Appalacia", a.k.a the Melungeons. The Melungeons are a group of copper-skinned people with proper English names. They commonly spoke Elizabethan english, and called themselves "Portyghee", (or Portuguese). Interestingly, at least two theories hinge on this group of people being abandoned (by the Spanish) or stranded (by Sir Francis Drake of England, or the Welsh explorer, Modoc). Confused yet? Some claim that the Melungeons are a lost tribe of Israel. Linguistically, and genetically, the Melungeons seem to be linked closest to the Turks. Some claim they are a tri-racial group of with west African, Native American and European roots. Indeed, the theories alone are mind boggling. That aside, alleged descendents of the Melungeons include, among others, Elvis. (Who else?) Why are there so many theories about these people?

Additional Reading:
http://www.melungeons.com/
http://www.colorado.edu/iec/FALL299RW/can.html
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gowenrf/malangu.htm

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Radon: Trick or Treat?

Keywords: Radon, Radioactive

The Story: Visit the Merry Widow Health Mine near Basin, Montana on a typical day, and you will find enthusiastic believers in the power of Radon to cure what ails them. Visitors spend prescribed amounts of time sitting in the old radon-emitting mine on what looks to be old school bus seats. Some play cards, others may sit quietly, but they all look calm and relaxed. This is in stark contrast to the current EPA National Health Advisory on Radon warning that urges people to test their homes for radon and to limit their exposure. According to the warning, 20,000 Americans die of radon-related lung cancer each year. At least one initial sham-controlled study indicates that there may be some benefit to radon therapy. At what dose does "merry" end and "widow" begin?

Additional Reading:
http://www.epa.gov/radon/
http://www.merrywidowmine.com/
http://rheumatology.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/39/8/894

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Bigfoot: Back at the Dance

Key Words: Bigfoot, Sasquatch

The Story: Bigfoot never really left, actually. Since the beginning of March 2006, over 40 "Class A" sighting reports, dating from 1921 to recent months, have been filed with the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization. "Class A" designation is reserved for those sightings that are found to be credible first-hand accounts where "misinterpretation or misidentification" can be ruled out with some confidence. The Bigfoot phenomena seems to have resisted decisive "debunking" efforts and may be picking up steam. It seems there are enough sightings and footprints - and online activity - to keep Bigfoot in business. Interested? Sign up for a Bigfoot expedition and learn some luring techniques. As for the famous Patterson film, which depicts a muscular ape-man in fluid motion - allegedly it has yet to be effectively re-created. Why?

Additional Reading:
http://www.bfro.net/
http://news.ufl.edu/2004/12/15/bigfoot/

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Mola Mola: So Much From So Little

Keywords: Ocean Sunfish, Mola mola

The Story: Mola mola, also called the Ocean Sunfish, is known not only for being the odd-shaped relative to the pufferfish, but for its ability to grow. The Monterey Bay Aquarium once hosted a Mola mola in its Outer Bay exhibit. The fish grew so fast that after 14 months it had unexpectedly gained 800 lbs (almost 2 lbs per day) and the aquarium had to airlift it back to the open ocean. The Mola holds a few world records, one of which is for world's heaviest bony fish - the largest recorded Mola was just shy of 5,000 lbs. Between larvae stage and adulhood, the Mola can grow to 60 million times its starting weight. A Mola in the wild feeds primarily on jellyfish and other gelatinous zooplankton. Since jellyfish are 95% water, this mysterious and fascinating fish begs the question - how can it grow so much on so little?

Additional Reading:
http://www.oceansunfish.org/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/02/0202_mola.html

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