Extreme Abilities: Amazing Human Feats and the Simple Science Behind Them
Introduction TAKING IT to the MAX Over 200 bones About 640 muscles Roughly 86 billion brain cells Your body is complicated sophisticated and fascinating Everything you do from lifting a spoonful of cereal to your mouth to writing a test requires many body parts to communicate and coordinate For your entire life your body has been achieving wondrous things You began balancing on two feet and then maybe on two wheels You started counting blocks and then adding numbers Every day your body is using all those parts from bones to brain while adapting and learning new skills And sometimes just sometimes the skills go beyond the norm In your case maybe you can cross your eyes or curl your tongue Maybe you’re fantastic at cartwheeling or Hula-Hooping Maybe you can easily remember tons of weird facts 4
The people you’ll meet in this book can do amazing things too even more than amazing things so extreme in fact they might seem impossible How about hoisting a horse Walking around the world Solving tough math problems in mere seconds These people will astound you and their feats may seem magical But almost all of these amazing achievements can be explained by science the science of the human body As we get to know these men and women we’ll explore how their bodies and brains work together to make the seemingly impossible possible We’ll also take a peek at the risks behind these activities and there are plenty It’s important to remember that the people in this book either were born with these traits or trained long and hard to get them Never put yourself in danger by trying to copy what they’ve done While we’ll tell you some ways you can safely improve your skills in these areas always respect your own limits Go slowly listen to your body and talk to an adult before pushing yourself By proceeding at your personal pace you too might someday have abilities worth bragging about Now let’s see the crazy things people can do 5
Chapter 1 MASTERS of MUSCLE Every seat in the auditorium is filled More people line the walls and hundreds of others have been turned away at the door But despite the crowd the space is quiet It’s May 27 1895 The audience in Boston Massachusetts is frozen with anticipation All eyes are on the man on the stage Louis Cyr born in Quebec Canada is already famous for his strength but now he’s going to prove without a doubt he’s the strongest man of all Louis picks 18 men out of the audience the biggest ones he can find The men are weighed They step together onto a platform resting on wooden supports Louis bends He slips under the platform He rests the top of his back against it His goal to lift all 1,967 kilograms 4,336 pounds Yesterday’s newspaper declared in huge letters CYR PROMISES A BIG SENSATION TOMORROW MORNING AT 10 50 But can Louis do it He heaves His muscles strain His legs push His face turns red The platform starts to tremble The platform starts to lift Finally it clears the supports The audience erupts in cheers
