How the Body Works

1: Under the microscope

1: Who's in charge? 2: Organ to cell 3: How cells work 4: What is DNA? 5: How cells multiply 6: How genes work 7: How genes make different cells 8: Stem cells 9: When DNA goes wrong

2: Holding it together

1: Skin Deep 2: Outer defences 3: The extremities 4: Pillars of support 5: Growing bones 6: Flexibility 7: Biting and chewing 8: The grinder 9: Skin damage 10: Breaking and mending 11: Wearing thin

3: On the move

1: Pulling power 2: How do muscles pull? 3: Working, stretching, pulling, braking 4: Sensory input, action output 5: The control centre 6: Communication hub 7: Sparking into life 8: Act or relax? 9: Knocks, sprains, and tears

4: Sensitive types

1: Feeling the pressure 2: How do you feel? 3: Pain's pathway 4: How the eye works 5: Forming an image 6: Vision in the brain 7: Eye problems 8: How the ear works 9: How the brain hears 10: Balancing act 11: Hearing problems 12: Catching a scent 13: On the tip of the tongue 14: Body position sense 15: Integrated senses 16: Using your voice 17: Reading faces 18: What you don't say

5: The heart of the matter

1: Filling your lungs 2: From air to blood 3: Why do we breathe? 4: Coughs and sneezes 5: The many tasks of our blood 6: How the heart beats 7: How blood travels 8: Broken blood vessels 9: Heart problems 10: Exercising and its limits 11: Fitter and stronger 12: Maximizing your fitness

6: In and out

1: Feeding the body 2: How does eating work? 3: A mouth to feed 4: Gut reaction 5: Up, down, and out 6: Bacterial breakdown 7: Cleaning the blood 8: Water balance 9: How the liver works 10: What the liver does 11: Energy balance 12: The sugar trap 13: Feast or fast? 14: Digestive problems

7: Fit and healthy

1: Body battleground 2: Friend or foe? 3: Germs are us 4: Damage limitation 5: Infectious diseases 6: Looking for trouble 7: Assassination squad 8: Cold and flu 9: Vaccine action 10: Immune problems

8: Chemical balance

1: Hormone factories 2: How hormones work 3: Inner balance 4: Hormonal changes 5: Daily rhythms 6: Diabetes

9: The circle of life

1: Sexual reproduction 2: Monthly cycle 3: Tiny beginnings 4: The generation game 5: Growing life 6: Mother's new body 7: The miracle of birth 8: Primed for life 9: Growing up 10: Hormonal teenagers 11: Getting older 12: The end of life

10: Mind matters

1: Learning skills 2: Making memories 3: Falling asleep 4: Entering your dreams 5: All emotional 6: Fight or flight? 7: Emotional problems 8: Feeling attraction 9: Extraordinary Minds

11: Index 12: Acknowledgements