01/29/99

Your Heart

This Valentine's Day will you be giving someone special a gift from the heart? Or will you be pleading with your Valentine not to break your heart? Perhaps you'll be the recipient of a wonderful gift, and you'll respond with heartfelt thanks. Whenever the discussion turns to love, the association with our hearts is not far behind. Popularly characterized as the center of our emotions, the heart is actually an amazing and tireless pump. Hop on board, as we learn more.

Biology Education Interactive Web

Last summer five Washington, D.C. high school students spent their vacation at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute developing these fabulous online multimedia biology demonstrations, many of which deal with the heart. Start at Size Principle of the Heart in Mammals (ever notice the fast heart beat of your small furry pet friends?) move onto A Primer on Electrocardiogram and then visit Factors Affecting Heart Rate (does your heart rate increase or decrease at high elevations?) These amazing Java and Shockwave animations are my don't-miss-them picks of the week.

How Your Heart Works

"About a hundred times a minute, 100,000 times a day, 36.5 million times a year, your heart keeps the beat ... the beat of life. That familiar thump, thump, thump tells you that your heart is doing its job pumping blood from the veins to the heart and lungs, where it is replenished with oxygen and then distributed back to the body through the arteries. How does the heart work? Read on." This single-page illustrated introduction to the heart includes links to advice on how to keep your heart healthy.

InnerBody

Start your cardiovascular adventure by clicking on the heart. From here, you can navigate two ways. First, as you move your mouse over the human body image, clickable hot spots will appear. Clicking will display explanatory text in the right-hand frame. Second, you can change the main image by choosing any of the related subjects listed below the current illustration. Want to wander beyond the heart? You'll find a search tool near the bottom of the page.

Preview the Heart

Starting with the tiny pumping heart on the first page, I fell in love with this interdisciplinary site. The tour (with a complete table of contents) begins at the bottom of the first page or you can enter the various activities organized into Do, See, Learn, Go and Hear. However you go, you will learn about the anatomy and function of the heart. For a fun look at the heart's role in popular culture, don't miss The Heart Goes Pop.

What is the Heart?

"To work, to play, to do anything at all, the human body needs energy. This energy is provided by blood, which runs within tubes called arteries and veins. The body draws fuel in the form of chemicals and oxygen from the blood, and turns it into energy for work. At the same time, the waste materials produced in the body are dumped in the blood to be carried away and destroyed in other areas." Learn all about the heart from Dr. Mani, a self-defined "Web-aholic" and Indian heart surgeon.

Please send questions or comments to feldman@surfnetkids.com.