Spine

It was always the fragile balance of opposing forces that made Diane Keaton's face so remarkable - those tilted melancholy eyes above that frequent and infectious smile. She seemed in a perpetual state of emotional contradiction, which is one of the things that made her such a perfect match, at least on film, for Woody Allen, who as history's most hopeful pessimist is a master juggler himself. So it's not surprising that Keaton's memoir, "Then Again," is also an elusive sort of work, part autobiography, part daughterly paean, part love letter to her own children, a book in which portions of her mother's journals and details of her parents' travails in old age far outnumber the on-set anecdotes and glamour shots.

"The Uninvited" Ray Milland, Gail Russell and Ruth Warrick star in this atmospheric 1944 haunted house thriller. "The Haunting" Robert Wise directed this 1963 terrifying ghost tale without a ghost in sight, starring Julie Harris. "The Innocents" Deborah Kerr plays a prim governess who believes her charges are possessed by evil sprits in this 1961 version of Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw. "

Here is a terrific exercise that not only strengthens your back and buttocks but also helps to align your spine and stretch your chest and hips. Lie face-down on a mat with your legs straight behind you. Place the palms of your hands on the floor near your hips and outer thighs. Keep your inner legs close together with the soles of your feet facing upward. Slide your shoulder blades down your back and press your hands firmly on the floor. On an inhalation, reach out through the crown of your head as you arch your upper back and raise your right leg off the floor.

Here is a great way to strengthen your core muscles while lying on the floor. This exercise recruits muscles in your abdominals, back and hips to stabilize your spine against the movement of your legs. Lie face up on a flat, level surface. With both legs straight above your hips, move your right leg down to approximately 45 degrees. Reach your right arm overhead, with fingertips touching the floor. Inhale. On an exhalation, press your navel to your spine as you slowly lower your left leg toward the floor as low as possible without allowing your back to over-arch.

This post has been corrected. See note at bottom for details. Say it isn't so -- will unrepentant high-heel fashionista Victoria Beckham have to hang up her stilettos because of a possible slipped disc? Will her wearing flats in public represent the end of fashion as we know it? Probably not. The U.K.'s Daily Mail reports online that Beckham's friends are saying the sky-high heels she wore during her recent pregnancy may have caused a back injury. She was even photographed wearing towering Christian Louboutin heels at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton about 10 weeks before she gave birth to baby Harper Seven.

This exercise challenges your core strength and provides a nice twist to your spine. Squeezing a soft ball with your inner thighs helps to keep your hips correctly positioned so that you can target the tightest part of your spine, which is usually the mid-back. Sit near the front edge of a sturdy chair with both feet flat on the floor. Place a soft 9-inch exercise ball between your knees. Inhale, sit up tall and raise your arms above your head. On an exhalation, rotate your torso to the right.

A luxurious fortress of concrete, glass and steel presents an imposing profile near the end of a winding drive high above the Sunset Strip. Designed by Santa Monica architect David Lawrence Gray and completed in 1996, the three-level contemporary home sits along the spine of narrow promontory with unobstructed views that stretch from the San Gabriel Mountains to the Getty Center. Dramatic flourishes abound — nowhere more so than in a jutting backyard that feels as though it is suspended above the city.

This seated spiral twist will strengthen and stretch your spine, but a common mistake is to round your back, which causes your chest to cave in. If this happens to you, try elevating your hips on a yoga block. You will find it easier to sit up straight and perform the exercise correctly. Sit cross-legged on a yoga block or on the edge of a thick blanket with your right leg in front. Rest your hands on your legs. Inhale and lift your chest, pull your abdominals toward your spine and relax your shoulders down and away from your ears.

Why are we different from other creatures? After all, our genomes are 95% or more identical to that of chimps. For all the genome-busting that's gone on in recent years -- human genomes, chimp genomes, mouse genomes, platypus genomes -- scientists in large part don't know the answer to these kinds of questions.  This week in the journal Nature are clues about three human characteristics -- big brains, lack of sensory whiskers and penises without spines -- that appear to be caused by chunks of DNA that we lost but other mammals still have.

In 1984, when he was 51, novelist Reynolds Price learned that a pencil-shaped tumor, about 10 inches long and malignant, had invaded his spine. Several surgeries and dozens of radiation treatments followed, leaving him a paraplegic racked with pain and the uncertainty of his survival. His happy life of teaching Milton at Duke University and writing several hours a day was over, or so it seemed in his many dark moments. Then, after a year of this agony, something miraculous happened: He knocked out a commissioned play in two months and finished the last two-thirds of his seventh novel, "Kate Vaiden," which won the National Book Critics Circle Award as the best work of fiction in 1986.