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questions. The Associated Press spoke with Claude Piantadosi, a professor of medicine at Duke University and author of the book "The Biology of Human Survival," to find out what is physically possible and for his view on the tale of Jose Salvador Alvarenga. This is an edited version of the interview:
• Q: How long can a human survive without any water, or without any food?
• A: The average is about 100 hours (approximately four days) without water and about five or six weeks without food. You can survive much longer with just a little food, although you'll lose weight and run into vitamin deficiency problems. So it would have been vital for Alvarenga to have collected both food and water during his journey. The Pacific's regular squalls would have provided some rainwater that he could have scooped from the bottom of his boat.
• Q: How important is shade?
• A: Absolutely critical. You get significantly warmer in direct sunlight and sweat more. The pictures of the boat show a fiberglass box in the middle which he could have sheltered in, and any type of canvas would have helped keep him out of the sun.
• ___

• It was 50 years ago today (almost) that this mop-topped band began to play (in America).
• The Beatles made their first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show," America's must-see weekly variety show, on Sunday, Feb. 9, 1964. And officially kicked off Beatlemania on this side of the pond.
• More than 70 million viewers were tuned to the program, airing live from the Manhattan studio now housing the "Late Show With David Letterman."

• KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia (AP) -- Slopestyle made its Olympic debut on Thursday without Shaun White and without any of the drama the sport's biggest star feared when he decided to pull out of the event on the eve of the Games.
• Max Parrot of Canada posted a score of 97.50 to earn the top spot in qualifying, leading a pack of eight riders who moved automatically into the finals. The remain

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