Slideshow: Ecuador's Yasuni National Park

©Pete Oxford

Launch slideshow

Rock Center

Yasuni National Park in Ecuador is reputed to be the biologically richest place on earth. Its 3791 square miles are believed to contain more species of plants and animals than any other comparable area. 

WATCH: Oil boom threatens Amazon tribesmen

These photos were taken by award-winning nature photographer Peter Oxford and first appeared in "Yasuni, Tiputini & the Web of Life," a book he co-authored with Dr. Kelly Swing. Pete is a biologist who was named one of the 40 most influential nature photographers by Outdoor Photography magazine. His photo credits include National Geographic, Smithsonian, and International Wildlife. A founding member of the International League of Conservation Photographers (ICLP), Pete works as a team with his long-time partner and wife Renee Bish, with whom he has published eight books, two of which focus entirely on the Galapagos Islands.

WATCH: Living in the Amazon: 'There's a harmony'

 Find out more about efforts to preserve part of the Yasuni National Park in Ecuador:

Yasuni-ITT

YasuniSupport.org

Amazon Watch – Ecuador

Learn more about the groups in Ecuador's Amazon Rainforest.

Editor's Note: Click here to watch Ann Curry's full report from Ecuador that aired Friday, May 3, 2013 at 10pm/9c on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.

By Scott Stump
Today

When noted transgender author Jennifer Finney Boylan began the transition from male to female, she believed her marriage to wife Deedie Boylan was most likely over.

Instead, it is still going strong 25 years since the two tied the knot, and her relationship to their two sons is equally solid.

In an interview with Harry Smith that will air on "Rock Center with Brian Williams" Friday at 10 p.m. ET, Jennifer and Deedie and their son Zach talk about the changes their marriage has undergone in 25 years, the changing face of the American family, and the fear of how Jennifer's transition would affect Zach and his brother, Sean. Jennifer, an English professor at Colby College and best-selling author, also talks about her new book, “Stuck in the Middle With You: A Memoir of Parenting in Three Genders.” Jennifer, Deedie and Zach will also appear on TODAY Friday.

“I think it's very typical for us to think that love will make us into better people, will make us into the people that we hope to be,’’ Jennifer told Smith about making the male-to-female transition during her marriage. “I really felt that that part of my life was over. But it only took a few years before the feelings returned, and returned more powerfully.”

Deedie, who married the then-James Richard Boylan in 1988, then dealt with the experience of watching her husband transition into a woman with sexual reassignment surgery in 2002.

“One of the ways that I dealt with it was to sort of say, ‘Look, I'm not your consultant on how to be a girl,’’’ Deedie said. “I didn't want her to touch my stuff. I didn't want her to wear my earrings. She got the journey of discovering who she really was, and I had to sort of watch the man I had married disappear.”

The result is an unconventional family, but one filled with love.

“If normal is a family that has a mom and a dad and two kids and a white picket fence, then no, I don't live in a normal family,’’ Zach Boylan told Smith. “But if a normal family is one where everyone treats each other as equals and with love, then yeah, I live in a normal family.”

Jennifer has written extensively about her personal experience. Her 2003 memoir, “She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders,” was the first best-seller by a transgender American.

Editor's Note: Click here to watch Harry Smith's full report that aired Friday, May 3 at 10pm/9CDT on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.

Rock Center

NBC News’ Ann Curry journeyed deep into the Amazon Rainforest to a village called Bomeno in Ecuador. Bomeno is home to the rarely seen people of the Waorani Tribe. The tribe and the rainforest they call home is increasingly being threatened by environmental damage caused by oil drilling.  One of the tribesman showed Curry how to use a blow gun, a survival tool used by the tribe. 

Learn more about the groups in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest

Editor's Note: Click here to watch Ann Curry's full report from Ecuador that aired Friday, May 3, 2013 at 10pm/9c on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.

A mother who lost her legs and a daughter who was critically injured in the April 15 Boston marathon attack had only been at the race’s finish line for 10 minutes -- 20 minutes, tops -- when the bombs went off.  

For Celeste Corcoran, 47, and her daughter, Sydney, 18, those brief moments devastated their lives, changing them forever. But the women tell Natalie Morales of TODAY and NBC’s Rock Center that they are determined to rebound with the help of family, friends and community.

“I will have a different life, a different reality,” said Celeste Corcoran, who lost her lower legs below the knee. “But, I really believe that if you just kinda persevere and believe in yourself, you really have to dig down deep inside and just be like, ‘I can do this.’ It’s going to be hard, but I can do this.”

The mother-daughter duo stopped by the marathon finish line that Monday after lunch to see Carmen Acabbo, Celeste Corcoran’s sister, finish the race. They were moving closer to get a better view with the explosions ripped through the crowd.

“The moment the bomb hit, I was in shock,” Sydney Corcoran told Morales. “I wasn’t exactly sure what happened. It wasn’t until, like, I was on the ground and everyone was grabbing at me that I realized something serious had happened.”

John Tlumacki/Boston Globe via Getty Images

Bystanders help Sydney Corcoran, a 17-year-old senior at Lowell High School, at the scene of the first explosion on Boylston Street near the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon.

Nearby, her mother was badly injured and her father, Kevin Corcoran, used the belt from his pants to staunch one of her wounds. He asked a stranger for a second belt to help, too.

“I just wanted to die,” Celeste Corcoran told Morales. “The thought was there  ‘cause I was in so much pain. And then I just remember thinkin’, like, I can’t. I can’t. I don’t wanna leave my family, you know. There’s still too much to do.”

Both women were taken to Boston Medical Center, where doctors raced to save their lives. They’re healing together in a shared room, but are scheduled to move soon to a new center operated by the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network, said Greg John, a friend who is helping the family with publicity.

A spokesman for the center, Tim Sullivan, said between 10 and 20 victims of the Boston blasts are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.

There, they’ll all begin the long road to recovery. Celeste Corcoran will work to prepare her limbs for prosthetics that will help the hairdresser return to the work she loves.

“It’s been a lifelong passion,” she said. “I can’t see myself not doing that.”

NBC News

Celeste Corcoran, 47, and Sydney Corcoran, 18, were badly injured in the the Boston marathon bombings.

Sydney Corcoran, who celebrated her birthday in the hospital Tuesday, suffered a severed artery in one leg and life-threatening shrapnel wounds. Doctors have told her that she would have died except for the help of strangers whose quick work applying a tourniquet was captured in a wrenching image after the attack.

Now, Sydney Corcoran hopes to recover enough to return to high school, go to college and pursue her dreams of a career in criminal justice. But she knows there’s a lot of work ahead.

“They think that with effort, I might be back to where I was before,” she said.

The family, which includes Tyler Corcoran, 20, is still sorting out what comes next. They have health insurance, but it’s not yet clear whether it will cover all of the medical expenses that loom ahead. An online fundraiser organized by family friend Alyssa Carter has received more than $655,000 in pledges. 

Link: Celeste & Sydney Recovery Fund by Alyssa Carter

The women have been deluged with flowers, balloons, cupcakes – and visitors, including actor Bradley Cooper, who stopped by last week, Johns said. Marines from the Semper Fi Fund visited, including an amputee with injuries similar to those Celeste Corcoran suffered.

“He came in here with his legs and I was just amazed,” Celeste Corcoran said. “He goes rock climbing. (It) sounds like there’s nothing he can’t do. Granted, he’s a few years younger than I am. But, you know, if you have the spirit and you know that you wanna do it, I can absolutely achieve it.”

Related stories:  

• Mother and daughter injured at Boston marathon bombing reunited at hospital
• 'Rapid strides': Limb advances offer hope for Boston amputees
•  Crowdfunding raises $2 million for Boston victims; critics urge caution

Rock Center

You might not know his name, but his voice and face will leave you laughing in the popular AT&T commercials for the "It's Not Complicated" campaign. Rock Center Special Correspondent Chelsea Clinton sits down with Beck Bennett who's the grown-up interviewer at the kids' table.

Editor's Note: Clinton's full report airs at Friday, April 26 at 10pm/9CDT on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.

Rock Center

Jackie Hance, the mom who lost her three daughters in a fatal car accident when her sister-in-law drove the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway, said she always thought of sister-in-law Diane Schuler as a "good mom," before the accident.

"Because up until that day, I only knew what I knew and she was a good person and a good mom and, you know, a good friend. So, I don't know what happened that day," said Hance in an exclusive interview with NBC News' Ann Curry.

Both Jackie Hance and her husband, Warren, are breaking their silence about the tragic loss of their daughters- 8-year-old Emma, 7-year-old Alyson and 5-year-old Katie.

Hance on Daughters: 'My greatest desire is for people to know them'

In July 2009, Warren Hance’s sister, Diane Schuler, drove the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway killing eight people including the Hance girls, Schuler, Schuler’s daughter and three others in another vehicle.

Chronicled in Jackie Hance's new book, I’ll See You Again, Hance talks candidly for the first time about the accident, and how the trauma threatened her marriage. She also reveals that she considered suicide, but the love for her husband, forming the Hance Family Foundation in honor of their three remarkable daughters, and the birth of a new baby helped her and her husband move past their pain.

Editor's Note: Click here to watch Ann Curry's interview with Jackie and Warren Hance that aired Friday, April 26 at 10pm/9CDT on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.

By Monica Alba
Rock Center

Sydney Corcoran and her mother Celeste were both seriously injured in the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday. Sydney, a high school senior, suffered shrapnel wounds to her legs and severed her femoral artery. Her mother lost both legs below the knees. They, along with Sydney’s father Kevin and other family members, were near the finish line to cheer on Celeste’s sister, Carmen Acabbo, who was running her first marathon.

“Life will never be the same, but she can still hug me,” Acabbo said about her sister. “She's my very best friend. And I'm just so thankful to have her in whatever capacity I do.”

After the bomb went off, Kevin stayed by his wife’s side, while strangers rushed to his daughter’s aid. Before he had a chance to check on her, Kevin says Sydney was already moved to another location. By a small miracle, Sydney and Celeste ended up at the same hospital, where they each underwent several surgeries this week.

Immediately after the attacks, their cousin Alyssa Carter knew she needed to do something to help. She launched an online campaign in Sydney and Celeste’s name using GoFundMe.com. The family hopes to raise at least $500,000 to cover hospital bills and health insurance. People have donated more than $400,000 in three days and it’s currently the most popular campaign on the site.

Kevin has been humbled by the response so far. “What occurs to I would think anybody in this situation is, ‘How are we gonna afford to pay for everything?’"  he said. “You realize that with their help, you are gonna be able to get through this and pay the bills.”

Along with photos, the family is posting constant updates about Sydney and Celeste’s conditions on the crowd-sourcing website. Rock Center will be following the Corcoran family’s amazing story of resilience and recovery in the coming weeks.

The Boston Marathon bombing suspect was captured alive but wounded Friday night — after holing up in a boat in a suburban backyard following a bloody rampage that left a cop dead and a daylong manhunt that shut down the city.

The arrest of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and the earlier death of his brother during a firefight with cops, ended five days of terror sowed by the double bombing at the marathon finish line, which killed three people, wounded 176 and left the city of Boston on edge.

"We got him," Boston Mayor Tom Menino tweeted.

"CAPTURED!!! The hunt is over. The search is done. The terror is over. And justice has won," the Boston Police Department said on its Twitter account.

Cops cheered as the suspect was taken into custody in Watertown, Mass., just before 9 p.m. Later, the people of Watertown flooded the streets, cheering every passing police car and armored vehicle in an impromptu parade. Chants of "USA! USA!" broke out. In Boston, people danced in the streets outside Fenway Park.

Police cornered Tsarnaev -- a naturalized U.S. citizen of Chechen origin -- around 7 p.m., less than an hour after police lifted a stay-indoors order for the city and its suburbs.

A resident had gone outside to smoke and noticed a tarp on the boat was flapping, a relative told NBC News. When he went to investigate, he saw what looked like a curled-up person and bloody clothes.

The man "freaked out," ran into the house and called police, the relative said.

Thermal imaging from helicopters confirmed there was a person in the boat, officials said.

Over the course of two hours, several bursts of gunfire could be heard. The police exchanged fire with Tsarnaev, threw flash-bang grenades designed to disorient him and brought a negotiator to the scene as night fell, officials said.

Just before 9 p.m., the wounded Tsarnaev was taken into custody. "He sustained significant blood loss," a law enforcement official at the scene said.

As an ambulance took the suspect to Boston Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital — where he was in serious condition — people lining the streets applauded in joy and relief.

“We are so grateful to be here right now, so grateful to able to bring justice and closure to this case,” Massachusetts State Police Col. Timothy Alben said at a briefing. “We’re exhausted, folks, but we have a victory here.”

President Barack Obama praised the outcomes but said many questions remained. Among them, he said: “Why did young men who grew up and studied here as part of our communities and our country resort to such violence?”

Authorities are also not sure of a motive or whether the suspects had help. Even as the standoff took place in Watertown, the FBI was taking three people in for questioning in New Bedford, Mass., who were believed to be former roommates of Tsarnaev.

"No one was detained. No one was arrested," a spokesman with the Massachusetts FBI office later said, once the two men and one woman questioned in connection with Tsarnaev were released.

But the president declared: “Whatever hateful agenda drove these men to such heinous acts will not, cannot, prevail. Whatever they thought they could achieve, they’ve already failed.”

Tsarnaev will be questioned by a federal team called the High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, which includes officials of the FBI, CIA, and Defense Department, an Obama administration official said.

His apprehension capped a manhunt that had the city of Boston and its suburbs on total lockdown after the execution of a college campus patrol officer, a carjacking and the death of Tsarnaev's 26-year-old brother, Tamerlan, during a 200-bullet confrontation with cops.

The overnight violence had triggered an extraordinary shutdown of transportation, schools and businesses in Boston and its suburbs, with police warning more than a million people to hunker down behind locked doors while SWAT teams fanned out and bomb squads collected seven homemade explosive devices.

The brothers' bloody last stand began about five hours after the FBI released surveillance photos of two "extremely dangerous" men suspected of planting two bombs near the finish line of Monday's Boston Marathon, killing three and wounding 176.

Read more: Who are the brothers accused of the Boston Marathon bombing?

Tips about the identity of the suspects were still pouring in when the Tsarnaev brothers fatally shot Massachusetts Institute of Technology officer Sean Collier, 26, in his vehicle at 10:20 p.m., law enforcement officials said.

The brothers then carjacked a Mercedes SUV, holding the driver captive for a half-hour while they tried to use his cash card to get money from three ATM's, a source said. At the first, they put in the wrong number; at the second, they took out $800 and at the third, they were told they had exceeded the withdrawal limit, the source said.

The carjacking victim was released unharmed at a gas station in Cambridge, sources said. He told police the brothers said they were the marathon bombers and had just killed a campus officer.

As the duo sped in his car toward Watertown, a police chase ensued and they tossed explosive devices out the window, officials said.

There was a long exchange of gunfire, according to Andrew Kitzenberg of Watertown, who took photos of the clash from his window and shared them via social media.

“They were also utilizing bombs, which sounded and looked like grenades, while engaging in the gunfight,” he told NBC News in an interview. “They also had what looked like a pressure-cooker bomb.

“I saw them light this bomb. They threw it towards the officers,” he said. “There was smoke that covered our entire street.”

A transit officer, identified as Richard H. Donahue, 33, was seriously injured during the pursuit. Authorities said he underwent surgery at Mount Auburn Hospital.

Kitzenberg said he saw the firefight end when Tamerlan Tsarnaev ran toward the officers and ultimately fell to the ground.

Tamerlan -- the man in the black hat from FBI photos released six hours earlier -- had an improvised explosive device strapped to his chest, law enforcement officials said.

Dzhokhar -- the brother who was wearing a white hat in the surveillance photos from the marathon -- got away when he drove the SUV through a line of police officers at the end of the street, Kitzenberg said.

Law enforcement sources told NBC News that blood found at the scene suggested Dzhokhar may have been wounded in the gun battle.

During the lockdown, subways and buses were shut down, Amtrak service to Boston was cut, and college campuses were closed. The Red Sox and Boston Bruins' home games were canceled.

Watertown was the epicenter of the search. Frightened residents were trapped inside as convoys of heavily armed officers and troops arrived by the hour and snipers perched on rooftops and in backyards.

When police finally gave residents the OK to venture outside, some cheered as they stepped outside, only to be swept back inside when shots rang out, and police converged on Tsarnaev's hideout.

An administration official said Tsarnaev was not read his Miranda rights and could be questioned without them for up to 48 hours under a special legal exception used in cases where public safety is at stake.

In a statement late Friday, The FBI said they interviewed Tamerlan in early 2011, following a tip from "a foreign government" that he was "a follower of radical Islam" and was preparing to leave the United States to join underground organizations.

The FBI said its interview two years ago of Tsarnaev and his family, along with checks of travel records, Internet activity and personal associations, "did not find any terrorism activity" at the time.

NBC News' Jonathan Dienst and Kasie Hunt contributed to this story.

Slideshow: Search for suspects in Boston Marathon bombings

Dominic Chavez / EPA

A tense night of police activity that left a university officer dead on campus just days after the Boston Marathon bombings and amid a hunt for two suspects caused officers to converge on a neighborhood outside Boston, where residents heard gunfire and explosions.

Launch slideshow

Related:

Who are the brothers accused of the Boston Marathon bombing? 

 Chechen insurgents deny any link to marathon bombing

What we know: Timeline of terror hunt

‘Dedicated officer’ gunned down by Boston Marathon suspects at MIT

Slideshow: Bombings at Boston Marathon

Boston bombing spurs Senate debate on tighter immigration screening 

Tweeting police chatter creates confusion over Boston suspect

Missing student's family staggered by false accusation

This story was originally published on Sat Apr 20, 2013 12:35 AM EDT

By Janet Klein and Lauren Specter
Rock Center

After Rock Center’s report last week on the supplement industry and concerns about DMAA, an ingredient used in a popular work-out supplement,  the maker of DMAA announced Tuesday that it plans to remove the substance from its products. 

The Rock Center report included a stern warning from the FDA about the safety of DMAA, found in the supplement, Jack3D.  Dr. Daniel Fabricant, director of the FDA’s division of dietary supplements programs, told  NBC News Chief Medical Correspondent Nancy Snyderman, "It [DMAA] is an illegal dietary supplement. “ He also warned that the FDA is "very concerned, and we urge consumers to be concerned as well."

In a statement announcing its decision to stop using DMAA, USPlabs said,  "We disagree with FDA's position. The company has never-the-less concluded for business reasons to phase-out products containing 1,3-DMAA and replace them with new advanced formulations."   USPlabs says it continues to stand by the "safety and legality of its products containing the dietary ingredient 1, 3-DMAA."

USPlabs did not say when the phase-out would begin.  

Click here to read Rock Center's previous reporting on the supplement industry.

As of today,  General Nutrition Centers, or GNC - one of the country's biggest supplement distributors - continues to sell Jack3d.  

In a statement to NBC News today, the retail chain said "GNC will continue to sell the products as long as USP Labs makes them available, unless the products are recalled by either the FDA or USP Labs…GNC has no reason to believe that DMAA is unsafe."

The family of Private Michael Sparling, who collapsed and died after taking Jack3D, issued this response to USPlab’s decision:  “USP’s announcement it is reformulating acknowledges that DMAA is dangerous to consumers, but it is not enough. The fact USP has not issued a recall shows their continued disregard for the safety of consumers. Retailers like GNC continue to sell USP’s products as we speak.”

The Sparling family is suing both USP Labs and GNC for causing their 22-year-old son’s death after  a 3.5 mile run at Ft. Bliss Texas 2 years ago.    Both companies deny Jack3D was to blame.

Rock Center

Jackie and Warren Hance, the parents who lost their three daughters in a car accident four years ago, spoke exclusively with NBC News' Ann Curry about their unthinkable tragedy.

The Hance's three daughters were killed in a horrific car accident when the girls' aunt, Diane Schuler, drove the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway, killing herself, her own daughter and the Hance girls.

Chronicled in Jackie Hance's new book, I’ll See You Again, Hance talks candidly for the first time about that fateful day in July 2009 when she lost 8-year-old Emma, 7-year-old Alyson and 5-year-old Katie.

Hance opens up to Curry about how the trauma threatened her marriage; how she considered suicide, but how the love for her husband, forming the Hance Family Foundation, in honor of their three remarkable daughters, and the birth of a new baby helped them survive.

Editor's Note: Ann Curry's interview with Jackie and Warren Hance airs Friday, April 26 at 10pm/9CDT on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.

By Rima Abdelkader
Rock Center

Laurene Powell Jobs is speaking publicly for the first time since her husband Steve Jobs' death to advocate for immigration reform.

“I started getting more and more active around immigration reform because this was such a waste of lives, such a waste of potential, such a waste for our country not to have the human capital that we developed – geared towards improving our entire society,” said Powell Jobs in an exclusive interview with Rock Center Anchor Brian Williams airing Friday, April 12 at 10pm/9CDT on NBC. 

While Powell Jobs is focused and committed to her goal of getting immigration legislation passed, the intensely private Powell Jobs also addressed her husband's legacy.

“His private legacy with me and the kids is that of husband and father, and we miss him every day,” said Powell Jobs of the late Apple co-founder.  

Powell Jobs is leaving her own mark on the immigration debate. She and filmmaker Davis Guggenheim recently teamed up to promote immigration reform through the film "The Dream Is Now." They both appeared on Capitol Hill this week showcasing the film to members of Congress.

Click here to watch "The Dream Is Now" trailer.

“So my hope is that, when we tell this story, people see the human lives that are at stake,” said Guggenheim of the film that airs Sunday, April 14 on MSNBC. “It definitely has an opinion to it.”

Guggenheim, the documentarian behind “Waiting for Superman,” focuses his latest film on the fight over the DREAM Act. The DREAM Act (acronym for Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) would provide high school graduates or students or those who have served in the military a pathway towards legal status.

The film focuses in part on Jose, a young boy who excelled in mathematics and dreamt of becoming a mechanical engineer.  He got a full scholarship to Arizona State University and graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering – in a state that faced a shortage of engineers. Still, because Jose was undocumented, he wasn’t able to apply for the jobs his fellow students were eligible for.  Today, he works construction with his father and brother.

“It’s honest work, but he wanted to do more,” filmmaker Guggenheim added. “When he was a kid and he pledged allegiance to the flag, and his teacher said, “You know Jose, if you work hard in this country, you can do anything.” He bought into that and he believed it, and then he got to a certain point and the rules changed.”

Jose isn’t alone in feeling hopeless when it comes to pursuing what he feels is his full potential.  There are roughly 11 million immigrants that live in the United States without legal consent and without work documentation.

“We have educated individuals and individuals who want to further their education, passionately, deeply, right here in our country who we are not enabling,” Powell Jobs said.

Jose at a rally in Washington, D.C., for the passage of the DREAM Act.

Several thousand protesters, including Jose, also came to Washington this week demanding immigration reform. A bi-partisan push in both the House and the Senate to provide a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented men, women and children already in the US is underway.

By Kate Snow
Rock center Correspondent

If you’re going to spend a couple of days in paradise with a six-foot-three woman who used to hold the record for spiking volleyballs down the throats of her competitors, you have to expect you’re going to sweat a little.

Kate Snow

Kate Snow and Gabby Reece paddle boarding in Hawaii

Here’s what two days of filming with former beach volleyball star, model and fitness advocate Gabby Reece look like: 

Day one. Learn how to go stand-up paddle boarding on the Hanalei River in Hawaii.  It’s like a surf board but you stand on it and use a long paddle. And if you’re me, your toes clench the board in a desperate attempt to not lose your balance and go into the drink on national television. Cap that off with a ride on a crazy-looking combination of elliptical machine and bicycle. Make sure not to fall down. Take a photo standing next to Gabby and receive the following text from your sister: “Are you standing in a pothole?”

Kate Snow

Gabby Reece and Kate Snow

Day two. Eat a healthy egg white wrap for breakfast because you feel like Gabby might be watching even though you’re miles away from her. Then join her for her three-times-a-week workout class. No, she doesn’t take the class -- she’s the instructor. It started out as just a few friends following Gabby’s weight training and cardio circuit.  Now it’s at least 60 people crammed inside a dirty old warehouse, rotating through different stations. For example, you sit with your back against the wall as if you’re in a chair. Now, wait for your thighs to start screaming. Or grab these thick ropes and whip them up and down until you feel like you might just throw up. Do push-ups while also lifting arm weights. It goes on and on for a whole hour.

Here’s the truth. I liked all that working out. I liked getting out in the Hawaiian sunshine and really moving. I even liked the dingy warehouse. It feels good to be alive after you do a class like that. You feel like you could conquer anything. And that, of course, is Gabby’s point. Exercise, healthy eating, having sex with your husband more than once a month—it all matters. 

She writes about it all in her new book, “My Foot is Too Big for the Glass Slipper.” I have a feeling it will be a big beach read this summer. Women will pass it around and laugh about the story of actor Owen Wilson invading her home on the day she went into labor.

Kate Snow

Gabby Reece leading her fitness class.

“Gabby, do you have any sour cream to go with that chili?” he asked, as she was bent over in a contraction. Or the story of her girlfriend sending her an email that said, “Sorry about the magazine” -- that’s how she found out someone had photoshopped a photo of her butt to make it look as though she had a lot of cellulite. (She countered by posting her own real, unvarnished butt photo.)

Click here to read an excerpt of Gabby Reece's book, "My Foot is Too Big for the Glass Slipper"

There may also be a lot of talk about parts of the book where Gabby writes about gender roles and what works in her marriage. She and her husband have, shall we say, a rather old-fashioned arrangement. Her use of the word “submissive” is sure to cause an intense conversation. It already has in our newsroom.

By Janet Klein, Lauren Specter and Adrian Taylor
Rock Center

Updated 6:18 PM, April 12, 2013: In advance of Rock Center’s report on the supplement industry, the FDA issued a warning about DMAA, the supplement present in the popular product Jack3d. Following the FDA’s advisory warning, the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the leading trade association for the dietary supplement industry, called for manufacturers to stop producing products with DMAA and for consumers to stop using them. Both the FDA’s advisory and the statement from the Council for Responsible Nutrition are embedded below.   

NBC News

A bottle of Jack3d

Over the past few years, a popular dietary supplement has amassed a cult-like following of fitness enthusiasts across the country. From coast to coast, you can find small white canisters filled with a pink powder tucked into gym bags, stashed in lockers and sitting in kitchen cupboards. 

Devotees claim it gives them that extra edge they need to run that elusive last mile, or to lift that extra 10 pounds.

But detractors call it potentially dangerous, perhaps even deadly.

The supplement is called Jack3d (pronounced Jacked), but the ingredient that users say sets it apart from other pre-workout supplements is 1,3 dimethylamylamine - or DMAA. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says DMAA is illegal.

The FDA has received 86 adverse event reports  believed to be linked to DMAA. Serious side effects reported to the FDA include depression, anxiety, vomiting, loss of consciousness, chest pain, and even death.

NBC News Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman sat down with Dr. Daniel Fabricant, director of the division of dietary supplements programs at the FDA.

Fabricant's message about DMAA was clear: "It is an illegal dietary supplement."

So why is it still being sold in the US?  Fabricant says, “banning it would be, you know…it’s difficult.”

The FDA has limited legal authority over supplements. In 1994, a law was passed by the U.S. government that declared dietary supplements exempt from pre-market FDA approval. 

“We don't have pre-market approval…we don't evaluate [dietary supplement] products for safety or efficacy prior to them going to market,” said Fabricant in an interview airing Friday, April 12 at 10pm/9CDT on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.

So what can the agency do?  On April 11, the FDA issued a consumer advisory warning against the supplement. A day later, the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the trade association representing the dietary supplement industry called on the manufacturer and consumers to heed the FDA warning.

“With this conclusion, CRN now calls on dietary supplement manufacturers to stop manufacturing these products and further advises consumers to stop using them,” said Steve Mister, president and CEO of the Council for Responsible Nutrition in a statement released today. “The safety and well-being of consumers is always our highest priority.”

This warning is not the first time FDA raised concerns about DMAA’s safety. In 2012, the FDA sent warning letters to 11 manufacturers questioning DMAA’s safety and challenging their claims that the ingredient even qualifies as a dietary supplement.  All of them voluntarily pulled their products - except for USP Labs, the makers of Jack3d. 

In a written statement to NBC News, Michael Petruzzello on behalf of USP Labs maintains that, “DMAA is a safe and lawful dietary ingredient.  We stand by the scientific evidence presented and believe there is no reason to withdraw it from the market.”

The company also points to “three published scientific papers [that] document that 1,3 DMAA can be extracted from [a] geranium found in particular areas of China,” meaning it is a natural substance, and is therefore not subject to the FDA’s drug approval process. 

Dr. Pieter Cohen, a Harvard professor and member of the Cambridge Health Alliance who studies supplement safety, disagrees with USP Labs that DMAA comes from a plant.

“DMAA has nothing to do with nature … That's an absolute myth perpetuated by companies selling it,” he says. “DMAA is a drug that manufacturers are passing off as a plant product.”

So if DMAA doesn’t come from the geranium plant, as USP Labs claims, where does it come from?  Cohen says “DMAA is ... produced in a factory.”

Debates over DMAA’s origins aside, Cohen thinks the ingredient should be removed from the market for another reason:  “Could it increase the risk of death? Could it lead to the death of a young healthy man? Absolutely.”

Dr. Cohen says DMAA behaves in the body like an amphetamine:  “If you took a low dose of this, you might notice a slight tremor-- a little more alert, awakeness, your heart beating a little faster.”

He also sees similarities between DMAA and another supplement that was famously banned years ago, Ephedra.

After the Jump, read the FDA's advisory warning and the statement from the Council for Responsible Nutrition.

Rock Center
Laurene Powell Jobs is speaking publicly for the first time since her husband Steve Jobs' death to advocate for young undocumented immigrants. Powell Jobs and filmmaker Davis Guggenheim recently teamed up to promote immigration reform through the film, "The Dream is Now."

Rock Center Anchor Brian Williams' full report airs Friday, April 12 at 10pm/9CDT on NBC. The documentary, "The Dream is Now," airs Sunday, April 14 at 4pm EST on MSNBC.