| WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ | |
 http://csua.com/feed/ | |
| ||||||
| 4/3 |
| 2010/1/22-30 [Transportation/Car] UID:53656 Activity:nil |
1/22 "Humans Could Run 40 mph, in Theory"
http://www.csua.org/u/pyn (news.yahoo.com)
"The top speed humans could reach may come down to how quickly muscles
in the body can move."
If this is true, Bruce Lee would have been one of the top sprinters in
the world.
\_ you should see how fast that 50 year old ultra marathon runner
missing 1/8 of her brain can run
\_ Huh?
\_ Diane Van Deren:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/sports/09ultra.html?_r=2&hp |
| 4/3 |
|
| www.csua.org/u/pyn -> news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100122/sc_livescience/humanscouldrun40mphintheory Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates winning the men's 200m final of the athletics competition in the National Stadium at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Gam Reuters - Usain Bolt of Jamaica celebrates winning the men's 200m final of the athletics competition in the ... com - Fri Jan 22, 2:30 pm ET Humans could perhaps run as fast 40 mph, a new study suggests. Such a feat would leave in the dust the world's fastest runner, Usain Bolt, who has clocked nearly 28 mph in the 100-meter sprint. The top speed humans could reach may come down to how quickly muscles in the body can move. Previous studies have suggested the main hindrance to speed is that our limbs can only take a certain amount of force when they strike the ground. "If one considers that elite sprinters can apply peak forces of 800 to 1,000 pounds with a single limb during each sprinting step, it's easy to believe that runners are probably operating at or near the force limits of their muscles and limbs," said Peter Weyand of Southern Methodist University, one of the study's authors. But Weyand and colleagues found in treadmill tests that our limbs can handle a lot more force than what is applied during top-speed running. What really holds us back Their results showed the critical biological limit is imposed by time - specifically, the very brief periods of time available to apply force to the ground while sprinting. In elite sprinters, foot-ground contact times are less than one-tenth of a second, and peak ground forces occur within less than one-twentieth of that second for the first instant of foot-ground contact. To figure out what limits how fast we can run, the researchers used a high-speed treadmill equipped to precisely measure the forces applied to its surface with each footfall. Study participants then ran on the treadmill using different gaits, including hopping, and running forward and backwards as fast as they possibly could. hopping on one leg at top speed exceeded those applied during top-speed forward running by 30 percent or more. That suggests our limbs can handle greater forces than those found for two-legged running at top speeds. And although top backward speed was substantially slower than top forward speed, as expected, the minimum periods of foot-ground contact at top backward and forward speeds were essentially identical. The fact that these two drastically different running styles had such similar intervals for foot-ground contact suggest that there is a physical limit to how fast your muscle fibers can work to get your feet off the ground, the researchers say. New speed limit The new work shows that running speed limits are set by the contractile speed limits of the muscle fibers themselves, with fiber contractile speeds setting the limit on how quickly the runner's limb can apply force to the running surface. "Our simple projections indicate that muscle contractile speeds that would allow for maximal or near-maximal forces would permit running speeds of 35 to 40 miles per hour and conceivably faster," Bundle said. world's fastest land animal reaching speeds of 70 mph (112 kph), it's enough to escape a grizzly bear and much quicker than T rex, which may have reached 18 mph (29 kph) during a good jog. com chronicles the daily advances and innovations made in science and technology. We take on the misconceptions that often pop up around scientific discoveries and deliver short, provocative explanations with a certain wit and style. |
| www.nytimes.com/2009/07/09/sports/09ultra.html?_r=2&hp com Brain Surgery Frees Runner, but Raises Barriers Matthew Staver for The New York Times Diane Van Deren has competed in numerous races of 100 miles or more, although she rarely runs one without a wrong turn. Comment Post a Comment on the Well Blog She used to run away from epileptic seizures. Since brain surgery, she just runs, uninhibited by the drudgery of time and distance, undeterred by an inability to remember exactly where she is going or how to get back. "It used to be, call for help if Mom's not back in five hours," Van Deren said. She has become one of the world's great ultra-runners, competing in races of attrition measuring 100 miles or more. She won last year's Yukon Arctic Ultra 300, a trek against frigid cold, deep snow and loneliness, and was the first woman to complete the 430-mile version this year. This weekend she will run in the Hardrock 100 in Silverton, Colo. It has a total elevation gain of 33,000 feet and crosses the top of 14,048-foot Handies Peak. About half will not finish the 100 miles within the allotted 48 hours. She supplements the calendar with competitions around the world, some in the dead of winter. On early-morning training runs, especially when pulling a sled with 60 pounds of sand through the snow, Van Deren sometimes startles hikers. They do not see under her blond hair, above her right ear, where an uneven crease maps where her skull was put back together. They just see a smiling woman who appeared from nowhere -- and someone who just might need help getting pointed in the right direction. "When she is running, it helps her," Don Gerber, a clinical neuropsychologist who has worked extensively with Van Deren, said of the hole in Van Deren's brain. Not the training, which Van Deren does eagerly, but the packing. In stopping the seizures, her mind, otherwise sharp and unaffected, was robbed of part of its memory and organizational skills. She divides it into carefully marked bags that will await her at various aid stations, sometimes 40 miles apart, along the next course. Telling her to go five miles, turn left, then right, then left is a confusing algorithm. Her mind carries little dread for how far she is from the finish. "I'm just terrified we're going to lose her," said Barb Page, executive director of the Craig Hospital Foundation. Running was always the self-prescribed antidote to seizures. When Van Deren felt an aura, a tingling sensation that signaled an upcoming seizure, she would lace her running shoes and go out the door. Born Diane Kobs, she was a stellar multisport athlete who became a touring professional tennis player, unaware of her future bout with epilepsy. She married Scott Van Deren, taught tennis and dabbled in distance running. Pregnant with the couple's third child (Matt, now 19), Van Deren had what seemed an out-of-nowhere grand mal seizure. Editorial: Bankers' Sense of Entitlement Bankers should stop trying to avoid paying a fee to the government for its efforts to save the economy from their reckless behavior. |
| news.yahoo.com News Home - 10 Help Welcome, Guest 11 Personalize News Home Page - 12 Sign In Yahoo! National 17 Business 18 World 19 Entertainment 20 Sports 21 Technology 22 Politics 23 Science 24 Health 25 Oddly Enough 26 Op/Ed 27 Local 28 Comics 29 News Photos 30 Most Popular 31 Weather 32 Audio/Video 33 Full Coverage Slideshows 34 Photo 35 Photo Highlight Slideshow A man wearing a smiling box hat is kissed during Kentucky Derby day festivities at Churchill Downs, May 1, 2004, in Louisville, Ky. The action marked the second time this year the federal government has intervened to alter flight schedules, and it is the latest example of the government injecting itself in the business of running airlines. |