sport

Material for safer football helmets may reduce head injuries

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Scientists at the University of California Santa Barbara, HRL Laboratories LLC, and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory have developed elastic microlattice pads that can withstand both single hits and a series of impacts better than existing state-of-the-art foams used in football helmets. Their research, publishing November 27 in the journal Matter, suggests that the material may … Read more

Not all changeups are created equal; seam shifted wake baffles hitters

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While changing the rotation rate/axis of a thrown baseball has long been a weapon in a pitcher’s arsenal, some pitchers, like Washington Nationals star Stephen Strasburg, manipulate the baseball’s wake to create unexpected movement from a familiar delivery (his changeup). Barton Smith, an engineering professor at Utah State University, will discuss how the seams of … Read more

New study shows menstrual cycles have no effect on cognitive benefits of exercise

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The majority of exercise neuroscience studies (64 per cent) have not included female participants due to the frequently held belief that hormonal fluctuations – linked to menstrual cycles – may lead to inconsistent results and preclude adequate recommendations for exercise prescription. However, a new Western University study shows that exercise-related benefits to brain health and … Read more

Science shows hype about your opponent actually messes with your game

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Buzz about tennis’s newest rising stars — like 15-year-old prodigy Coco Gauff, who beat Venus Williams at Wimbledon — can be so intimidating it can make their opponents play worse, according to new research from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. A study of more than 117,000 pro tennis matches and more than 5 million … Read more