Human Running Speeds of 35 to 40 MPH May Be Biologically Possible
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt (out in front) continues his record-setting performance. (Phil McElhinney/ CC Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic)
New evidence identifies critical variable imposing biological limit to running speed
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt’s record-setting performances have unleashed a wave of interest in the ultimate limits to human running speed. A new study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology offers intriguing insights into the biology and perhaps even the future of human running speed.
The newly published evidence identifies the critical variable imposing the biological limit to running speed, and offers an enticing view of how the biological limits might be pushed back beyond the nearly 28 miles per hour speeds achieved by Bolt to speeds of perhaps 35 or even 40 miles per hour.
The new paper, “The biological limits to running speed are imposed from the ground up,” was authored by Peter Weyand of Southern Methodist University; Rosalind Sandell and Danille Prime, both formerly of Rice University; and Matthew Bundle of the University of Wyoming.
“The prevailing view that speed is limited by the force with which the limbs can strike the running surface is an eminently reasonable one,” said Weyand, associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics at SMU in Dallas.
“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,” he said. “However, our new data clearly show that this is not the case. Despite how large the running forces can be, we found that the limbs are capable of applying much greater ground forces than those present during top-speed forward running.” (more…)
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DOE to Explore Scientific Cloud Computing
Argonne Leadership Computing Facility at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is home to the Blue Gene/P high-performance computer runs at an awe-inspiring 557 teraflops (557 trillion calculations per second) and can wow the green crowd with its energy efficiency. The computer uses only 1 MW of power — about a third as much electricity as a conventionally built supercomputer of comparable size.
Cloud computing is gaining traction in the commercial world, but can such an approach also meet the computing and data storage demands of the nation’s scientific community? A new program funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will examine cloud computing as a cost-effective and energy-efficient computing paradigm for scientists to accelerate discoveries in a variety of disciplines, including analysis of scientific data sets in biology, climate change and physics.
Cloud computing refers to a flexible model for on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, services, and software) that can be easily provisioned as needed. While shared resources are not new to high-end scientific computing, smaller computational problems are often run on departmental Linux clusters with software customized for the science application. Cloud computing centralizes the resources to gain efficiency of scale and permit scientists to scale up to solve larger science problems while still allowing the system software to be configured as needed for individual application requirements. (more…)
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New Biology Initiative Offers Potential for ‘Remarkable and Far-Reaching Benefits’
Biobased products and catalysis research is helping PNNL deliver technologies to private industry and government customers to reduce reliance on foreign oil and gas supplies.
A report released today by the National Research Council calls on the United States to launch a new multiagency, multiyear, and multidisciplinary initiative to capitalize on the extraordinary advances recently made in biology and to accelerate new breakthroughs that could solve some of society’s most pressing problems — particularly in the areas of food, environment, energy, and health.
The report was requested by the National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, and U.S. Department of Energy, which asked the committee that wrote the report to look at how best to build upon recent scientific developments such as the Human Genome Project.
Advances in many technologies have allowed biologists to observe life at levels of detail that were once thought impossible. Interpreting the vast amounts of data being generated by these innovations and developing practical solutions to major challenges will require collaboration among scientists and engineers from many disciplines. And despite the potential of these recent advancements, the committee said that the design, manipulation, and prediction of complex biological systems needed for practical applications are “well beyond current capabilities.” (more…)
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Tropics Discoveries Still Yeilding Possible New Medicines
Explorations for the Panamanian International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBG) program has included a variety of plants found in the country's tropical jungles.
William Gerwick is quite happy to tell you about his scientific expeditions to Fiji. He can expound on the amazing explorations his group has led to Madagascar, Papua New Guinea, and other destinations in search of exotic molecules that could one day lead to new treatments for human diseases.
But broach the subject of Panama and it’s time to get comfortable in your seat. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego professor’s palpable enthusiasm is rooted in his laboratory’s multifaceted drug discovery and training program that ranges from the Central American country’s rain forest jungles to its underwater world. (more…)
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Cancer Cell Nano-Discovery Could Lead to New Approaches to Treatment
A rendering shows the spherical probe of an atomic-force microscope touching human epithelial cervical cancers cells. One can clearly see the "brushy" surface of the cells.
A group of Clarkson University researchers led by Nanoengineering and Biotechnology Laboratories Center (NABLAB) Director Igor Sokolov has discovered a previously unknown feature that distinguishes cancer from normal cells: the difference in cell surface properties.
The research was published this week in the advance online publication of the scientific journal Nature Nanotechnology. The research will also be published in an upcoming print edition.
In the paper “Atomic Force Microscopy Detects Differences in the Surface Brush of Normal and Cancerous Cells,” the authors have identified a critical difference between the surface properties of normal and cancer cells: variation in brushes or tiny “hairs” that cover the cell surface. (more…)
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Stem Cell Breakthrough
Dr. Andras Nagy has discovered a new method of generating stem cells that does not require embryos as starting points.
In a study to be released on March 1, 2009, Mount Sinai Hospital’s Dr. Andras Nagy discovered a new method of creating stem cells that could lead to possible cures for devastating diseases including spinal cord injury, macular degeneration, diabetes and Parkinson’s disease. The study, to be published by Nature online, accelerates stem cell technology and provides a road map for new clinical approaches to regenerative medicine.
“We hope that these stem cells will form the basis for treatment for many diseases and conditions that are currently considered incurable,” said Dr. Nagy, Senior Investigator at the Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute of Mount Sinai Hospital, Investigator at the McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine, and Canada Research Chair in Stem Cells and Regeneration. “This new method of generating stem cells does not require embryos as starting points and could be used to generate cells from many adult tissues such as a patient’s own skin cells.” (more…)
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Ocean Becoming More Acidic, Potentially Threatening Marine Life
Acidification from absorbing atmospheric CO2 is changing the ocean's chemistry.
A dramatic increase in carbon dioxide levels is making the world’s ocean more acidic, which may adversely affect the survival of marine life and organisms that depend on them, such as humans. An article on this topic is scheduled for the Feb. 23 issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS’ weekly newsmagazine.
In the article, C&EN Associate Editor Rachel Petkewich notes that the increased use of fossil fuels has caused levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to nearly double since the Industrial Revolution. The ocean absorbs large amounts of carbon dioxide — about 22 million tons a day — causing the water’s pH to decrease or acidify. The pH scale measures how acidic or alkaline substances are. The pH scale ranges from 0 to 14. A pH of 7 is neutral. A pH less than 7 is acidic. A pH greater than 7 is alkaline. The ocean’s pH is currently about 8.1, down from 8.2 in the 18th century, the article notes. Scientists project that the ocean’s pH will fall by about 0.3 more units in the next 50 to 100 years. (more…)
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Mars Rover Device Gets New Mission on Earth
Mars Rover at the Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Va.
Developed to sniff out extraterrestrial life on other planets, a portable device known as the Mars Organic Analyzer (MOA) is taking on a new role in detecting air pollutants on Earth. Researchers in California report the development of a modified MOA able to detect polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), potentially carcinogenic molecules from cigarette smoke and wood smoke, volcanic ash, and other sources. The report appeared in the Jan. 15 issue of ACS’ semi-monthly journal Analytical Chemistry.
(more…)
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