Sports Science

The United States leads the world in science output, with 5 percent of the population producing 30 percent of the world's research. And yet compared to scientists in other countries, U.S.-based scientists are underrepresented as authors of articles on the potential role of innate variation in athletic performance.  Grand Valley State University researchers searched journals and NIH and NSF databases for grant proposals solicited or funded from 2000-2012 to determine if the proportion of authors that listed U.S. addresses was associated with funding patterns. NIH did not solicit…

A systematic review and meta-analysis of available data published in Diabetologia suggests that combined aerobic and resistance training, rather than either alone, is best for controlling both blood sugar and blood fat profiles among people with type 2 diabetes. However, the authors stress that the strength of the results is weakened when studies with high risk of bias are removed, and thus more high quality trials are needed to make more definitive conclusions.  To date, no systematic review has compared the direct and indirect effects of these three different training modalities on…

It doesn't matter if you were a quarterback or a shortstop, past participation in competitive team sports made participants in a recent analysis winners in the competition for better jobs, according to a recent paper.  Writing in the Journal of Leadership  &  Organizational Studies, Kevin M. Kniffin, postdoctoral research associate at Cornell University's Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and colleagues found that people who played a varsity high school sport were assumed to be more self-confident, have more self-respect, and demonstrate more leadership than…

The smoothness of a ball’s surface is a critical factor in how a ball swerves, according to a new study. And if you know soccer (football) you know every year the ball in the World Cup is different - and invariably the source of complaints. The World Cup 2014 is off to a roaring start - not a single 0-0 tie game - which is great for fans but terrifying for goalies. Yes, it's the ball. The “Jabulani” used at the 2010 World Cup was reviled while the new ball used at this year’s tournament in Brazil, the “Brazuca,” has a slightly rougher surface, and may be more predictable. The results so far…

Does money buy championships? That is the prevailing theory. While it is common for a team like Chelsea, which got purchased buy a Russian billionaire who kept buying new teams until they won, to achieve success, a Swansea is less likely. Assuming scouts and personnel managers really know what they are doing, economics should be as fine an indicator of success as anything, in that case. You might think so, in baseball, where a season is 162 games. The New York Yankees certainly did well by buying the best free agent they could get each year. But what about World Cup soccer, where after the…

When it comes to sprint interval training, men have won the battle of the sexes, according to new research in The FASEB Journal. A new study found that men create more new proteins as a result of sprint interval training than women do - but there is good news for both genders: men and women experienced similar increases in aerobic capacity. The study directly measured the creation of proteins made to adapt to this mode of exercise and used methods that measure the cumulative making of proteins during the entire three weeks to account for other daily living factors, effectively ensuring that…

In most sports, youth helps. The adage was that if an older person can do it better than a younger person, it isn't a sport. But the lines of performance are lot more blurry today and youth is not a barometer. Lots of high school students can jump right to the NBA, and the first round draft pick in the NFL college draft is likely to be starting the next summer, but baseball drafts aren't big media events because no one drafted is likely to get called up for a few years. Baseball takes more practice. And when it comes to marathons, old people really blow the sports curve. They even turn…

A study of healthy senior men has found that endurance exercise confers benefits on the heart irrespective of the age at which they began training. The report by David Matelot, from the Inserm 1099 unit in Rennes at the EuroPRevent congress 2014 in Amsterdam, said the benefits were evident and comparable in those who had started training before the age of 30 or after the age of 40. As a result, 40 is not too old to start endurance training. The subjects were 40 healthy men (without cardiovascular risk factors) aged between 55 and 70 years who were divided for assessment according to the…

A new study finds that anxiety about a competitive situation makes even the most physically active of us more likely to slip-up. You didn't need psychologists to tell you the obvious - stage fright and anxiety have been recorded since man has understood behavior - but knowing why may be helpful. If you played sports, you probably recall your coach telling you to stop thinking and start doing. That's sage wisdom but if it study of 18 young people helps get the message across, a presentation at the British Psychological Society's annual conference this week is just for you. They tested the…

Utah youth with suspected sports-related head injuries visit emergency rooms far more often since the state's concussion law passed in 2011, and with that boost in defensive medicine came a rise in head CT scans -- leading to potentially unnecessary radiation exposure along with the high costs that defensive medicine brings for health care overall.  The study examined Intermountain Healthcare's emergency department database for 19 hospitals in Utah between September 1, 2009 and September 1, 2012. Researchers wanted to know if the number of children and teenagers with suspected sports-…