Athletes are better at interpreting moving scenes and at ignoring distractions than the rest of us.
Read the original research in Nature.
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According to a paper in British Journal of Sports Medicine, asthma and airway hyper-responsiveness (AHR) are the most common chronic diseases in Olympic athletes over the past five Olympic games, affecting around 8%. This could be caused by the intense training, perhaps supported by the fact that those athletes with asthma and AHR beat their colleagues.
In a set of articles in the British Medical Journal, researchers debunked a number of claims for sports products. The color of urine—something athletes are told to keep an eye on—depends on many factors, not just hydration. Drinking before you feel thirsty may worsen performance. Energy drinks with caffeine and other compounds have no benefit above and beyond the boost from caffeine. And carbohydrate and protein combinations post-workout don’t improve performance and recovery.
Scientists working with Team GB are using genetic tests to try to work out why some athletes are prone to injury such as tendon injuries and stress fractures. Researchers at University College London may have found a gene linked with injury.
Frogs that are more athletic have genes that change faster. Researchers put frogs through fitness tests and then sequenced their genomes, and found that the fittest poison frogs had more changes to their genes. It’s not quite clear why – it might be because of the extra oxygen in the blood after exercise.
