Amputee runner back in the game, but are the data sound?

Darkfrog submitted, created time 7 months 2 weeks (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

The fastest man on no legs has been un-disqualified from the Olympics. Oscar Pistorius, who runs on two prosthetic feet called Cheetahs, had been barred from inclusion in the Olympics because a team of scientists hired by the International Association of Athletics Federations ruled that his prostheses gave him an unfair advantage. A new study, performed at Mr. Pistorius's request, shows otherwise.

This article, unlike some of the more human-interest ones I've read, really delves into the studies themselves, how they were performed and what may have been wrong with them

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Runner's high proved non-mythical via PET scan

Darkfrog submitted, created time 9 months 1 week (www.nytimes.com)

Sit up, couch potatoes: the runner's high is real. Proving the yea or nea of the marathoner's mescalin has been difficult because, as one researcher put it, it's not such a good idea to give someone a spinal tap and then send 'em right off to run a 10K. Recently, someone came up with the bright idea of using PET scans (they copied off the dudes doing pain research).

This article is interesting more for the way in which the researchers applied existing technology to solve a problem than for the subject they're studying

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These legs were made for walking

nomad submitted, created time 1 year 11 months (www.nature.com)

How much energy does it take to move around? You might think it obvious that animals with long legs would useup less energy covering a given distance than would those with short legs. But how much leg length determines the energetic costs of walking or running is hotly debated by scientists.

A mathematical model developed by Herman Pontzer of Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, sheds light on the question, and may even provide an answer to why our ancestors evolved longer legs than their predecessors some two million years ago

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