Sports Science News

June 13, 2025

Top Headlines

Five Things to Do in Virtual Reality -- And Five to Avoid

May 28, 2025 — A review of experimental research reveals how VR is best used and why it's struggled to become a megahit with ...

How to Swim Without a Brain

May 19, 2025 — A team was able to show that swimming movements are possible even without a central control unit. This not only explains the behavior of microorganisms, it could also enable nanobots to move in a targeted manner, for example to transport drugs to ...

Ping Pong Bot Returns Shots With High-Speed Precision

May 8, 2025 — Engineers developed a ping-pong-playing robot that quickly estimates the speed and trajectory of an incoming ball and precisely hits it to a desired location on the ...

NFL Players More Likely to Injure Knee After Shorter Rest Period

May 7, 2025 — National Football League (NFL) players may be more likely to sustain a specific type of knee injury if they have a shorter period of rest between ...

No Butterfingers in Baseball: Understanding Slip Between Fingertips and the Ball

Apr. 15, 2025 — In 2021, Major League Baseball banned the usage of resin, and since batting averages have gone up. A group of researchers set out to reveal the science behind ...

Most Goals in Football (Soccer) Result from First Touch Shots

Apr. 15, 2025 — A researcher has analyzed the most frequent situations faced by football goalkeepers. The aim is to compile data to facilitate the design of more effective training. The work stresses the importance of practicing the deflections and first touch ...

A Bowling Revolution: Modeling the Perfect Conditions for a Strike

Apr. 15, 2025 — Researchers share a model that identifies the optimal location for bowling ball placement. Employing a system of six differential equations derived from Euler's equations for a rotating rigid body, their model creates a plot that shows the best ...

The Hidden Spring in Your Step

Mar. 27, 2025 — Researchers reveal the way our legs adapt to fast movements. When people hop at high speeds, key muscle fibers in the calf shorten rather than lengthen as forces increase, which they call 'negative stiffness.' This counterintuitive process helps the ...

Hydrophilic Coating Makes for Unflappable Golf Balls

Mar. 25, 2025 — The condition of the grass on a golf course can drastically skew the chances of a winning putt regardless of a player's skill. Now, a coating that soaks up water molecules could slow the roll of a golf ball on a lightning-fast, dry course and speed ...

Magnetic Microalgae on a Mission to Become Robots

Mar. 17, 2025 — Scientists have developed a single-cell green microalgae coated with magnetic material. This miniature robot was put to the test: would the microalgae with its magnetic coating be able to swim through narrow spaces and, additionally, in a viscous ...

Foraging Footballers Suggest How We Come Together to Act as One

Mar. 11, 2025 — Originally described in the context of particles drifting through liquid, Levy walk has been found to accurately describe a very wide range of phenomena, from cold atom dynamics to swarming bacteria. And now, a new study has found Levy walk in the ...

A New Model Accurately Predicts the Movement of Elite Athletes to Catch the Ball in Parabolic Flight

Feb. 25, 2025 — How does a tennis player like Carlos Alcaraz decide where to run to return Novak Djokovic's ball by just looking at the ball's initial position? These behaviours, so common in elite athletes, are ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:42pm EDT

Scientists Develop Novel Self-Healing Electronic Skin for Health Monitoring

Feb. 12, 2025 — Researchers have achieved a breakthrough in wearable health technology by developing a novel self-healing electronic skin (E-Skin) that repairs itself in seconds after damage. This could potentially ...

Study Using Virtual Breathing Coach Indicates It Is as Effective as a Human Trainer

Jan. 30, 2025 — A study suggests that a computer-generated breathing coach could be as effective as sessions with a human ...

Differences in Strength by Position Among Football Players

Jan. 13, 2025 — It's long been known that different positions on the football field fit different body types. A study led by the University of Kansas has gone beyond knowing that linemen are bigger with more body ...

The 'Red Advantage' Is No Longer True for Olympic Combat Sports

Jan. 8, 2025 — Wearing a red outfit in combat sports has been believed to provide an advantage for athletes, but a new study suggests there is no longer any truth in the ...

World Cup Soccer Is Getting Faster for Men and Women Alike

Dec. 17, 2024 — If the experience of watching a FIFA World Cup soccer final is intense, spare a thought for the players, who are competing at an ever increasing intensity, according to a new ...

Largest Study of CTE in Male Ice Hockey Players Finds Odds Increased 34% With Each Year Played

Dec. 4, 2024 — A large study, of 77 deceased male ice hockey players, has found that the odds of having chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) increased by 34% each ...

Get a Grip: The Best Thumb Position for Disc Launch Speed and Spin Rate

Oct. 22, 2024 — Disc golf is a sport growing in popularity, but there hasn't been much research into the best techniques -- until now. Researchers and disc golf enthusiasts have determined the best thumb position on ...

Modeling the Minutia of Motor Manipulation With AI

Oct. 1, 2024 — Scientists have developed an AI-driven approach that significantly advances our understanding of the hand's complex motor functions. The team used a creative machine learning strategy that combined ...

Versatile Knee Exo for Safer Lifting

Sep. 18, 2024 — A set of knee exoskeletons, built with commercially available knee braces and drone motors, has been shown to help counteract fatigue in lifting and carrying tasks. They helped users maintain better ...

Study Shows That 'Super Spikes' Can Increase Track Running Speed by 2%

Sep. 4, 2024 — Research shows that super spikes, scientifically described as advanced footwear technology (AFT) spikes, can give runners about a 2% edge in middle-distance track races, like the 800- and ...

Study Reveals Impact of Modified Ball Regulations on Game Performance in Handball

Oct. 31, 2024 — Researchers have revealed that the introduction of a new ball made from a small, easy-to-grip material in U15 girls' handball has led to improved attack efficiency compared with the conventional ...

Metal Baseball Bats Still Help Little Leaguers Hit a Little Better

Aug. 27, 2024 — While meant to simulate wood bats, regulation USA Baseball metal bats are more forgiving than wood for young players who might not connect with the ball on a bat's optimal 'sweet ...

Cricket Physics: Science Behind the Modern Bowler Technique Tricking Batters

Aug. 13, 2024 — Researchers have started to unravel the mysteries of how near-horizontal bowling in cricket leads to such tough-to-hit balls. The team employed a wake survey rake device made of multiple tubes ...

Research Suggests Controversial Super Spikes Do Make Runners Faster

July 30, 2024 — Since athletes in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics smashed multiple records in track and field, running enthusiasts and exercise physiologists have speculated on what role new-generation high-tech running ...

Wearable Sensors Help Athletes Achieve Greater Performance

July 23, 2024 — Researchers have developed a low-cost, flexible, and customizable sensor for badminton players that overcomes current monitoring constraints. The team used triboelectric sensors to construct their ...

Just 4% of Teen Academy Prospects Play Elite Soccer (Football)

June 27, 2024 — Just four per cent of talented teen academy prospects make it to the top tier of professional football, a new study has shown. A sample of nearly 200 players, aged between 13-18, also revealed only ...

Moving Objects Precisely With Sound

June 25, 2024 — Researchers have succeeded in directing floating objects around an aquatic obstacle course using only soundwaves. Their novel, optics-inspired method holds great promise for biomedical applications ...

Scientists Develop New Battery-Free Lactic Acid Sensor

May 22, 2024 — Scientists have created a new type of chemosensor (demonstrated for lactic acid sensing) which functions with electricity but without the need for reference electrodes or battery ...

Biomechanical Dataset for Badminton Performance Analysis

May 6, 2024 — In the sports industry, player data collection aids in personalized training feedback. Researchers have now gathered a detailed dataset and laid the foundation for delivering coaching assistance and ...

Time Zones and Tiredness Strongly Influence NBA Results, Study of 25,000 Matches Shows

May 1, 2024 — The body clock has a significant impact on the performance of NBA players. Data shows vastly better win ratio for home teams from the Western Time Zone Area (PDT) when playing an EDT team, compared ...

Machine Learning Used to Create a Fabric-Based Touch Sensor

Apr. 17, 2024 — A new fabric-based touch sensor used machine learning to control mobile apps, video games and other devices while integrated into ...

Universal Controller Could Push Robotic Prostheses, Exoskeletons Into Real-World Use

Mar. 20, 2024 — A team of researchers has developed a universal approach to controlling robotic exoskeletons that requires no training, no calibration, and no adjustments to complicated algorithms. Instead, users ...

Pioneering Muscle Monitoring in Space to Help Astronauts Stay Strong in Low-Gravity

Mar. 20, 2024 — Astronauts have been able to track their muscle health in spaceflight for the first time using a handheld device, revealing which muscles are most at risk of weakening in low gravity conditions. ...

Two Artificial Intelligences Talk to Each Other

Mar. 18, 2024 — Performing a new task based solely on verbal or written instructions, and then describing it to others so that they can reproduce it, is a cornerstone of human communication that still resists ...

Dolphin-Kick Swimming Maximizes Water-Flow Utilization With Increasing Speed

Mar. 14, 2024 — Researchers investigated the propulsion mechanism by visualizing water flow around a swimmer during underwater dolphin-kick swimming in a water channel via particle image velocimetry. Their findings ...

Robot ANYmal Can Do Parkour and Walk Across Rubble

Mar. 13, 2024 — The quadrupedal robot ANYmal went back to school and has learned a lot. Researchers used machine learning to teach it new skills: the robot can now climb over obstacles and successfully negotiate ...

Going Top Shelf With AI to Better Track Hockey Data

Mar. 11, 2024 — Researchers got a valuable assist from artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help capture and analyze data from professional hockey games faster and more accurately than ever before, with big ...

Edge-to-Edge Assembly Technique for 2D Nanosheets

Feb. 2, 2024 — A research team develops edge-to-edge assembly technique for 2D ...

Engineers Unveil New Patch That Can Help People Control Robotic Exoskeletons

Jan. 31, 2024 — A new patch uses tiny needles to measure electrical signals in the human body with incredible accuracy, even when these devices are stretched or ...

Artificial Muscles -- Lighter, Safer, More Robust

Jan. 30, 2024 — Researchers have developed artificial muscles that are lighter, safer and more robust than their predecessors. The newly developed actuators have a novel type of shell structure and use a ...