Episode #837
News Items
Who's That Noisy
- Answer to last week: lava
Science or Fiction
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Item #1
Fiction
A systematic review finds that elite athletes overall have a reduced life expectancy compared to the general population, by about 4 years in men and 2 years in women. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4534511/
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Item #2
Science
A recent study finds that elite runners spend more time in the air and less in contact with the ground than their equally trained but non-elite controls. https://news.umich.edu/elite-runners-spend-more-time-in-air-less-on-ground-than-highly-trained-but-nonelite-peers/
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Item #3
Science
Not only do elite athletes have a higher concentration of mitochondria than the general population, their individual mitochondria are more efficient, producing 25% more energy. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161102132208.htm
Skeptical Quote of the Week.
‘When people don’t search for scientific evidence for things, they find a very compelling, convincing person with a very sympathetic story and think they must be right. They’re convinced that this is true. But it’s not true. You need to be able to question it. If people aren’t conversant in science, they mightn’t ask those questions.’ Aoife McLysaght – Professor in the Molecular Evolution Laboratory of the Smurfit Institute of Genetics, University of Dublin, Ireland