【英语时差8,16】高端运动装备

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The crowd goes wild, the cyclist crosses the finish line---And it's a new world record!   Today's athletes are constantly breaking the limits of what was once possible. On today's Moment of Science?, we'll learn how high performance athletes get a boost from high technology.

In some sports, the advantages of better technology are pretty obvious. Competing cyclists can spend up to ninety percent of their energy overcoming air resistance. Anything that reduces this drag can add directly to their speed. Therefore, today's competition bikes are engineered to be as streamlined as possible, with blade-like spokes¹, tapered² tubing, and handlebars that sweep low and forward for the most aerodynamic riding posture³.

Even lower tech sports benefit from high technology. Forty years ago, a pole vaulting⁵ pole was a bamboo shaft⁶, and the world record vault⁴ stood at fifteen feet. Today, poles are made of carbon composite--custom built to the individual's speed, weight, and grip--and top-class vaulters can now clear twenty feet. Archery bows are also no longer made of wood. They have a core of miniature glass ball bearings, buried in rigid⁷ foam⁸ and wrapped in carbon fiber⁹ and fiberglass. Switching to the new bows made archers¹⁰ instantly more accurate, improving scores by more than twenty percent.

Sometimes however, this high tech engineering can go too far. Ten years ago, a sports rules committee banned a new, ultra-aerodynamic javelin¹¹ design. This new javelin had the unfortunate habit of overshooting the field entirely¹², and winding¹³ up in the stands. After it was banned, the javelin record dropped by over sixty-five feet.

On our next program, we'll learn how high technology can benefit athletic¹⁴ training, as well as equipment.  

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