Edward Willett

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Usain Bolt? He’s not so fast

OK, admittedly the title of this column is a bit tongue in cheek. Compared to, well, any other human being on the planet, Usain Bolt is, of course, insanely fast. (I have not personally compared my speed in the 100-metre dash with his, of course, but since I’d have to stop halfway to be loaded onto an ambulance I suspect I’d have little hope of matching him.) But compared to the rest of the animal kingdom, Usain Bolt...or any other human...is small potatoes. In an article entitled “Animal athletes: a performance view,” the July 28 issue of Veterinary Record did the comparison, finding Bolt would trail greyhounds, cheetahs and pronghorn antelopes, ...

Posted by Edward Willett at 13:00, August 24th, 2012 under Blog, Columns, Science Columns | Comment now »

The world land speed record attempt

Right now, on a dry lake bed in Black Rock, Nevada, two teams are locked in a fierce competition. Using exotic, jet-propelled vehicles, they're striving to break the sound barrier--on land. In the process, they're pushing technology to its limits. What makes the competition even more interesting is the contrast between the two teams. On the one side is the Thrust SSC (SSC stands for SuperSonic Car), whose design was carefully modelled using computers and wind tunnels before it was ever built. On the other side is the Spirit of America, whose genesis was a little more, well, informal. "Yeah, we modeled the car," says crew chief Dezso Molnar. "We modeled it for about 42 seconds on ...

Posted by Edward Willett at 16:38, September 22nd, 1997 under Blog, Columns, Science Columns | Comment now »