Key facts
- Research explored the physics behind soccer's scissors feint, finding speed is not the only factor.
- Aerodynamic analysis of the Adidas Trionda ball revealed a 'drag crisis' affecting its trajectory.
- The Vesuvius Challenge project has successfully deciphered an entire ancient Herculaneum scroll, PHerc. 1667.
- Scientists have created the first experimental evidence of a boron buckyball molecule.
- The boron buckyball consists of 80 boron atoms.
A roundup of intriguing scientific developments from June includes research into soccer feints, the deciphering of ancient scrolls, and the creation of a novel boron molecule.
Japanese scientists studied university and junior high school soccer players to analyze the 'scissors feint' dribbling maneuver. Using high-speed cameras, they examined variables like body speed and joint kinematics. Their findings, published in the Japan Journal of Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences, suggest that skilled dribbling relies on more than just raw speed, emphasizing the regulation of distance to defenders and explosive acceleration through coordinated leg movements.
Further research explored the aerodynamics of the Adidas Trionda ball used in the FIFA World Cup. A paper in the journal Fluids analyzed the ball's behavior in a wind tunnel, attributing unexpected speed increases to the 'drag crisis'—a shift from laminar to turbulent airflow. This phenomenon causes the ball to move faster once it reaches a certain velocity, potentially making it harder for goalkeepers to predict.
The Vesuvius Challenge project has achieved a significant breakthrough in deciphering ancient scrolls from Herculaneum. Using AI and crowdsourced machine learning, the project aims to read texts from scrolls that were badly singed and too fragile to unroll physically. The Vesuvius Challenge made its first award in 2023 for deciphering initial letters and a grand prize in 2024 for the first readable text. A recent advancement involved the successful virtual unrolling and full reading of scroll PHerc. 1667, revealing a philosophical treatise on ethics and moral progress. The scroll's content suggests a date in the 2nd century BCE, mentioning Aristocreon, a disciple of the Stoic philosopher Chrysippus. The team also used higher-resolution imaging to recover titles and authors from other scrolls.
In materials science, researchers at Brown University have produced the first experimental evidence for a new type of 'buckyball' molecule composed of 80 boron atoms. Buckyballs, originally discovered in 1985 and made of 60 carbon atoms, are nanoscale structures resembling soccer balls that helped launch the nanotechnology revolution. This new boron buckyball represents a significant step in creating novel molecular structures.