Wonderful Videos on the Science of Winter Sports, the Olympics, Thanks to NSF and NBC News

The National Science Foundation, with NBC News, has produced a series of wonderful videos of winter sports, with a focus on last year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and the science behind the sports.

I especially appreciate the videos on figure skating (yes, my daughter is a figure skater, and also plays on a couple of varsity sports teams); the material science behind skates from the boots to the blades and how they differ for speed skates, hockey skates, and figure skates, and the math behind sports. These short videos include faculty speaking on their research in sports. Several faculty from Ithaca College, Cornell University, and Williams College (the host of the recent Bay State Games) give great deliveries of their work, to name just a few. You can see such athletes as Apollo Ohno and Rachel Flatts, to name just two, in the videos.

And for all of the skiers out there, there are several videos focused on skiing, just for you!

These videos are engaging, informative, and very well-done, so enjoy! I even heard "optimization" mentioned in the context of sports, which was great to hear!

You can access all the Science of the Winter Olympic Games videos here.