June research roundup: 6 cool science stories we almost missed

Text settings Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Minimize to nav It’s a regrettable reality that there is never enough time to cover all the interesting scientific stories we come across. So every month, we highlight a handful of the best stories that nearly slipped through the cracks.  June’s list includes insight into the science of soccer’s scissors feint; the physics of poo’s distinctive coiled shape; a boron buckyball; and the latest breakthrough in the ongoing Vesuvius challenge to decipher the Herculaneum scrolls. The science of soccer’s scissors feint Credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Howcast Credit: Screenshot/YouTube/Howcast With the FIFA World Cup in full swing, even scientists’ thoughts are turning to soccer (or football for everyone else in the world). For instance, one common and highly effective dribbling maneuver is the “scissors feint,” in which a player uses the outside of their feet to fake going one way and then cutting to the other. Japanese scientists studied university and junior high school soccer players of varying skill levels to study dribbling dynamics, focusing on the scissors feint. The movements were captured with high-speed cameras. The researchers looked at several variables, including body speed, joint kinematics, distance between players, and changes in relative speed between attackers and defenders. They described their findings in a paper published in the Japan Journal of Physical Education, Health and Sport Sciences. Most notably, the team found that raw speed is not the only factor in skilled dribbling. The best players actively regulate their distance to the defender while maintaining a high body speed, for example. They can generate explosive, rapid acceleration . And they have minimal foot lift and a pronounced trunk inclination when executing feints, so their actions are quicker and more deceptive. Per The Guardian, this year’s FIFA ball design , the Adidas Trionda, seems to be giving goalkeepers a bit of trouble when it comes to reading the ball’s speed and responding accordingly. FIFA shifted last year to the four-panel ball with intentionally deep seams to create optimal in-flight stability and a more predictable trajectory. It’s also designed to function better in wet or humid conditions. So why are goalkeepers struggling to stop the balls? A paper published last month in the journal Fluids might hold the answer. The authors fired the Trionda ball through a wind tunnel and analyzed the aerodynamics. (It’s a common experimental approach used to study baseball aerodynamics, too.) They found that the ball traveled faster once it hit a certain velocity regardless of where it was struck.