Football is a dangerous game, mainly due to head-banging concussions. Now animal experiments suggest that taking the omega-3 fatty acid DHA might offer a new way of protecting against traumatic brain injury. Although only preliminary, the results raise the "intriguing" possibility of preventive treatment with DHA in groups at high risk of concussion and brain injury, such as military personnel and athletes in contact sports.
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Better than men – If a woman and a man are severely injured in a car crash–or other major accident (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen to this show), the woman will be more likely to survive. What does this have to do with the NFL?
Severely injured premenopausal women are 14% more likely to survive severe trauma than similarly injured men, a difference researchers believe may be due to the negative impact of male sex hormones on a traumatized immune system.
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Why the ball is that shape – Football is a rough game. Does the unique shape of the American football have something to do with this? It’s almost impossible to pick up off the ground, so if they get a chance, players just jump on top of it, and often a pile up ensues.Early football and rugby games used balls made from inflated pig bladders. Eventually they became covered with leather and stitched together by laces (those laces are still on today’s balls).
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Just in time for the Superbowl! – The Superbowl is coming up soon, and baseball science may give NFL players some valuable tips on how to catch a ball while on the run, something that’s essential in football. When the quarterback throws to the receiver, he has to aim for where he WILL BE when the ball arrives and the receiver has to know where to position himself in order to catch it.
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