Humans May Be Biologically Able to Run 40 MPH, New Study Shows
Runner's Stride: Can future humans pick up the pace? WikimediaHuman running speeds top out near 28 mph, if the record-breaking feats of Jamaican speed demon Usain Bolt prove anything. But scientists say that the biological limits of human running could theoretically reach 35 or even 40 mph -- assuming that human muscle fibers could contract faster and allow people to pick up their pace. This provides a new twist on the old school of thought that speed limits depended on how much force a runner could exert against the ground. Past studies showed that sprinters can apply up to 1,000 pounds of force with a single limb during each sprinting step, and so researchers thought that humans simply could not push beyond that point. Related ArticlesThis Spring's Hottest New Accessory: a Bionic Limb?Will Running Barefoot Cure What Ails Us?So Do Prosthetic Limbs Give Sprinters an Advantage Or Not?TagsScience, Jeremy Hsu, biological limits,...