Scientists discover why blacks are better runners and whites are better swimmers.
Have you spent a lot of time pondering your belly button? Neither have we.
But scientists have discovered that the belly button is more than just an unsanitary hole on a guy’s stomach—it also explains racial differences in some athletic pursuits.
That’s because the belly button is the body’s center of gravity. Black people typically have navels that are located higher in proportion to the rest of their anatomy, which means that gravity is on their side while running. Whites, on the other hand, have navels that give them naval success because—on average—their torsos are longer.
Clear as crude oil? Andre Bejan, the lead researcher and a professor at Duke University, explained to AFP:
“Locomotion is essentially a continual process of falling forward, and mass that falls from a higher altitude, falls faster.”
“Swimming is the art of surfing the wave created by the swimmer. The swimmer who makes the bigger wave is the faster swimmer, and a longer torso makes a bigger wave. Europeans have a three-percent longer torso than West Africans, which gives them a 1.5-percent speed advantage in the pool.”
Many folks have tried to steer clear of research aimed at the racial discrepancies in athletic performance because, well, it’s the kind of research that is bound to piss people off—and that can get you charged with racism. Luckily, of the two researchers in this study, one is white and one is black. They carried out the study by evaluating about one hundred years of sprinting and freestyle swimming records set by both men and women.
So the next time your boss catches you just staring at your belly button instead of working, calmly explain that you’re pondering your athletic ability. Your boss will likely respond with a snide comment (“Gee, you’re sure sitting in that chair athletically”) and then tell you to get back to work. You know what would be great? If someone did a study about why bosses are so annoying.
—Seth Putnam
I wonder how much though, these effects are proportional to what we see in results, or if tiny differences are enough to create self-reinforcing stereotypes, biasing who practices what sports more, and their mindset (which are probably different from the start, stemming from socio-economic correlation with preferred sports). Not that it would be everything equal no matter what body proportions, but for example, is it really suboptimal to have longer legs for any swimming style? Aren’t longer legs peddlers that move a larger amount of water? Who tends to be heavier and denser, with the same height and mass composition?… Read more »