Why are 'in' calls more reliable than out? | #DavisCup

To celebrate the start of the GB vs Australia semi final tie in Glasgow I thought I'd add another tennis related post to the collection!

If you're a huge tennis fan, you might have noticed that when a player challenges a call, more often than not, it's an 'out' call they're challenging. This is because the brain is slow at processing fast moving objects and the brain tries to compensate. So much so the brain can end up over compensating. If the ball continues to move in a straight line the Umpire 'sees it' farther than it is and the ball bounces inside the court, and the call is wrong. Lets hope none of that happens this weekend!

Good luck Team GB - go smash it!!

(sorry to my Australian readers!! :) )

Team GB initial nominations:

Andy Murray (Number 3 in the world)

Kyle Edmund (21, just entered the top 100)

Jamie Murray (Doubles, ATP top 8)

Dom Inglot (Doubles around 40 in the world)

James Ward

Team Australia Nominations:

Bernard Tomic (a late replacement for Nick Krygios)

Sam Groth

Lleyton Hewitt

Thanasi Kokinakkis 

An Athlete's Diet...

We've been launched into the days of continuous health warnings, from not drinking too much fruit juice to too much salt. The Commonwealth games start tomorrow - but what do athletes really eat?

Food means different things to different people. Although to athletes, it means fuel - essential for exceptional athletic performance. It's surprising the amount of variety and quantity of food they actually need. Even Wimbledon Champion, Andy Murray recently revealed that his girlfriend, Kim Sears, cooks him chicken, salmon or steak during the Wimbledon championships, so really, athletes aren't that restricted.

Anyone who followed Mo Farah's astonishing performance at London 2012 - probably didn't realize the secret of his success; consuming as many as 12,000 calories a day. Of course, most of us only need somewhere in the region of 1,600 to 3,000 calories. However, combined with training and the races themselves Mo Farah burned the 12,000 calories through blistering down the track at lightning pace.

It's not just swimmers for example that pound pancakes and pasta before competition, cyclists, marathon runners and rowers also have huge amounts of carbohydrates before competition - all in an effort to fuel their super intense continuous activity.

Although athletes follow their own specific routine, surprisingly wrestlers don't eat much before competition - they're at the completely opposite end of a pretty broad spectrum. So overall - what the athletes eat depends on their sport, even within sports, male an female athletes may eat very different amounts.

Prince George turns 1 today, so the members of the Royal family will be gathering at Kensington Palace - Happy Birthday George! Follow the rest of my #SummerofScience and me on Twitter @Sci_Sparks. Don’t forget to download my charity eBook, Science Bites: A Short Tour of the Universe HERE. 

#SummerofScience Day 5