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This video of legendary climber Dan Osman looks downright impossible. The camera has to be tilted. And the playback must be in fast-forward mode. There’s no way someone could scale a cliff that quickly, right? Actually, Osman’s Spidey-like ascent is the real thing. And in rushing up that rock, he demonstrates both the incredible capabilities of the human hand and the importance of not trying to test the laws of physics. First of all, friction is your friend in rock climbing, and during one close-up you can see that Osman is wearing very flexible, grip-enhancing shoes. The flexibility of the soles is critical because it puts more of the rubber sole in contact with the rock, increasing the friction, and the chances that his foot stays planted in place.

The rock itself, known as “Bear’s Reach,” would be considered an easy one for experts, offering numerous cracks and bumps and ledges large and small. In other words, Osman’s not climbing up a smooth wall. And when he’s jamming his fingers into one of those cracks, or grabbing a ledge, he’s basically proving that our evolutionary ancestors swung from branches. There’s no other good reason for our hands to be that strong, and capable of supporting so much weight. By pressing his fingers down on some exposed rock, Osman engages more of the muscles in his forearm, allowing him to bear more weight on that hand.

Obviously he’s also in ridiculously good shape. One Web site says the climb should take about three hours. In this video, Osman does it in 4 minutes and 25 seconds. Tragically, though, this daring approach to nature’s dangers led to Osman’s early death in 1998, at the age of 35.—Gregory Mone 

The PopSci staff and our contributing troubadour, Jonathan Coulton, have spent today combing through the remarkable array of "I Feel Fantastic" videos sent in by loyal readers and podcast fans. After much deliberation and humming of that annoyingly catchy refrain that just won't get out of our heads, we arrived at a winner. This stick-figure animation, by YouTube member AnnieKate76 made us laugh our collective butts off. Says JoCo himself, "I like AnnieKate's video because it's got this very simple visual
look, but it's deep, man. I keep noticing new stuff every time I watch it, all these quick cuts to funny things. It's like an episode of Lost, but funny, and with stick figures." Right, what he said. So without further ado:

For her hard work and hilarity, AnnieKate76 will receive the grand prize of one 80 GB iPod, custom-engraved with Jonathan Coulton's autograph. Congrats!

But there were so many excellent entries that we decided to name five honorable mentions who put tons of work into creating really excellent animations, machinima and live-action music videos. Each of the five co-winners listed below will receive a free subscription to Popular Science. Great job, everyone!

First runner-up goes to YouTube member Demetrius3d, using Lightwave 3D animation:

Second runner-up goes to YouTube member ThrowingBricks, using The Sims 2 machinima:

Third runner-up goes to YouTube member theshirtevent, using Flash:

Fourth runner-up goes to YouTube member Zeedoos, using World of Warcraft machinima:

And fifth runner-up goes to YouTube member team blackcatbonafide, for their live-action music video:

Many thanks to everyone who submitted a video! If you're one of the winners mentioned here, please contact us again via YouTube with your name and address, so we can send you prizes. Look for more PopSci contests in coming months (hint: if you like making stuff, you'll want to check out our "green tech" challenge beginning July 10. —The PopSci Editors

If you've already tuned in to Jonathan's latest podcast episode, you may be wondering what the contest he mentioned is all about. As he said right before the Lunar Base One lockdown was complete, we're giving away a brand-spanking-new 80-gigabyte iPod complete with a laser-engraved JoCo autograph on the back to the fan who cranks out the coolest music video to accompany “I Feel Fantastic,” the smashing power-pop number about how a future life might be better with a handful of specialized performance-enhancing pills. It's just one of five great songs Coulton wrote to accompany PopSci's Future of the Body issue.

So crank up the webcam and karaoke your heart out. Or throw together a touching Ken Burnsian photomontage. Or make a flip book and film it. We'll take anything. The most fantastic entry will bag the iPod (bear in mind, this isn't some lame-o Apple-engraved message—we'll be taking this down to Brooklyn to have Mr. Coulton's official mark engraved on Phil and Limor's Epilog laser cutter. In short, it's going to look awesome).

To enter, download the track here. Then submit your video to YouTube and send it as a video message via YouTube to “Popscivideo” (our YouTube user name). Please include “Coulton Contest” in the subject line and—if you don't want us to contact you through YouTube if you win—your e-mail address. We'll be taking entries until the contest closes on June 18, so get cracking!

Check out some classic Coulton fan videos after the jump for inspiration (as well as some good ol' legalese) —John Mahoney

Yes, I know, it's been a long time since I posted a podcast. I've been very busy here on the moon doing...important things. Let's not discuss it anymore.

PopSci editor Nicole Dyer is obsessed with paint, in particular the new Aura paint from Benjamin Moore. Not only does it cover most colors with only one coat (no need for primer), but it's low in smog-producing VOC's, dries quickly and doesn't stink. Nicole was so excited about it, and her excitement was so infectious, that we both forgot to even talk about the breakthrough chemistry that makes it possible - new and improved surfactants that bond better with pigment molecules. That's how exciting this story about paint is.

I also asked her for an update on the "Red Rain" story from an earlier podcast, but as you'll see, the paint insanity seems to have distracted her from more important things (like aliens)—Jonathan Coulton

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Of all the phenomenally difficult, profoundly asinine ways to get into the Guinness Book of World Records, this high-dive-into-shallow-pool feat has got to be one of the worst. Me? I’d rather walk backward for a while, à la Cliffy in Cheers, or try to master one of those balancing-balls tricks.

That said, someone did put a little bit of thought into this setup. First, there are a few sequences in the video that afford a wider view of the glorified kiddie pool and reveal that the base is a cushioned mat of some sort. This proves critical: If you watch closely, you can see the jumper bend his knee just before impact. His knee enters the water like a wedge—albeit a rounded one. If that was a real floor underneath the water, he wouldn’t have been capable of standing up and throwing that double-fisted pumper at the end.

Second, aside from that knee drop (undoubtedly a last-second effort by the diver’s brain to abort), he does have fairly perfect technique. University of Virginia physicist Lou Bloomfield says the belly-flop posture is the key to stopping short in that shallow pool. “For him to avoid injury, he has to use as much of his surface as possible to get rid of his downward momentum,” Bloomfield says. “A good belly slam helps.”

One thing science won’t be able to tell us, though, is why he’s wearing that god-awful unitard. —Gregory Mone

Ah, so that's what they teach you in those Buddhist monasteries. Meditation? A clear mind and heart? Whatever. To achieve oneness with the universe, you need to learn how to stick a rice bowl to your stomach.

The miniature monk in this clip has two things working in his favor: his munchkin-like stature and basic physics. By sucking in his midsection, then pressing the bowl to his stomach, he creates a partial vacuum in the space between the bowl's inner surface and his skin. Since the seal is tight and there are fewer molecules of air per cubic inch inside the bowl/stomach space than there are outside, the bowl sticks.

Now, as for how it stays there while he's being lifted clear off the ground, that's where the apparent lack of McDonald's hamburgers and soda in his diet factors in. Let's assume he weighs about 50 pounds, and the bowl covers about 30 square inches of his belly. In this case, University of Virginia physicist Louis Bloomfield explains that for the seal to hold, the boy only has to reduce the air pressure inside the bowl by a little more than 1.6 pounds per square inch of bowl-bound skin. (Which shouldn't be too hard.) That way, the pressure force pushing him upward against the bowl will reach 50 pounds, balancing the downward pull of his own weight.

Add a video and presto, millions of people across the world get to watch him hanging inverted and upside down, while staring at their monitors thinking . . . huh?—Gregory Mone

It breaks faster than a Mariano Rivera cutter. It's harder to hit than Rick Vaughan's fastball in the movie Major League. The gyroball is so elusive, in fact, that some speculate that it might not even exist. The gyro, which originated in Japan, is causing consternation in American baseball broadcast booths these days. But since science is fairly used to dealing with things that may or may not exist (extra dimensions, anyone?), we figured we'd give it a look.

This video shows Daisuke Matsuzaka, the new Boston Red Sox hurler, supposedly striking out a batter using the gyro. Before we get into how it works, let's look at two other popular pitches. For a normal fastball, the pitcher puts backspin on the ball, so air flows faster above the ball than it does below. The ball doesn't drop as quickly as it would if it were following a normal, gravitationally influenced path, so the batter's brain gets the impression that it's rising. And... he whiffs.

A curveball has the opposite effect: Topspin causes it to fall faster. And again, if all goes well, he whiffs.

The gyroball is said to move with a bulletlike rotation that prevents it from dropping like a curve or staying high like a fastball. In effect, it's a fastball that listens to gravity, following a trajectory unaffected by turbulence in the air.

Japanese scientist Ryutaro Himeno is widely credited with creating the pitch using computer simulations [see the published paper and video clips of the computer models here] with the help of baseball instructor Kazushi Tezuka. They published their work in a book, currently available only in Japan, called The Secret of the Miracle Pitch.

As for whether Dice-K, as he's known in the U.S., is actually throwing a gyroball in this video, that's hard to tell. Following Occam's Razor, the easiest way to find out would be to just ask him, right? That's not so easy, though. Numerous interviewers have tried to do just that, but he’s played coy, allowing the miracle pitch to remain a mystery. —Gregory Mone

I personally have never been in a fight, so I can't say for sure what my fighting style would look like. But I can speculate. It would probably involve me taking a single girly swing at my opponent, jamming up a knuckle, and then starting to cry. The good news is that it might not be my fault I'm such a sissy. According to Harvard neuroscientist Edward Kravitz, there may be a genetic explanation. Or at least there would be if I were a fruit fly. Male and female fruit flies use very different fighting techniques, and Kravitz has discovered that by manipulating a single gene, he can transfer these gender-specific moves into the opposite sex.

I never know whether or not these scientists and I are going to agree on what's funny about their research. I certainly wouldn't blame them if they didn't find it funny at all—I mean, it is their job and everything. But let's face it, a fruit-fly Thunderdome is pretty hilarious, especially when you think about those poor little male fruit flies head-butting each other like a bunch of girls. Luckily, Edward Kravitz was very tolerant of my slightly goofy interview
approach. I could tell even before we got to the story about
accidental head-crushing. —Jonathan
Coulton

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