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Thermal Metamaterials: A New Frontier in Heat Precision and Management

Physics

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August 26, 2026

Thermal Metamaterials: A New Frontier in Heat Precision and Management

Have you ever used any of your electronic devices- phones, PCs, tablets- for an extended amount of time? You would notice them heating up and, in a few cases, even shutting down after continuous use over a certain period of time. This is because electronics generate heat. And extended use generates heat faster than it can be dissipated.

Heat usually behaves predictably: a hot cup of coffee cools, a laptop warms your hands, and the sun heats Earth. But at scales thousands of times smaller than a human hair, heat can behave in unusual ways that scientists are only now learning to control.

Heat precision and control are a crucial element in all electronic operation, and also a persistent concern in technological development. As smartphones, laptops, and AI chips grow smaller and more powerful, managing heat is becoming one of the biggest limits on performance.

The biggest threat to the next generation of supercomputers, AI chips, and hypersonic vehicles isn’t software or aerodynamics- it’s the inability to shed heat. At the nanoscale, thermal radiation breaks classical physics, but until now, nobody had figured out how to reliably exploit it.

A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, in collaboration with Stanford University and Purdue University, published in Nature (2), has shown that carefully designed nanoscale gold metamaterials can increase heat transfer across tiny gaps by up to four times compared with similar conventional systems, offering one of the clearest experimental demonstrations yet that heat transfer at the nanoscale can be actively engineered. The findings could eventually lead to better chip cooling, more efficient energy devices, and new ways to manage thermal radiation.

So, how does it work?

At the core of the discovery is a phenomenon called near-field radiative heat transfer: Under ordinary conditions, objects lose heat by radiating it outward in all directions. That is called far-field radiation, and it follows familiar physical limits. But when two objects are separated by an extremely small distance- just a few hundred nanometres- thermal radiation can “tunnel” across the gap much more efficiently than it can in everyday conditions.

Scientists have known about this effect for years, but what this study shows is that it can be pushed further through deploying metamaterials: engineered structures built from tiny repeating patterns designed to interact with energy in precise ways. In this case, the researchers patterned microscopic gold structures onto thin membranes and placed them face-to-face across a nanoscale gap.

The gold was shaped into split-ring resonators- tiny ring-like structures with a gap that lets them act like miniature electromagnetic circuits. The key was tuning them so that their resonant frequency matched the natural vibrational frequency of the silicon nitride membranes. At that frequency, the material supports surface phonon polaritons, which are coupled waves of vibrating atoms and electromagnetic fields that travel along a surface.

“Unlike conventional materials, metamaterials are built with tiny, repeating patterns that interact with energy in precise ways,” said Sheng Shen, a professor of mechanical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and senior author of the study. “We patterned microscopic gold structures onto thin membranes and positioned them face-to-face across a nanoscale gap. This increased heat transfer by as much as four times compared to similar setups without metamaterials, which is far beyond what traditional physics would predict at larger distances. (1)

This enhancement, however, is not simply the result of adding more pathways for heat to travel. According to the researchers, the effect emerges because the microscopic structures and the material’s natural energy waves work together.

“Rather than simply adding more pathways for heat, the gold structures interact with naturally occurring energy waves in the material, known as surface phonon polaritons, creating a resonance effect,” said Zexiao Wang, a PhD student in Professor Shen’s research group and co-first author of the study. “These coupled vibrations allow energy to move more freely and efficiently across the gap.”

“It’s a cooperative effect,” Shen said. “The structures and the material amplify each other.”

Metamaterials — Metamaterial-mediated near-field radiative energy exchange. Photo, author

That distinction is crucial. In the same manner that adding more lanes to a freeway boosts traffic capacity, the gold rings do more than simply provide additional paths for heat to flow. By actively coupling with the material’s inherent energy landscape, they produce a resonance that allows more energy to pass through the same small gap than either component or the material could handle on its own.

Heat management applications and potential impacts

The potential applications are broad. In electronics, better control of heat flow could help devices stay compact without sacrificing performance. That matters for computer chips, high-performance systems, and future AI hardware, where thermal limits are already a major bottleneck.

The same principle could also improve thermophotovoltaic systems, which convert heat into electricity by harnessing thermal radiation. If radiative heat transfer can be tuned more efficiently, such systems could become more practical. In sensing technologies, especially infrared detection, stronger and more controllable heat signals could improve performance in environmental monitoring, security, and other specialized applications.

More precise heat control not only optimises electronics’ operation, but it also reduces waste by precisely controlling the heat flow, allowing for a more sustainable operation in the long run. The research points toward a future in which heat is not just something to remove, but something to engineer deliberately. That is an important shift in thinking, especially in fields where waste heat limits both efficiency and scale.

Metamaterials: The future ahead

For now, the work is still at the nanoscale and has been demonstrated only in tightly controlled laboratory conditions. The devices use specific gold and silicon nitride structures, and the effect depends on precise resonant tuning. Turning this into a manufacturable technology will require major advances in durability, scaling, and integration with existing hardware.

On the theoretical side, notes Fan (3), the complex interactions between the metamaterial units and their supporting substrate make numerical calculations and analyses exceptionally difficult. “To address this difficulty, we have developed a numerical tool based on fluctuational electrodynamics to design the structures, alongside a coupled-mode theory model to fully elucidate the underlying physics,” he says. Measuring the heat exchange is equally demanding: the signals are extremely small, on the order of nanowatts, so the team had to use a specialized suspended thermal bridge method to detect them reliably.

Even so, the study marks an important step forward, even if it remains at the lab scale. It moves the idea of nanoscale heat control from theory into experimental reality. If future work can scale the approach beyond the lab, thermal metamaterials could become an important tool for the next generation of electronics and energy technologies.

“If heat can be engineered with the same precision as electricity or light, it may open the door to a new class of technologies built not just to withstand heat, but to harness it,” Shen said (4).

References:

College of Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University. Heat breaks the rules at the nanoscale and scientists used it to their advantage. ScienceDaily. [Online] 2026. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/06/260606075511.htm
Metamaterial-enhanced near-field radiative heat transfer. Zexiao Wang, Renwen Yu, Hakan Salihoglu, Xiao Luo, Zhuo Li, Hyeonggyun Kim, Xiu Liu, Tianyi Huang, Yibai Zhong, Shanhui Fan, Sheng Shen. 2026, Nature, pp. 64-68.
Dumé, Isabelle. Metamaterial boosts heat transfer on the nanoscale. PhysicsWorld. [Online] 2026. https://physicsworld.com/a/metamaterial-boosts-heat-transfer-on-the-nanoscale/.
Carnegie Mellon University. Metamaterials enable control of heat transfer at nanoscale, potentially transforming energy and electronics. [Online] 2026. https://phys.org/news/2026-05-metamaterials-enable-nanoscale-potentially-energy.html.

Are Athletic Champions Born or Made? The Science of Genetics and Training

Mariam Mushtaq

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August 21, 2026

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Are Athletic Champions Born or Made? The Science of Genetics and Training

Two children tie the laces of their running shoes for the very first time. One is born with muscles that naturally favour speed and a body well suited for endurance. The other has no obvious physical advantage but refuses to miss a morning of practice. Years later, only one of them stands at the hallmark of their athletic career, or perhaps they both do. What made the difference?

This story explores one of sport’s oldest debates: are elite athletes born or made? Research suggests that genetics accounts for 44 to 68% of the variation in maximal aerobic capacity, a key measure of endurance, but genes are only part of the picture. Training, coaching, nutrition, mindset, and access to opportunities all influence how athletic potential develops.

The journeys of Usain Bolt and Serena Williams show that natural ability alone is never enough. Behind every world record and gold medal are years of discipline, setbacks, and relentless practice. Rather than choosing between genetics and training, this story explores how the two work together to shape extraordinary athletes.

Sports and Genetics

Studies have found that genes significantly impact athletic ability and influence bodily features. So far, almost 200 polymorphisms linked with variations in sport performances have been identified. For the science crowd, a polymorphism of a gene is just like a spelling alteration. For instance, take the example of ‘colour’ and ‘color’. Same word, same meaning, but bearing different origins due to a single letter change.

To gain insight into some of these inherited influences, scientists resort to current tools of analysis, like the Total Genotype Score (TGS) and Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS). Fancy names of genome detectives, but with just a simple purpose: to reveal the biological systems and genetic pathways that aid in athletic performance. However, multiple obstacles make the task not so easy, for every tool or every inspection has a limitation.

Despite this, the evidence indicates that genes do play a major role in variables linked to attaining sports excellence. Finally, success in sport seldom depends solely on the genes or condition of the training but rather to some degree on both.

The 4 OG Genetic Markers

As athleticism became a hot topic of extensive study to pinpoint the traits that led to elite performance, genetic markers of potential importance became the key interest. These markers include the adenosine monophosphate deaminase 1 gene (AMPD1), the angiotensin-converting enzyme gene (ACE), the alpha-actinin gene (ACTN3), and the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma co-activator 1-alpha gene (PPARGC1A). Again, very fancy names but with crucial functions.

genetics — Sports Genetics. Photo, Springer Nature

Let’s start with the infamous AMPD1. This five-lettered enzyme acronym generates a four-lettered enzymatic acronym AMPD, aka Adenosine Monophosphate Deaminase. During exercise, your muscles burn ATP, breaking it down into AMP; in turn, it needs more ATP. AMPD here jumps in and acts as an AMP cleanup crew. This allows the removal of excess AMP so that it can be recycled into ATP. A deficiency of AMPD1 would mean a deficiency of AMPD, which in turn would ultimately lead to slow recovery, fatigue, and cramps.

Next up we have the ACE-er. ACE gene makes an enzyme that assists with blood flow. For athletes, it ensures how nutrients and oxygen reach the muscles during exercise. ACE has two polymorphic versions, i.e ACE I & ACE II. While the ACE I variant is responsible for endurance, the ACE II variant is linked to short-term power surge.

ACTN3 encodes for Alpha Actinin 3. The human body has both fast-twitch and slow-twitch fibers, and this protein is found in the fast-twitch fibers, acting as a shock absorber and anchor inside our muscles that allows force to be generated at a faster rate. ACTN3 also has variants. Olympic sprinters or power lifters hold the R version, while the X version is more commonly seen in the form of endurance in marathoners and cyclists. A combination of both these variants is usually found in hockey, football, and basketball players.

PPARGC1A is the master regulator of mitochondria. Simply put, it switches muscles to endurance mode, burns more fat, increases oxygen delivery, reduces oxidative stress, and supports faster recovery among athletes.

Thus, the mounting evidence clearly implies that human genotype plays an important role in determining the response of the individual to physical activity and their potential for athletic excellence. Non-genetic factors such as environment and epigenetics also cause performance to change. In modern times, sporting ability is considered to be a polygenetic feature that contributes equally in a small but measurable manner to the overall sporting capability or phenotype expression.

Athletic Genomics through Tailored Nutrition, Endurance Training, & Muscle Fibers

The field of nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics is another thread in the athletic performance narrative that studies the influence of inherited differences on an athlete’s response to nutrition and nutritional interventions. Genetic testing is done to relate nutrition to individual requirements to understand how it can affect health, body structure, and sport potential. The idea behind personalised nutrition is to optimise performance.

Another crucial factor is endurance, depending on our body’s capacity to generate energy through aerobic metabolism that relies on mitochondrial function, gene expression, and enzyme activity. The body changes progressively over time with each endurance training session. Skeletal muscles become more efficient at using glycogen, more efficient at extracting energy from fat stores, and less lactate is produced for the same effort. Meanwhile, the heart becomes stronger, the volume of blood pumped by the heart increases, and with every beat more blood is pumped around, making long exercise sessions much easier.

Training is not the end of the story, as each athlete reacts to the same training plan differently. Research indicates that some genetic factors help to initiate the journey, while some are not heritable and don’t affect the benefits of training. The quality of training, commitment, recovery, and daily activities also play a role in progress. It has also been investigated that recovery could have its own genes, including members of the glutathione S-Transferase (GST) family. All of these appear to be associated with the body’s ability to flush away metabolic wastes, neutralise free radicals, and restore balance following strenuous exercise.

These genes are known to be influential with regard to how aerobic athletes express them compared to non-athletes. This explains why some people have better athletic abilities than others and what athletes are capable of recovering between difficult workouts.

Most importantly, muscle is not just any tissue, but rather a very diverse tissue with varying fibers of strength, fast and slow. Slow-twitch fibres lengthen more slowly, burn energy less efficiently, and do not get fatigued easily. By contrast, fast-twitch fibres produce greater force with faster speed, cause increased energy cost, and fatigue more quickly.

This natural variety allows the body to handle different kinds of physical challenges with great accuracy. In sports that require endurance, such as swimming and running, athletes tend to have a higher percentage of slow-twitch fibres. The power of sprinting athletes is found to have a greater number of fast-twitch fibres, allowing them to concentrate on speed, strength, and explosive power rather than endurance.

Gene Doping for Enhanced Performance

With increased knowledge of human physiology, there has been rapid progress in manipulating human genetic processes for better performance. With advancements in gene therapy, it has become possible to alter gene expression by inserting or changing the gene material within cells.

During gene doping, the athlete is given a virus that’s been engineered in a laboratory. The virus has new DNA that it injects directly into the target cells, such as muscle cells. After it’s in there, it will get to work with the player and help them become a better performer. However, it’s way more complicated than it sounds, as it comes with an abundance of risks and health issues. During the ex vivo technique, the doctors do not immediately inject, but first, they remove cells from the patient’s body. They cultivate those cells in the lab, modify them for better cell function, and reintroduce them. This approach has been successfully used to treat some genetic diseases.

Although these methods were designed to combat diseases, now these tools are being utilized to alter genetic mapping for better performance. New tools, such as CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, have opened the door for even more opportunities, which led the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to condemn the use of gene doping or gene-editing technologies to improve the athleticism of an athlete.

Sports Genomics is a big prospect in professional sports. It can be used to uncover early talent and develop particular programmes based on an athlete and their genes. With genomic research, injury risk can be managed more effectively, muscle recovery times can be improved, and nutrition plans can be more specific. This would lead to a greater understanding of athletic performance genetics, environment, and training, all of which play a role in the creation of champions down the road.

References:

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms252313041
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms252313041
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/gene-doping-olympics-1.4535719

A Sky Without Stars: The Rise of Light Pollution in Pakistan

Astronomy & Space

Shanzay Sajid

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August 17, 2026

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A Sky Without Stars: The Rise of Light Pollution in Pakistan

How odd is it that light has the power to obscure the world? Humanity has gazed up at a canopy of stars since the dawn of civilization. Ancient civilizations, from the astronomers of Mohenjo-Daro to the scholars of the Mughal courts, once mapped these skies of incredible clarity. Across Pakistan’s rapidly urbanizing landscape, artificial light is swallowing our night skies and, along with it, our connection to the cosmos.

Light pollution, defined as the excessive or misdirected artificial light that brightens the night sky, has emerged as one of the most widely spread yet least discussed environmental crises in Pakistan. From the gleaming skyscrapers of Karachi to the capital’s ever-expanding range of glowing new buildings, millions of Pakistanis now live under skies so washed out that they may never see the Milky Way with their own eyes.

The Scale of the Problem

Pakistan is among the fastest-urbanizing nations in Asia. With a population exceeding 230 million and cities growing at immense rates, the country’s artificial light output has expanded tremendously over the past two decades. The Indus Valley corridor (an area stretching from Lahore through Faisalabad to Karachi) now forms a near-continuous band of sky glow which is clearly visible from space.

The Bortle Scale measures night sky darkness from 1 (perfectly dark) to 9 (extreme light pollution). Most of Pakistan’s major urban centres sit at levels 8 or 9. City residents can only make out the Moon, a handful of planets, and perhaps a few dozen stars: a tiny fraction of the roughly 4,500 stars visible under truly dark skies.

Sources of Light Pollution

Across Pakistani cities, streetlights – many of them newly installed LEDs – are not properly shielded, directing as much light upward into the sky as downward onto the roads. In Islamabad, the sprawling commercial strips of Blue Area and the floodlighting of commercial markets bathe the city in a permanent haze.

Islamabad’s otherwise orderly urban planning has paid almost no attention to the direction or intensity of its outdoor lighting. In Lahore, commercial districts like Liberty Market blaze with unregulated billboards and shop-front signage throughout the night. Karachi’s Tariq Road and Clifton do the same on an even larger scale. Pakistan currently has no national legislation addressing any of it.

The Cost to Nature and Health

The consequences extend well beyond astronomy. Sea turtles nesting on Hawke’s Bay and Sandspit beaches near Karachi are often disoriented by nearby urban glow, causing hatchlings to crawl toward city lights rather than the sea. Migratory birds travelling the Indus Flyway, one of Asia’s most significant migration corridors, collide with lit-up structures and lose their bearing during nocturnal flights.

Human health bears a cost, too. Research consistently links chronic exposure to artificial light at night with disrupted sleep, suppressed melatonin production, and increased risks of metabolic disease. In Pakistan’s crowded cities, where unshielded streetlights illuminate residential areas all night, millions of people, in particular children, are affected.

Pakistan’s mountainous north remains one of South Asia’s last great dark sky refuges. Villages like Karimabad in Hunza and the Shimshal Valley offer Milky Way views that rival the world’s finest stargazing destinations. Balochistan’s vast, sparsely populated plateaus and Pakistan’s southern deserts of Cholistan and Thar have skies dark enough to allow the Milky Way to cast visible shadows on the ground. These are irreplaceable assets, and they are under growing threat as development creeps out from urban centres.

The Path Forward

Light pollution, unlike most environmental crises, is almost entirely reversible. Other countries have shown the way. The Canary Islands introduced lighting ordinances in the 1980s that protected observatory-grade skies without halting development. Flagstaff, Arizona, became the world’s first International Dark Sky City in 2001 through a combination of shielding requirements and public education. Interestingly, the changes involved are not costly: shielded light fixtures, warmer LED colour temperatures, timers on commercial signage, etc. But they require political will and coordinated policy.

Pakistan’s first step should be introducing outdoor lighting standards through the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority, mandating shielded, warm-spectrum fixtures for all new public and commercial installations. Dark sky designations for Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan through the International Dark-Sky Association could unlock astrotourism, channelling visitors and revenue into regions that need both. Universities in Islamabad are well-placed to lead citizen science efforts, mapping sky brightness and building the public awareness that drives change.

The stars above Pakistan have not gone anywhere; however, they have been shrouded behind a ceiling of light we have built ourselves.

Bystander Effect: Understanding Its Causes, Psychology, and Real-World Impact

Biology

Khair ul Bariyah

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August 12, 2026

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Bystander Effect: Understanding Its Causes, Psychology, and Real-World Impact

People often shift the responsibility to others when they see someone in trouble, surrounded by witnesses; however, the tragedy is that, ultimately, nobody helps, leading to harmful or fatal outcomes. As Elie Wiesel, a Romanian-born American writer, Holocaust survivor, and political activist, says, “what hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander”.

On 13th March 1964, a brutal incident involving the murder of Catherine “Kitty” Genovese, a 28-year-old bartender, took place outside her apartment in New York City. After work, she returned home very early in the morning when Winston Moseley followed her and stabbed her with a hunting knife. Kitty cried out for help, and a neighbour shouted at Moseley, prompting him to flee at first. However, he returned, continued the assault, followed by sexual assault, and fatally injured her.

After a few days, Moseley was arrested. He confessed to the crime and was convicted of murder. This case gained international fame because, according to an early newspaper report, there were 38 witnesses to the attack, but no one called the police or intervened, which made it a classic example of the bystander effect. Later investigations claimed that the number of witnesses was lower, some even attempted to call the police, and none observed the complete incident. Still, this case inspired extensive research in psychology on bystander behaviour.

A large study of 16.2 million emergency medical service cases in the United States revealed that bystanders helped in only 11% of such cases before medical services arrived. The willingness to help increased in situations such as cardiac arrest or traumatic injuries.

Traditionally, the bystander effect considers the unlikelihood of individuals intervening in an emergency as the number of witnesses increases, due to mechanisms such as diffusion of responsibility, pluralistic ignorance, and evaluation apprehension. In social psychology, it is considered a foundational concept.

Bystander and Diffusion of Responsibility

According to the latest research, the bystander effect is considered a context-dependent behaviour rather than a universal law of human behaviour. In certain low-risk situations, diffusion of responsibility may be seen as one of the cognitive mechanisms; however, investigations have shown helping behaviour to be shaped by the merging of emotional, neural, and social factors.

For example, research suggests that the bystander effect emerges in 5-year-old children due to diffusion of responsibility, not necessarily out of shyness. Social influence, indeed, is a key factor in human decision-making, and an individual’s willingness to get involved in prosocial acts can be lessened by mere perception of a social presence even in the absence of real bystanders.

As American journalist and political activist Gloria Steinem says, “Whenever one person stands up and says, ‘wait a minute, this is wrong’, it helps other people to do the same”. Passive behaviour does not always arise because of the presence of others. As emergencies become more dangerous, bystanders mutually coordinate to deal with the situation.

The additional bystanders are seen as a helping hand rather than a hindrance to helping. Intervention levels increase rather than decrease. Public self-awareness of the individuals is pivotal in such situations. People always protect their reputation when cameras record them, suppressing their impulse to remain passive. The audience works as a catalyst to boost moral responsibility and enhance the public image of the individuals in emergency scenarios.

Biological Foundation of Bystander Effect

Recent studies provide insights into the biological and emotional foundations of bystander passivity. Brain imaging shows an involuntary reduction in activity in brain regions, suggesting that apathy is an automatic, reflexive reaction rather than a deliberate decision. Personality plays a key role in this connection. Individuals who have higher anxiety levels have greater chances of becoming passive in the presence of bystanders. On the other hand, sympathetic individuals continue to help despite any social pressure. Successful development of integrated models has been carried out that take into account both rapid, emotional responses and slower, conscious evaluations.

Everyday social interactions, such as classroom participation, reveal the mechanisms underlying the bystander effect, and it is not restricted to emergencies. The bystander effect is observed to weaken with increasing personal involvement in a situation, irrespective of the number of witnesses. Environments, both digital and physical, with minimal fear of evaluation, always promote a greater sense of responsibility, thereby adding to engagement and prosocial behaviour.

In the modern era, the bystander effect is more of a flexible psychological phenomenon. It is shaped by both the number of witnesses and the level of danger in the situation, as well as by the connection to the incident, social responsibility, and other personality traits. Researchers can create encouraging environments that turn the presence of individuals from an inhibitor into a catalyst for action.

References:

Darley, J. M., & Latané, B. (1968). 8(4p1), 377.
Faul, M., Aikman, S. N., & Sasser, S. M. (2016). Prehospital emergency care, 20(3), 317-323.
Urschler, D. F., Fischer, J., Kastenmüller, A., & Fischer, P. (2015). Bystander effect. Psychology, 29, 203-206.
Chekroun, P., & Brauer, M. (2002). European Journal of Social Psychology, 32(6), 853-867.
From empathy to apathy: The bystander effect revisited. Current directions in psychological science, 27(4), 249-256.
Plötner, M., Over, H., Carpenter, M., & Tomasello, M. (2015).
Hudson, J. M., & Bruckman, A. S. (2004). The bystander effect: A lens for understanding patterns of participation. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(2), 165-195.
Fischer, P., Krueger, J. I., Greitemeyer, T., Vogrincic, C., Kastenmüller, A., Frey, D., & Kainbacher, M. (2011).
Van Bommel, M., Van Prooijen, J. W., Elffers, H., & Van Lange, P. A. (2012). Be aware to care: Public self-awareness leads to a reversal of the bystander effect. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48(4), 926-930.

Review— Mind Over Body: Inside the Mind of an Unstoppable Extreme Triathlete

Khadija Tariq

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August 9, 2026

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Review— Mind Over Body: Inside the Mind of an Unstoppable Extreme Triathlete

Endurance performance is won or lost in the mind long before it is won or lost on the course. Unstoppable: Inside the Mind of the Extreme Triathlete (2023) is a feature documentary directed by Ben Hull. The film follows Professor Greg Whyte OBE, a former Olympic modern pentathlete, as he takes on an extreme solo triathlon challenge. Released as the world was still emerging from the disruption of Covid-19, the film lands at a moment when the language of endurance, resilience and pushing through uncertainty had a resonance well beyond sport.

Whyte’s credentials give the film its authority, as he has an impressive research background to back his performance. Following his Olympic career, Greg graduated from Brunel University before completing an MSc in Human Performance in the USA and a PhD at St George’s Hospital Medical School, London. He is currently Professor of Applied Sport and Exercise Science at Liverpool John Moores University and Director of Performance at his own clinic, The Centre for Health and Human Performance (CHHP), on Harley Street.

Additionally, he has served as Director of Research for the British Olympic Association. Throughout the film, you can notice him testing personal experience against evidence rather than instinct alone, making his research background evident. Impressively, it is this combination- elite competitor, sport scientist, and coach that has helped him raise over £45 million for charity.

unstappable — Professor Greg Whyte OBE during a night training swim, as featured in Unstoppable — Inside the Mind of the Extreme Triathlete (2023). Photo, IMDb

Roughly half the documentary’s runtime is devoted to preparation rather than the race itself, which, in my opinion, could’ve been edited down. The beginning of the documentary features many montages of Coach Greg working out, which take up screen time and make it redundant.

Exploring the deep mental resilience and psychological preparation

The reason for the documentary’s success could be the unusual editorial choice, where the temptation is normally to highlight the emotional and mental state of the athlete rather than their performance or achievements. The challenge is not really the swim, the bike, or the run; it is everything that happens before the athlete reaches the start line, specifically the mindset preparation

When it comes to endurance sports and events Coach Greg has multiple under his belt among them are the Marathon des Sables, the roughly 250 km, six-day self-sufficiency footrace across the Moroccan Sahara often described as the toughest footrace on earth, where competitors carry their own food and kit through daytime heat that can exceed 40°C and cold desert nights and Norseman, the Norwegian iron-distance triathlon nicknamed “the toughest triathlon on the planet.”

PATAGONMAN, the extreme-distance triathlon held in the remote, weather-exposed terrain of Chilean Patagonia, is referenced as part of the same lineage of races built to punish rather than merely test the participants and their resilience. From there, the film moves to Celtman, the extreme Scottish triathlon, as the basis for the solo winter challenge that forms the film’s spine.

Solo Celtman in the middle of winter and a national storm is where the challenge of the documentary takes place. The open-water swim leg, undertaken in winter conditions, carries risks the film does not need to overstate: cold-water shock and the involuntary gasp reflex it triggers, rapidly diminishing swim stroke and coordination as muscles cool, and the ever-present threat of hypothermia and cardiac strain in near-freezing water, all before fatigue is even a factor.

The 90 km bike leg is run under a severe weather warning, with black ice on exposed roads turning a straightforward discipline into a hazard-management exercise. The 21 km run is worse again; the film shows the weather deteriorating into a full blizzard, with sleet at night soaking through gloves until Whyte is effectively running with his hands full of water. None of these are staged obstacles; they are the reason the challenge is framed as a “battle for survival” rather than a race against a clock.

Around this narrative, the film sets out what it calls the endurance mindset as described by Coach himself, a small set of mental tools Whyte has refined across three decades of coaching Olympic athletes and untrained celebrities alike. The framework is built on the principle of preparing for the worst while hoping for the best and covers goal setting, preparation, short-term goals adding up to long-term wins, the happy bank, and knowing your enemy, meaning an honest audit of the course, the conditions, and one’s own weaknesses. The figure below sets these out visually.

Navigating Uncertainty: A Framework for Resilience

The mindset framework described by Dr. Greg Whyte is built on five pillars: Goal Setting, Preparation, Short-Term Goals, the ‘Happy Bank,’ and Knowing Your Enemy.

The film’s central claim, that this kind of training genuinely reshapes what the brain treats as its limit, is not just motivational language. A growing body of neuroscience supports the idea that endurance sport produces measurable changes in brain structure, function and molecular signalling, and the evidence spans several independent mechanisms rather than resting on one study.

In a study by Schlaffke, thirteen endurance athletes were compared with equal non-exercising controls, where significantly higher gray matter volume in the hippocampus and motor cortex among the athletes was found. These regions of the brain are tied respectively to memory and motor learning. Furthermore, Seidel et al. observed increased motor cortex activation during cycling in both trained and untrained participants, suggesting the adaptation begins before elite performance is reached.

According to Taubert et al., exercise improves motor learning and neuroplasticity at the systems, cellular, and molecular level simultaneously. The research shows some very intriguing aspects of athletic endurance and highlights the need for more research to better understand its physiology and neural anatomy.

Taken together, this research does not prove the film’s mindset framework works exactly as presented, but it does support the film’s underlying premise: the brain is not an organ being tested in endurance sports; rather, it is actively reshaped and enhanced like other body muscles.

During the actual challenge, the visuals are, at points, genuinely beautiful; the footage of Whyte running through snow in particular has a stark, cinematic quality that does more to communicate the scale of the challenge than any interview could. But the editing and framing elsewhere lean into a fairly traditional, occasionally over-dramatic sports-documentary style: swelling music under training montages, the kind of pacing that can feel more comical than gripping when set against the genuine physical risk being described.

It is a minor complaint against a film with a strong central argument, but it does occasionally undercut the scientific credibility the rest of the film works hard to establish.

Prepare your mind well!

The question the film keeps circling, directly or not, is why anyone would choose to do this to themselves. Cold-water swims, ice on the roads, gloves filled with sleet at midnight, none of it reads as fun in the moment, and the film does not pretend otherwise. The answer it offers is less about suffering for its own sake than about what structure, preparation and a trained mind can do when the body wants to stop. That is arguably the more interesting subject than the triathlon itself: not what an extreme athlete’s body can survive, but what a well-prepared mind decides is worth surviving for.

Unstoppable is a worthwhile watch for anyone interested in sport psychology, endurance performance, or the practical mechanics of resilience, less so for viewers looking purely for race footage, given how much of the runtime sits in preparation rather than competition. As a case study in applying a structured mental framework to genuine physical danger, though, it is compelling, and the endurance mindset model it sets out has clear application well beyond triathlon.

References:

Mrówczyński, W. (2019). Health Benefits of Endurance Training: Implications of the Brain‐Derived Neurotrophic Factor—A Systematic Review. Neural plasticity, 2019(1), 5413067.
Schlaffke, L., Lissek, S., Lenz, M., Brüne, M., Juckel, G., Hinrichs, T., … & Schmidt-Wilcke, T. (2014). Sports and brain morphology–a voxel-based morphometry study with endurance athletes and martial artists. Neuroscience, 259, 35-42.
Taubert, M., Villringer, A., & Ragert, P. (2012). Learning-related gray and white matter changes in humans: an update. The Neuroscientist, 18(4), 320-325.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt34381301/?ref_=mv_close
https://youtu.be/rKlfKDoZUw0?si=K2Qk9md2eeHbOiC5

Climate Change vs Sports: Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities

Saadeqa Khan

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August 6, 2026

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Climate Change vs Sports: Understanding the Challenges and Opportunities

When the FIFA World Cup 2026 final was less than 24 hours away, an unlikely factor grabbed the attention of organizers and also caused panic among players and fans. It was the lingering smoke from Canadian wildfires sparked on July 13, 2026. Soon it engulfed the northern region of the US. The situation raised questions about the fate of the final on July 20, between Spain and Argentina.

Within a few hours, climate experts issued statements clarifying that air quality was likely to improve on Sunday around the New Jersey stadium. On Saturday afternoon, as predicted, a widespread thunderstorm cleared the heavy smoke, increasing the air quality index and visibility; and the final of the biggest event was played in good weather.

Simon Stiell, the Executive Secretary for the United Nations Climate Body, said in an email statement to The Guardian that “the climate crisis is hitting the things we all need, like a stable climate, clean air and affordable food, as well as the things we love, like football and other sports”.

Climate experts worldwide are raising concerns over the increasing temperature and other unexpected weather events, disrupting outdoor activities, global events, and forcing us to stay indoors with our digital devices. Joshua Devincezo serves as the assistant director at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University. According to Joshua, “the climate crisis is making extreme heat waves more frequent and intense, raising new questions about whether the conditions in which major tournaments are played can remain safe for the players and fans or supporters. FIFA World Cup matches have introduced a true stress of heat and preparedness”, he added.

Professional Sports and Climate Change

Federation Internationale des Associations de Footballeurs Professionnels (FIFPRO), a global representative organization for professional footballers, recommended 26 °C as a safe temperature for players and fans in the stadium. However, the recorded temperature at the New Jersey stadium on July 20 was 28 °C, 2 degrees above the recommended threshold. Still, it was a relief as the temperature in the early matches of the tournament was even higher. There were voices to shift the remaining matches of the tournament to cities with cooler environments.

Professional sports, specifically outdoor sports, face major threats including disrupted seasons, endangered venues, and financial pressure due to substantial changes in stadium infrastructure. Evidently, professional sports are never immune to these climate disruptions, which reached their peak in 2026, so much so that seasonal sports calendars and events are scheduled according to monthly/ seasonal weather predictions, no longer the reliable fixtures they once were. Major tournaments worldwide now face higher risks of cancellation, delays, schedule adjustments, or infrastructure issues that extremely unpredictable weather brings about.

However, this is only one side of the coin; professional sports are not only experiencing threats due to rising temperatures, but they are also imposing threats to our environment and playing an active role in climate change. Let’s look at the situation with this twisting angle.

Formula One, NASCAR, and other major motor sports

Formula One (F1), drag racing, NASCAR, and other major motor sports are often criticized for their extensive fuel use and carbon emissions. Arguably, F1 is the pinnacle of all motor sports; categorically, it is the most competitive and technologically advanced motor racing championship worldwide. An academic study conducted by Taylor and Frances in May 2026 revealed that out of twenty-five F1 circuits, 19 are at risk of extreme heat, 18 face flooding, 10 suffer poor air quality, and 7 venues face heavy rainfall. The study further shows Singapore and Qatar as the most vulnerable locations, while Austria shows a lower climate risk profile.

In 2023, the high temperatures at the Qatar Grand Prix evoked strong criticism from drivers. French driver Esteban Ocon vomited in his helmet on the 15th and 16th laps as the ambient temperatures on the track exceeded 36°C with higher humidity, leading to cockpit temperatures approaching 50°C. George Russel, who competed for Mercedes and served as the director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, said in a post-race interview that “ the race conditions were absolutely brutal’ and were beyond the limits of what was acceptable for the drivers

Let’s look into the other side: According to the latest available statistics, Formula 1 accelerates climate change primarily through its massive global logistics footprint and fan travel, which push the sport’s total footprint over 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Several experts assume the high-speed racing cars are the main culprit; twenty cars on the track actually account for less than 1% of F1’s carbon footprint.

The Constant Disruption in Winter Sports

The rising global temperature poses an existential threat to winter sports. It results in shorter seasons, retreating glaciers, and dwindling snow availability. As winter sports events heavily rely on stable environmental conditions, the worsening climate and ecological changes are causing hazards and severe disruptions.

According to the same study by Taylor and Francis, led by Madeleine Orr, associated with the faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education, University of Toronto, Canada, it is estimated that by 2080, only eight of the 21 cities that previously hosted winter Olympic Games will continue staging the events. The remaining venues will lose this once-in-a-year opportunity due to relatively warmer winters and a substantial decrease in snow.

In Innsbruck, Australia, during the 2023-2024 Ski Jumping World Cup, athletes faced frequent weather-related interruptions driven by shifting winter patterns in the Alps. A significant number of races across all disciplines were scrapped or relocated due to the lack of snow and volatile mountain conditions.

Kamil Stoch, a Poland-based legendary three-time Olympic champion, expressed his sadness during unseasonably warm stretches. He pointed out how unnatural the environment has become. “It is a strange feeling when you look around, and everything is green, and there is a narrow strip of snow for us. Climate change has taken away a bit of winter magic”, he added.

New Normal: Major Event Rescheduling or Cancellation

The Cortina d’Ampezzo World Cup is another major event for winter sports lovers and athletes worldwide. However, Italy’s iconic Alpine venues have been increasingly affected by an unreliable snow season. These unexpected weather patterns forced the organizers to intensify snow-making operations. Additionally, rain and fluctuating temperatures also made race surfaces hard and difficult to run.

Resorts in Switzerland, Australia, France, and Italy have shortened seasons due to glacier melting. Some glacier ski races have been canceled or relocated due to a lack of snow. Experts show concerns over the growing situation as the Alps are warming at roughly twice the global average, accelerating glacier loss and reducing snow reliability.

Numerous winter sports World Cups during 2023-2025, including Alpine Skiing, Ski jumping, and cross-country skiing events, were postponed or canceled. The situation highlighted that climate change is no longer an environmental issue; rather, it is a growing challenge for athletic safety, event rescheduling, and the future of winter sports.

However, the financial escalation is equally concerning — sports facilities and infrastructure also face soaring costs from climate-related damage, while industries that depend on reliable and stable weather conditions are struggling to adapt.

Climate Change and Professional Games — Growing Opportunities

FIFA World Cup 2026 has triggered multiple calls to relocate the event due to extremely hot weather. Football fans are demanding a change in match timings to evenings or nights when the environment usually cools down.

“Now, when the event just ended with Spain being the winner, FIFA and host organizations will surely be looking at scheduling and stadium selection through a climate change lens, says Mark Saiti, CEO of environmental consultancy firm SaveMoneyCutCarbon. The statement came after the event, when the World Cup matches were organized in back-to-back heatwaves. It cast light on how our stadiums have failed to cope with warming temperatures.

Redesigning our Stadiums

According to Reuters analysis, this year, the tournament has faced back-to-back heatwaves; even the US is not exempt from those hot spells. The situation highlighted several challenges, including infrastructural concerns, as our stadiums are not designed to cope with the rising temperatures. Today, players need more protection, and fans demand a more comfortable environment to enjoy their favorite games.

Several studies are in progress to introduce the latest techniques on how football stadiums can better cope with rising heat. A similar study conducted by ULC and the University of Exeter in 2024 showed that stadiums can be cooled down with much cheaper and environmentally friendly techniques such as cool roofs. The stadium building owners could invest in building fabric measures. In this technique, white or reflective paints are coated on the roofs to make them less absorbent of heat.

Another study published by Harvard Cannedy in June 2026 discusses some other low-cost solutions. Dr DeGroot, the director of the Army Heat Center at the Martin Army Community Hospital in Fort Benning, Georgia, spoke to Harvard Cannedy in April 2026 about low-tech, budget-friendly strategies for cooling body temperatures based on his research expertise and work with the Warrior Heat-and Exertion-Related Events Collaborative.

One such technique is Arm immersion cooling developed in 2010 by Dr DeGroot and his team. Through mining existing data, Dr DeGroot proved that arm immersion cooling reduces the frequency and severity of heat illness. Executing arm immersion cooling requires no standard equipment, as it is essentially a bucket or container of cold water large enough to submerge one’s forearms.

Scaling Drop-in Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF)

There is no second opinion that F1’s biggest climate offense is air freight and global logistics. But it also provides several opportunities to achieve global sustainable goals. To meet its Net Zero 2030 target, F1 has invested a substantial amount in Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). By acting as a high-profile, high-paying corporate buyer, F1 helps subsidize the early-stage scaling, testing, and commercial viability of synthetic aviation fuels, which the broader commercial airline industry desperately needs.

References:

https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/7/18/all-to-know-about-canadian-wildfire-smoke-air-quality-and-world-cup-final
https://digitalcommons.law.seattleu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1101&context=sjteil
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16184742.2025.2503163
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16184742.2025.2503163#abstract
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/10/sport/formula-one-conditions-qatar-grand-prix-spt-intl/index.html
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16184742.2025.2503163#
https://theconversation.com/as-the-climate-changes-what-does-the-future-hold-for-the-winter-olympic-and-paralympic-games-274921
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/explained-what-is-the-f1-impact-report-and-why-does-it-matter.4c5wcOQrypfLR6yHaZhB9I
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/formula-1-reveals-calendar-for-2026-season.YctbMZWqBvrgyddrnauo8
https://datasmart.hks.harvard.edu/low-tech-cooling

More from the author: Betelgeuse Supernova Can Outshine an Entire Galaxy

The Science Beneath a Footballer’s Skin During 90 Minutes of Play

Anam Ilyas

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August 2, 2026

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The Science Beneath a Footballer’s Skin During 90 Minutes of Play

The referee blows the whistle. Twenty-two players burst into motion. Inside each of those bodies, the same invisible drama begins: hearts pounding, oxygen rushing through blood vessels, hormones flooding the bloodstream, and muscles slowly running out of fuel.

We watch football for the goals, the tackles, the drama on the scoreboard. But there’s another game happening underneath the skin, and it’s just as intense. The FIFA World Cup 2026 brings the world’s eyes back to the pitch. But what really goes on inside a player’s body, minute by minute, from kickoff to final whistle?

Minute One: The Heart Kicks into Gear

Before kickoff, a resting heart rate is somewhere between 60 and 80 times a minute. The Player’s heart is calm, steady, and unremarkable. The moment the whistle sounds, that changes fast.

Within minutes, a player’s heart rate climbs into the 150-180 beats-per-minute range, and here’s the part that surprises most people: it doesn’t come back down much for the rest of the match. Research compiled by sports scientist Berni Guerrero shows that an average player’s heart rate is around 165 to 175 beats per minute across a full 90 minutes, which works out to roughly 80 to 90 percent of their maximum heart rate. And this isn’t a quick spurt. Research shows that players spend about 65 percent of the match in the intense 70-90 percent zone.

Think about that for a second. Imagine running at 85 percent of your max effort for a ninety-minute session straight, with only brief pauses for water breaks and stoppages. That’s essentially what a professional footballer’s cardiovascular system is doing every single match.

Why does the heart work this hard? During exercise, its one job is to keep the blood and the oxygen it carries moving to the muscles that need it. On a football pitch, that demand never really goes away.

The Oxygen Question: One Body, Two Engines

Here is where things get interesting. Football isn’t like running a marathon, where the body settles into one steady rhythm. It’s stop-start, sprint-jog-stop-sprint, over and over again, which means the body is constantly switching between two energy systems.

The vast majority of the match relies on the aerobic system, which means the oxygen-powered engine that fuels jogging, positioning, and recovery between bursts. Studies show that players operate at around 70-80% of their VO2 max (a measure of how efficiently the body uses oxygen) throughout a match. But then comes a sprint, a tackle, a sudden change of direction, and the body switches to the anaerobic system, which works without oxygen and produces energy fast, but only for short periods before it needs to “reset.”

Footballer's — Footballers’ health: That constant switching is part of what makes football so physiologically demanding. It’s not just stamina. It’s not just speed. It’s both, repeated dozens of times over, unpredictably, for 90 minutes. Photo, AI-generated by the author

The Adrenaline Rush: Human Body’s Emergency Room

Now picture a 50-50 tackle, a shot on goal, or a last-minute penalty. In those moments, something else kicks in: adrenaline.

Within seconds of a high-pressure moment, the adrenal glands release adrenaline and noradrenaline into the bloodstream, part of what’s often called the “fight or flight” response. The effect is almost immediate: reaction times sharpen, focus narrows, and the body releases extra sugar into the blood for quick energy.

This is genuinely useful, to some extent. Researchers studying arousal in sport describe an “inverted-U” relationship. That is, a bit of adrenaline sharpens performance, but too much can actually work against a player, hindering the ability to execute delicate skills like a calm pass or a precise shot. That’s part of why players who look composed under pressure often perform better than those who look visibly flustered. Their arousal levels stay in that sweet spot instead of tipping over into overload.

Meanwhile, a slower-acting stress hormone called cortisol also rises during matches, and interestingly, it doesn’t simply disappear once the final whistle blows. Studies on elite soccer players have found that cortisol can remain elevated for 24 to 75 hours after a match, one of the reasons recovery has become just as important to sports science as the game itself.

Tired vs. Slowing Down: Two Different Stories

Here’s where we get to the heart of the matter, literally. We tend to group “feeling tired” and “physically slowing down” together, but they are not the same thing.

Feeling tired is largely a brain phenomenon. Researchers call this central fatigue. Essentially, the central nervous system gradually pulls back the intensity of its signals to the muscles, partly as a protective mechanism, even before the muscles themselves have reached their physical limit. Add in 90 minutes of constant decision-making, rising cortisol, heat, and dehydration, and it’s no wonder players describe feeling mentally drained by full time. One study on field hockey players even found that working memory, the ability to hold and use information in the moment, was measurably declined by the end of a competitive match.

Slowing down, on the other hand, is a different and more physical story. This is peripheral fatigue, real, measurable changes taking place inside the muscle fibers themselves. As a match goes on, muscle glycogen (the stored carbohydrate that fuels high-intensity effort) is steadily depleted. At the same time, intense bursts of effort cause a build-up of hydrogen ions inside the muscle, a process that interferes with how muscle fibers use calcium to contract, which directly reduces the force a muscle can produce. That familiar “heavy legs” feeling late in a match isn’t just in a player’s head; it’s happening at a cellular level.

The evidence for this is clear in the data. The percentage of heart rate in the second half is often much lower than in the first, even though players often say that the effort feels just as hard, or harder. It’s a strange paradox: the mind pushes just as hard, but the body has less left to give.

This is also exactly why substitutions late in a match aren’t just a tactical choice. They’re a physiological necessity. A coach bringing on fresh legs in the final 20 minutes isn’t simply reacting to the scoreline. They’re responding to a well-documented biological timeline that’s been unfolding in every player on the pitch since kickoff.

The Final Whistle

Over a 90-minute match, an athlete’s heart might beat a total of roughly 10,000 to 12,000 times in total throughout the entire game than at rest; their oxygen systems have switched between aerobic and anaerobic modes more times than anyone could ever count; adrenaline and cortisol have surged and lingered, and their muscles have quietly burned through much of their available fuel.

None of this shows up on the scoreboard. But it is exactly why sports science has become such a central part of the modern game, influencing everything from half-time nutrition to substitution timing to recovery protocols in the days after a game. The next time you watch a player collapse to the turf in exhaustion after the final whistle, you’ll know: that’s not just drama. That’s biology, working exactly as it is supposed to work.

References:

Guerrero, B. The Heart Rate Analysis in Soccer: Establishing Reference Values.
Nikolaidis, P. et al. Maximal Heart Rate in Soccer Players: Measured versus Age-Predicted. PubMed.
Heart Rate Responses during Small Sided Games and Official Match-Play in Soccer. PMC.
The Influence of a Competitive Field Hockey Match on Cognitive Function. PMC.
Adrenaline, Arousal and Sport. PubMed.
The Immunological and Hormonal Responses to Competitive Match-Play in Elite Soccer Players. PMC.
Muscle Glycogen in Elite Soccer – A Perspective on the Implication for Performance, Fatigue, and Recovery. Frontiers/PMC.
Etiology and Recovery of Neuromuscular Fatigue following Competitive Soccer Match-Play. PMC.
Hamstring Muscle Fatigue and Central Motor Output during a Simulated Soccer Match. PMC.

Smart Machines, Stronger Teams: AI at the FIFA World Cup

Mohammad Sufyan Hashmi

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July 29, 2026

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Smart Machines, Stronger Teams: AI at the FIFA World Cup

From Cape Verde’s fairy-tale run to Morocco’s historic semi-final, football’s underdogs had their moment. Behind the scenes, artificial intelligence was quietly reshaping how the game was played, coached and understood — though not always in the ways the headlines suggested.

On June 15, 2026, a 40-year-old goalkeeper named Vozinha stood between the posts in Atlanta and did something extraordinary. He shut out Spain, the reigning European champions, for the full ninety minutes. His team, Cabo Verde, ten small islands off the coast of West Africa, home to barely half a million people, was playing in its first-ever World Cup match.

The final score: 0-0. Three weeks and two more draws later, the “Blue Sharks” had pulled off the impossible, becoming the smallest nation ever to reach a World Cup knockout round and setting up a last-32 date with defending champions Argentina. As Vozinha put it after the final group game, “We are small, but we have big hearts, and we are fighters.”

It was a story about heart, nerve, and a goalkeeper having the game of his life. But it was also playing out inside a tournament FIFA itself called the most heavily instrumented in the sport’s history. For the first time, every one of the 48 teams competing across the United States, Mexico and Canada, World Cup debutants and five-time champions alike, had access to the same AI-powered scouting and analytics platform, a tool FIFA built specifically because it worried smaller federations were being left behind.

Whether or not it played any part in Cape Verde’s run, it said something about where football was heading: a sport once decided almost entirely by instinct and shoe leather was generating more data, in real time, than any coaching staff had the hours to read alone.

What the Machines are actually Watching

So what does “AI-driven performance analysis” mean, once you get past the buzzwords? At its simplest, it’s pattern recognition at a scale no human analyst could manage by hand. Optical tracking cameras installed in every football World Cup stadium record the position of all 22 players and the ball several times a second, generating a continuous, moving map of the match.

Add event data- every pass, tackle, shot, and foul, tagged and time-stamped, plus video and, increasingly, wearable sensors- and a single ninety-minute match produces a dataset that would take a human analyst days to work through by hand. Machine-learning models are simply the tool used to find the signal in that noise, i.e., which patterns of play tend to produce shots, which formations tend to concede them, which players are covering the most ground when their team is winning.

This isn’t new, exactly. Researchers were building neural networks to study World Cup performance as early as the 2018 tournament in Russia, when a team of sports scientists fed match statistics into a neural network and identified nineteen indicators, shots on target and successful tackles among them, that reliably separated winning teams from losing ones.

By the 2022 tournament in Qatar, the models had sharpened as one widely cited study built a neural network on fourteen performance indicators and correctly predicted match outcomes 75.4 percent of the time, flagging on-target shots, clear scoring chances and forward ball progression as the features that mattered most. What’s changed since then is less the underlying idea than the richness of the data feeding it, and how candidly researchers have started reporting where their models fall short.

Where the “CRYSTAL BALL” BREAKS

That honesty has produced one of the more interesting findings to come out of the field. Ask an AI model to guess whether a team will win or lose, and it does reasonably well. Ask it to predict a draw, or a goal, and its accuracy collapses.

A 2025 study built on technical statistics from FIFA’s own World Cup reports trained a neural network that hit 86.7 percent overall accuracy, which is impressive, until you learn the errors clustered heavily around draws, which the model struggled to tell apart from decisive results. The same pattern shows up just as clearly in the women’s game when researchers studied the Women’s World Cup 2023. When they built a model that called wins and losses correctly about two-thirds of the time, but its accuracy on draws fell to roughly one in three, dragging the overall score down to 0.58.

Push the models further, toward something as specific as whether a passage of play will end in a shot or a goal, and the picture gets starker. One team of researchers trained a model that looked outstanding in testing, correctly flagging more than 93 percent of goal-scoring sequences, but that figure came from an artificially balanced practice dataset. Run against real match data, where goals are rare and irregular by nature, the same model’s success rate for spotting a shot-or-goal sequence fell to 13 percent. For goals alone, it caught zero.

The reason isn’t that the AI is badly built but that goals are rare almost by definition. In that study, an actual goal occurred in only about one of every seventy-eight ball possessions analyzed. Ask a model to spot something that happens once in roughly eighty tries, using only the patterns that preceded it, and you’re asking it to do something closer to predicting exactly where one raindrop will land than to forecasting whether it will rain this afternoon. Football’s biggest, most exciting moments are, statistically speaking, its least predictable ones, which is a large part of why they’re so thrilling to watch in the first place.

FIFA — Football’s biggest, most exciting moments are, statistically speaking, its least predictable ones, which is a large part of why they’re so thrilling to watch in the first place. Photo, Bigo Finance

Better Coach than a “FORTUNE-TELLER”

If prediction is where AI struggles, tactical analysis is where it has quietly become genuinely useful, not as an oracle, but as an extra set of eyes. Take TacticAI, a system built by Google DeepMind with Liverpool FC and published in the journal Nature Communications. Rather than trying to guess who’ll win, it focuses on something narrower and more practical, i.e., corner kicks, which produce a disproportionate share of goals but are notoriously hard to coach systematically.

Researchers showed football experts a mix of TacticAI’s suggested player setups and the routines teams actually used, without saying which was which. The experts couldn’t reliably tell the difference, and rated the AI’s suggestions as good as, or better than, the real ones roughly nine times out of ten.

That kind of pattern-finding has also been turned on entire tournament runs, and one of the richest case studies belongs to another underdog story, i.e. Morocco’s run to the 2022 semi-finals, the first time any African or Arab nation had gone that far.

Researchers who later reconstructed Morocco’s seven matches using FIFA’s official tracking data confirmed what many fans suspected but couldn’t prove in the moment: a team built on defensive discipline rather than possession, holding the ball less than 40 percent of the time in five of its matches while unleashing intense defensive pressure at key moments, 288 pressing actions against Spain, 299 against France.

Statistical clustering split Morocco’s matches into three distinct types: cautious, low-block defending; quick transitions; and more open, technical contests, giving coaches and historians of the tournament a data-backed account of exactly how a team with a fraction of its opponents’ resources kept finding a way through.

The same tools are, for the first time, being pointed at the women’s game with comparable depth. At the 2023 Women’s World Cup, researchers used machine learning to sort more than 227,000 individual passes from all 64 matches into five distinct tactical families, exposing clear differences in how higher- and lower-performing teams built their attacks, the kind of granular, style-level analysis that used to exist only for the best-funded men’s teams.

Behind the Scenes of the Tournament

None of this was hypothetical or confined to a research lab. It ran behind the scenes of the tournament that unfolded across sixteen host cities in three countries, the biggest World Cup in history, with 48 teams and 104 matches.

FIFA’s headline tool was Football AI Pro, built with Lenovo and trained on what the organisation called its Football Language Model. It is a generative AI assistant that could process hundreds of millions of FIFA’s own match data points and answer a coach’s question in plain language, in multiple languages, producing text summaries, video clips, graphs or even 3D replays of a passage of play. Coaches couldn’t use it live, mid-match; FIFA had drawn a deliberate line there, reserving in-game decisions for human staff.

Before and after matches, though, it was available equally to all 48 federations, from the wealthiest to the newest arrivals. FIFA president Gianni Infantino had framed the entire project around a single goal: narrowing the gap between football nations that could afford large data-science departments and those that couldn’t.

Officiating had its own AI layer at the tournament. All 1,200-plus players were digitally body-scanned in roughly a second each to build precise 3D avatars, used to render offside decisions as short animations on stadium screens and broadcasts rather than the fuzzy, disputed lines fans had grown used to. The system built on semi-automated offside technology first tested at Qatar 2022, working alongside a sensor embedded in the official match ball that recorded its motion 500 times a second, precise enough to tell officials the exact instant a pass was struck. Referees wore AI-stabilised body cameras too, which Lenovo said cut out most of the shake and blur that used to make first-person referee footage almost unwatchable.

The gap between big and small federations that FIFA was trying to close with its shared tools hadn’t disappeared but just shifted shape. England’s federation reportedly used automated video analysis to compress penalty-shootout preparation from roughly five days of manual review down to five hours.

Curaçao, another of this tournament’s smallest debutants, used geospatial and ancestry data to trace footballing talent across its global diaspora, a squad on which, by one count, only a single player was actually born on the island. Different budgets, different tools, the same underlying idea: find an edge in data that a purely eye-test approach would miss.

The FINE PRINT!

For all that momentum, the researchers who studied this field for a living tended to sound a more cautious note than the press releases did. “An increase in quantity doesn’t always come with a similar increase in quality,” Franco Impellizzeri, editor-in-chief of the journal Science and Medicine in Football, told the journal Nature, describing the flood of AI-and-football papers now landing in his inbox at the time.

That caution shows up in the technical details, too. A running theme across dozens of studies, including a systematic review that screened 190 peer-reviewed articles on AI in football, is a demand for explainable results, not just accurate ones. Coaches don’t want a system that simply announces a 72 percent chance of losing; they want to know why, in terms they can act on before Saturday’s training session. Techniques that highlight which specific stats actually drove a model’s verdict have become almost as important to researchers as raw accuracy.

Reviews of the field flag the same handful of unresolved concerns again and again: who owns players’ biometric and tracking data, how securely it’s stored, whether algorithms trained mostly on wealthy European leagues generalise fairly to other confederations and playing styles, and whether the whole enterprise risks becoming just another advantage for federations that can already afford to buy it. Tellingly, even FIFA has acknowledged that some form of regulation on tournament AI use may eventually be necessary; the technology, in other words, was outrunning the rulebook.

What No Algorithm Predicted

Which brought the story back to Atlanta, and to Vozinha diving low to his right. No dataset predicted that Cape Verde would hold Spain scoreless, just as no model foresaw Morocco’s run to the semi-finals four years earlier, as both were, statistically speaking, among the least likely outcomes of their respective tournaments.

What AI increasingly offered, to big and small federations alike, was a far richer account of how such things happened after the fact, and a genuinely useful assistant in the unglamorous week-to-week work of preparing for the next one, i.e. which zones to press, which set-piece routine to try, whose workload needs managing before it becomes an injury. It has become a serious tool for understanding football. It has not, and on the evidence so far may never, replace the nerve of a goalkeeper standing his ground against the run of play. For now, that part is still all human.

References:

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FIFA & Lenovo. (2026). inside.fifa.com. https://inside.fifa.com/media-releases/lenovo-tech-world-ai-powered-innovations-world-cup-2026

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Breaking down the technology transforming the FIFA World Cup 2026. https://news.lenovo.com/breaking-down-the-technology-fifa-world-cup-2026/

This World Cup could be the most high-tech yet — the innovations to watch for. (2026). Nature. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01866-1

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Tree Planting Challenges: What the Greenfluence Survey Reveals

Environment

Aneesa Zeb Awan

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July 26, 2026

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Tree Planting Challenges: What the Greenfluence Survey Reveals

As I am thinking about the opening statement of this article and it comes to my mind the story of a shepherd who used to plant oak trees in a barren area comes to mind, and after a few years, he single-handedly transformed an arid land into a lush green valley. This is the power a single person holds.

The extreme environmental atrocities and environmental degradation events that are occurring on a routine basis are not just isolated events but a pattern. Every year, Pakistan is losing 11,000 hectares of forest cover as per the statement issued by WWF-Pakistan on International Day of Forests. Deforestation is the primary reason why we rank as the most climate-vulnerable nation with forest cover of only 5%.

To understand the public awareness regarding the importance of forests and promote conservation efforts, we conducted a digital survey named “Greenfluence Campaign” involving 51 respondents of different age groups from different cities across Pakistan.

The survey results revealed that there is a high level of awareness regarding the relationship between deforestation and climate change. Most of the respondents rated their awareness as high, and 42 out of 51 respondents showed that forest loss contributes to environmental degradation. Every respondent agreed that forests are responsible for reducing flood severity and heatwaves. These findings are reassuring because public awareness is the most crucial step toward environmental action. It becomes easier to support conservation programs and adopt environmentally responsible behavior when citizens understand the value of forests.

Summary of main findings of the Greenfluence survey 2025 are;

21.5% of respondents never participated in any forest conservation activity
37% wanted to contribute, but never got the opportunity
25% had not planted a single tree in the past year
45% reported lack of access to saplings or seeds as the main barrier
18.8% said that planting trees was not their personal priority

These findings indicate that Pakistan has the public access problem, not the public awareness problem.

Forests and their importance in Pakistan

Forests are the main natural defence system of Pakistan against climate-related disasters and provide environmental, economic, and social protection. These varied ecosystems, ranging from the northern coniferous mountains to coastal mangroves, absorb carbon dioxide, reduce rainwater runoff, and provide shade and evapotranspiration to cool communities, while also preventing devastating floods, soil erosion and record-breaking heatwaves. They are also economically important for their timber, fodder and medicinal plants, which support rural households, but are at great risk from illegal logging, urban expansion and climate change-induced droughts.

The public well understood these key benefits, but there has been a long-standing disconnect between awareness and action. The survey results show that only 41% of respondents had a history of active involvement in planting activities, with 21.5% not planting any trees in the last year, and 18% of the respondents saying that forest conservation was not a priority for them.

The study shows that there is tremendous potential for mobilization after the individual action and the realisation of their importance. It reveals that 84% of the participants are willing to participate in environmental protection. This dramatic turnaround demonstrates how the resource and awareness gap can be bridged to create active, community-led climate resilience.

As one respondent said, “One idea is to support and promote community-led reforestation programs; locals often know best how to care for their land. Also, reducing paper and meat consumption can significantly lessen deforestation pressure.”

Significance of planting “ONE” tree

The basic unit of an ecological revolution is a single mature tree, which is a very efficient micro-powerhouse that absorbs approximately 48 pounds (22 kilograms) of carbon dioxide per year and as much as 1 ton over its lifetime. At the same time, it cleanses the air by generating 10 to 150 gallons of stormwater to stop localized flash floods and reduces the surrounding urban surface temperatures by up to 8 degrees Celsius due to evapotranspiration.

These micro-actions can have a huge impact when they multiply across a community: 15-20 trees can cancel out an individual’s annual carbon footprint. This cumulative effect makes one citizen one decentralized urban forest, and a green revolution on a national scale doesn’t have to occur all at once around the world, but rather the exact, localized ignition of one person planting one tree.

As per the respondent: “Well, in my view, public awareness is crucial for the protection of forests and climate. If everyone plants a tree and tries to shift to environmentally friendly things, it will show a huge impact.”

In cities, the obstacles are structural. People lack access to the sapling source. Around 45% of non-planter respondents cited access as their main barrier rather than indifference. This means that the solution is not motivational but rather logistical. This gap can be closed by subsidized sapling distribution at grocery stores, community nurseries, union council offices, and schools. As a student in Lahore said:

“Raise awareness not in the form of a slogan, but we should teach this at schools, apart from the course book, to make our children aware of how important it is to plant a tree. We should help them to build a habit to plant at least 1 plant per month.”

Future of Pakistan’s Forests

The future of forests in Pakistan depends on transitioning from short-term planting to long-term ecological survival. The country demonstrated its ability to mobilise on a historic scale and with ambitious goals in the 2019 Ten Billion Tree Tsunami Programme (TBTTP). Still, independent audits revealed significant challenges, such as inconsistent sapling survival and property disputes, which showed that a tree planted is not a tree grown. To combat this, recent efforts are using more structured, technologically sophisticated approaches.

For example, the Green Pakistan Programme has been scaled up and has been given a lot of attention to provincial integration, with more than 2.2 billion saplings distributed and regenerated. Meanwhile, provincial initiatives like the Punjab Plantation Drive have embraced large-scale restoration efforts with cutting-edge technologies, including GIS labs for tracking canopy development and AI drones for discouraging illegal logging. However, the effectiveness of these state-led initiatives relies on the ability to connect with community-led initiatives.

Decentralized approaches, including the Pakistan Forests Recovery Program and specific social forestry agreements, actively engage local landholders and school partnerships. Incorporating local nurseries and monitoring from the top can transform environmental goals into community-safeguarded ecosystems in Pakistan. As one respondent said:

“This year I saw many social media posts in 9th Muharram where people of Karachi disturbed free plants and trees as a sabeel of Imam Hussain; this is a very great initiative, and everyone should participate in such type of activities.”

Final Words

The shepherd’s story is a testament to the power of one person to make a difference, even without institutional support or resources. But Pakistan does not have to rely on such exceptional efforts exclusively. The Greenfluence survey found that 59% of the respondents were willing to plant a tree after just filling out the survey, indicating that Pakistan is not a country that lacks shepherds; it has plenty of people willing to do their part if they are given the chance.

The real challenge is not to get people to understand that forests are important, but to create opportunities for them to take action. By implementing practical measures such as community nurseries, easy access to saplings, and incorporating tree planting into school programs, Pakistan can make a significant impact on forest conservation and a lasting difference in the environment.

References:

https://biologyinsights.com/what-trees-absorb-the-most-co2-a-list-of-top-species/

Pakistan losing 11,000 hectares of forest cover every year: WWF-P – Pakistan – DAWN.COM

2.2bn trees planted in four years under green Pakistan initiative – Daily Times

Punjab Launches Historic Tree Plantation Drive Under Green Punjab Mission – Nature News

Pakistan Forests Recovery Program

Gut Health and Athletic Performance: How Your Microbiome Can Boost Strength, Stamina, and Recovery

Dr. Syed Hunain Riaz

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July 23, 2026

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Gut Health and Athletic Performance: How Your Microbiome Can Boost Strength, Stamina, and Recovery

Current medical research has established the importance of gut health in wellbeing. It has been proposed that most chronic diseases originate within the gut. Inflammation, a damaged gut blood barrier, and dysbiosis are some of the postulated mechanisms for the disease process to jump from the gut to other major organ systems.

There has been a spotlight on the role of the gut microbiome in homeostasis, immunity, and mental health. The interplay between the microbiome and the gut nervous system can be read about here. Similarly, the microbiome’s role in athletic performance and its modulation has been an area of research recently, considering the astonishing yet intricate effects of these bacteria on our everyday health.

There are around 40 trillion microbial cells in the human gut. They constitute the microbiome, a complete ecosystem interacting with and modulating key functions in the human body through the gut. We know that living a healthy lifestyle promotes greater diversity in the gut microbiome. Eating healthy, nutrient-rich foods such as whole fruits, whole grains, healthy fats, fermented foods, physical activity, and good-quality sleep all play vital roles in supporting a healthy microbiome.

To understand how the microbiome and a healthy gut can influence athletic performance, we will first review information ascertained from animal and limited human studies. We will discuss how prebiotics and probiotics can modulate gut health and consequently athletic performance. And finally, rounding off with the way forward in this unraveling field of nutritional health & exercise.

Read: Love-Hate Relationship between the Gut Microbiota and the Brain

Gut microbial diversity, metabolism & athletic performance

Gut microbes share a huge metabolic maintenance burden with our own cells. They play diverse roles in the breakdown of food into macronutrients and vitamin production in the gut. The end products either way are integral to athletic performance.

It has been shown that athletes have greater diversity of microbes as compared to non-athletes. Greater diversity means greater attention to detail in everyday homeostatic functions and also in demanding activities like athletic performance. Generally speaking, the gut microbiome diversity & athletic activity have a bidirectional relationship. However, it is not a linear relationship since it has been shown that in the case of certain high intensity/endurance exercises such as ultra-marathon competitions, the diversity takes a hit (? due to reduced blood supply to the gut)

Microbial diversity also varies according to the type of exercise involved. Dynamic and sustained exercises involve greater aerobic activity and promote greater microbial diversity (e.g., endurance running, high-intensity interval training, field sports, etc.) compared to static exercises (resistance exercises such as weightlifting). This emphasizes that exercise type and intensity influence gut microbial diversity and reciprocally, diversity influences athletic performance. Studies have shown marathon runners having an abundance of Veillonella atypica, which was further shown in mice studies to reduce blood lactate levels and increase endurance.

Gut microbe groups such as Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus & Fecalibacterium are known for producing short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), e.g., butyrate, from digestion of food. The SCFAs serve many functions, a few being immunomodulation, muscle metabolism, lipid & carbohydrate metabolism, and fatty acid oxidation. SCFAs have been shown to increase VO2 max (maximum oxygen utilization capacity during exercise) in animal models. SCFAs are produced by the breakdown of complex starches such as those present in whole grains, legumes, and starchy vegetables (e.g., potatoes).

Gut microbiome & muscle metabolism

Gut microbiome influences muscle and protein metabolism through increased availability of amino acids, particularly Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs), i.e., valine, leucine & isoleucine, which contribute to muscle growth and function. Microbes influence muscle metabolism through nutrient-sensitive pathways as well. mTOR (mechanistic target Of Rapamycin) and AMPK (AMP-activated protein kinase) are master regulatory proteins of cell metabolism. They are influenced by numerous factors such as amino acids, stress, IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor-1), and oxygen levels.

At the cellular level, growth and development are determined by these regulators. mTOR is crucial in protein synthesis, especially under the influence of IGF-1. Gut microbes play an integral role in this process by providing ample amino acid availability, fatty acid utilization, and fat store generation.

Modulation of the gut microbiome to enhance athletic performance

Probiotics are live beneficial bacteria and yeasts taken to modulate the gut microbiome. They occur in fermented foods such as yogurt, kefir, kimchi, and kombucha. They are also ingested as supplement preparations (available as multi-strain bacteria + yeast). They impact the intestinal microbiome by killing off harmful bacterial strains, competing with their binding sites, and modulating immunity through the intestinal nervous system. Key probiotic organisms are Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Saccharomyces boulardii (yeast).

There is a paucity of research on the effects of probiotic supplementation on exercise/athletic performance. However, we do have enough to highlight their role.

A study showed that after ingestion of milk supplemented with W. Coagulans pre-training, there was significantly reduced muscle soreness and sped-up recovery in non-athletes. There was evidence of reduced TNF-α levels (pro-inflammatory marker) in athletes after supplementation with certain probiotics, lesser inflammation, faster recovery, and growth after exercise. In addition, there was increased run-to-fatigue time in athletes by supplementation with certain strains of probiotics.

The role of probiotic supplementation

Probiotic supplementation has been shown to enhance aerobic exercise efficiency by increasing nitric oxide availability and improving vascular function. The studies show evidence for increased duration to exercise failure. Some studies report increased muscle mass and strength in power exercises with probiotic supplementation.

Gut microbiome modulation suggests better recovery from intense exercises with improved sleep quality and reduced inflammation markers. A small set of studies suggest psychological benefits such as reduced anxiety/stress and increased attention. All of which can lead to improved athletic performance, especially during elite-level competitions where stakes are high.

Extensive endurance training (e.g., elite runners) like strength training can predispose to infections, particularly respiratory tract infections. This can happen since the human body perceives exercise/training as stress, whereby the immune system is transiently suppressed. This is relevant especially when athletes are undergoing continuous and long training and competitive sessions, especially when traveling as well. Probiotics supplementation could lower the risk of infection by bolstering immunity through gut modulation.

Several gastrointestinal effects that runners feel are not limited to nausea, vomiting, abdominal discomfort, and diarrhea. This is suggested to be due to reduced blood supply to the gut during exercise, where most of the blood supply is diverted to the contracting muscles. Probiotics can lower perceived exertion and, as such, reduce these negative gastrointestinal effects. They have also been shown to reduce performance decrements towards the end of the race compared to placebo.

Prebiotics are compounds (pectin, inulin, fructo-oligosaccharides [FOS], galacto-oligosaccharides [GOS], polyphenols) within natural foods (fruits & veggies) which are consumed by gut bacteria to generate products which have beneficial effects on immunity, the gut-brain axis and exercise capacity.

Research on prebiotics acting as gut modulators for athletic performance is limited. Data are mostly in combination with probiotics (symbiotic). Polyphenols (naturally present in most veggies & fruits), when supplemented, interact with the gut microbiome to produce increased muscle recovery, reduced muscle fatigue and reduced lactate production, all leading to improved exercise efficiency.

Fermented food

Fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, pickles, and kimchi have Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains of bacteria which, as previously described, have beneficial effects on the ecosystem of the gut, all the while reducing pathogenic bacterial strains, increasing SCFA, and reducing bloating. Regular consumption of fermented food imparts positive health effects in preventing chronic disease by reducing inflammation and serving as an adjunct to a good-quality diet in exercising individuals. There is less research on how fermented food affects athletes, though.

Gut microbiome stability and the way forward

Gut microbiome changes dramatically with our diets, perceived stress, surgeries, and antibiotics. It has been observed that after antibiotics or gut surgeries, the microbiome requires up to 180 days to fully recover to the baseline. It is known now that the gut microbiome can influence exercise performance and metrics; having a stable gut microbiome would be considered gold in the future.

Gut microbiome becomes more or less stable over time. It has been shown that athletes with stable microbiomes respond better to beneficial dietary changes. Longitudinal or periodic microbiome testing (fecal) could be something to consider for athletes in the near future. This can assess athletes’ preparedness for the steep competition of the particular sport, and any shortcomings could be addressed with diet/lifestyle changes and supplementation.

Travel-associated dietary changes (consumption of ultra-processed food) and disrupted sleep can significantly affect athletes’ microbiome. Synbiotics (pre+probiotics) could be used to address this issue.

Could it be that the gut microbiome can be tweaked according to the type & and intensity of exercise and competition? Maybe so. Interdisciplinary collaboration between fields of sports nutrition & metabolism and microbial physiology can deal with this situation effectively.

Final Words!

Our gut microbiome is a complete ecosystem which works in harmony with our bodily processes and modulates them. It affects exercise performance in more than one way and is an open area of study with new revelations now and then.

While there is not a particular way to build a healthy microbiome for health and exercise, we can help our cause by eating healthy, getting good quality sleep, and dealing better with stress. There are synergistic effects between training & pro- and pre-biotic supplementation. This can lead to better athletic performance through modulation of energy, the inflammatory response, and recovery.

An integrated approach that integrates nutrition, training, monitoring, and optimization of gut microbiome trends across different sports is key to the way forward in this emerging domain.

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