Science of the Winter Olympics - Cross-Country Skiing, Internal Athlete

The United States hasn't won an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing since 1976, but in 2010, several skiers hope to change that. If they're successful, you can be certain it's due to their incredible endurance--cross-country skiers are among the fittest athletes in the world. Deborah King, an associate professor in the Department of Exercise and Sports Sciences at Ithaca College and Joseph Francisco, president of the American Chemical Society, look at the biochemistry of human endurance. NBC Learn, the educational arm of NBC News, has teamed up with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to produce Science of the Olympic Winter Games, a 16-part video series that explores the science behind individual Olympic events, including Downhill and Aerial Skiing, Speed Skating and Figure Skating, Curling and Hockey, and Ski Jumping, Bobsledding and Snowboarding. This groundbreaking project between the NSF and NBC Learn uses the global spotlight of the Olympics to make science more accessible and more interesting to students by showing how science helps athletes fulfill the Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius--Swifter, Higher, Stronger. Read more about the "Science of the Olympic Winter Games" at http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/olympics/.