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[Thread] Mental Math
(mander.xyz)
A place for majestic STEMLORD peacocking, as well as memes about the realities of working in a lab.
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This is a science community. We use the Dawkins definition of meme.
Throwing and catching always amaze me. And it's not something that everyone is always great at, for sure, but anyone can try to toss a wad of paper into the waste basket. Whether or not you make it, the calculations under the hood, happening so quickly, always astound me to think about.
What's amazing is our ability to calculate the path of something in the air.
There's a test they did with Cristiano Ronaldo where someone kicked a ball to him so he could head it. They shut off the lights before the ball was in the air and somehow from the body shape of the person kicking it, he was able to know how to make contact with it without being able to see it.
https://youtu.be/0k2ey_okQ4E?t=1255
I'm not a fan of Ronaldo but that was very cool to watch, thanks for sharing!
Ronaldo's ego is incredible, and he's almost always looking out for himself in everything he does. But, you can't deny that he's one of the best ever players. And his charisma means he's a great choice for something like this where he has to perform and interact with all the "scientists". Someone like Messi could do the same kinds of moves, but he wouldn't be able to chat with the presenters and "scientists" between events in a natural way. (P.S. I love that they got someone named Ronald to be the ordinary guy who couldn't do anything useful, that was just funny.)
I also think Ronaldo genuinely cares about all the biomechanics and all that, as long as it's something that applies to him, and that he could use to make himself better. A lot of other players just play on instinct and don't want to have to think about it.