Ashley, Anyone?

November, 2008

I read with great interest your arti­cle on the fastest humans (The Perfect Sprint, August). While Jonathan Litt-man mentions how sprinting records are typically shaved by tenths or even hundredths of a second, he doesn't address whether this trend is likely to continue. What are the limits of human speed? With the techniques that are being developed, humans could conceivably cut the 100-meterrecord to live seconds. It may seem outlandish, but consider that chee­tahs, whose muscles, tendons and...