Twenty metres before the finish line Usain Bolt already opens his arms in triumph and ramps up his speed: even with his "handbrake" on,at 9.58 seconds, he runs the 100 metre stretch faster than anyone ever before in 2009 in Berlin. In the process, and he reached a maximum speed of nearly 45 kilometres per hour. Records like this could well be broken again in the forthcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. One of the factors that contributes to such athletic prowess is the structure of muscle cells. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund analyzed muscle proteins and observed the molecules at work at a previously unattained level of detail. Cryo-electron microscopy,a technique they have further developed, can be used to explain the cause of muscle diseases – and to identify features that earn the musculature of top athletes so efficient.
Source: phys.org