> Santa Clara Sprinter Nathan Adrian sweeps the 50m and 100m freestyle Swim Network
> Star sightings: Michael Phelps back with Miss California LA Times Blog
> Swimmer Phelps to tee off in Chinese Pro-Am event Reuters
> Search #SwimBlogsUnited on Twitter
> Unconventional Abs Swimming Science
> The History Behind Prince Albert’s Engagement to an Olympic Swimmer Gold Medal Mel
> FINIS Turnmaster Pro FINIS
> Alain Bernard from Arena Water Instinct via the17thman

> McCrory Brings Home NCAA Platform Diving Title GoDuke.com
> 2010 Men’s NCAA Division I Championships Photo Gallery Swimming World
> NCAA Postponement Affects BYU Diver CollegeSwimming.com
> Worst Fears Confirmed: It’s the Norovirus CollegeSwimming.com
> California’s Nathan Adrian Sets Pool Record, Wins 100 Free Swimming World
> Attention all swim coaches Springboards And More
> 2010-2009 Men’s NCAA Comparison Swimming Science
> Friday Food Fact: Red Meat Garrett Weber-Gale

The Discovery Channel loves swimming and diving! Because all my attention was on Mythbusters “Swimming in Syrup” with Nathan Adrian, I completely missed Time Warp “Splashes, Guns and Bikes” which featured videos of platform and springboard diving with high speed cameras – resulting in some incredible slow motion videos. It’s a good thing I caught the rerun! American Idol results and two aquatic themed science shows all presented in prime time – I’m only one man!

But first, did you see the spectacle Mythbusters Adam and Jamie made on tonight’s show? They didn’t swim in a pool, rather they dug two 75 foot long trenches in the desert and filled them with water. The syrup was actually a mixture of guar similar to the experiment I talked about on Tuesday. And if you thought I cringed when they got in a hot tub wearing a full body Speedo LZR Racer, it was nothing compared to my reaction when I saw that suit covered in snotty chemical thickner. Nonetheless, the myth was deemed “Plausible” considering unexplained variables in the results. Look for clips to surface on the Mythbusters YouTube Channel.

Nathan Adrian was a good sport for swimming in goop 500x thicker than water, but his results were basically thrown out for inconsistencies because the Mythbusters decided his technique changed too much between the syrup and regular water. Nathan swam the 75 foot fresh water pool in 9.81 seconds, and managed his way through the syrup in 10.87 seconds. However, I don’t know if I would trust the precision of the the desert-trench-pool timing system.

Also on the Discovery Channel tonight, Time Warp pointed their ultra high speed cameras at divers Kim Popp, Brian Earley, Kent Demond, and Derek Starks to capture dives and entries from both the 3m springboard and 10m platform. The explaination of the physics, and a very brief history of diving, were pretty much dead on. As a diver, I’m glad they got it right.

You can watch all of the diving videos online on their website: http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/time-warp/ or just click on the links below to watch the best ones (how easy is that!)

> Watch “Optimal Dive” – A diver relies on both kinetic and potential energy.
> Watch “Diving Board” – The diving board plays a big role in how high a diver’s body can move.
> Watch “Deep Dive” – A dive doesn’t end the moment a diver hits the water.

On Wednesday, a Mythbusters episode will air that reportedly tests the effects of swimming in syrup – with the help of Olympic gold medalist Nathan Adrian. The myth is based on the physics of swimming in a highly viscous medium where, while you are slowed by more drag, your strokes are also more effective at pulling you forward. In theory the two effects should cancel each other out.

This same theory was tested in a 2003 study by Ed Cussler, a professor of chemical engineering and materials science at the University of Minnesota, and his student Brian Gettelfinger. According to an article by the University of Minnesota, the researchers filled a pool in Cooke Hall with guar – a thickening agent used in ice cream and shampoo – to turn the water into a giant vat of goop.

Study participants, including men and women of the University of Minnesota Gophers swim teams, swam each stroke in both a regular swimming pool, and the pool filled with 700 pounds of thickening guar. The results? Although it seams counter-intuitive, times in the thicker liquid were not signifficantly different from times in a regular pool across all strokes.

The experiment was so humorous and thought-provoking that the researchers were awarded the 2005 Ig Nobel Prize for Chemistry. The Ig Nobel Prize, a parody of the Nobel Prize, congratulates funny yet provocative research in different areas of science and medicine. These “tongue-in-cheek” awards have also recognized such studies as:

Physics 2008: Dorian Raymer and Douglas Smith, for proving that heaps of string or hair will inevitably tangle.

Public Health 2004: Presented to Jillian Clarke of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, and then Howard University, for investigating the scientific validity of the five-second rule about whether it’s safe to eat food that’s been dropped on the floor.

> List of Ig Nobel Prize winners dating back to 1991
> Original factoid from Twitter @LeDiva
> Read the University of Minnesota article about the Ig Nobel Prize
> Article about the study: Check One Item Off the “Honey-Do” List

[Update: Check out photos of Nathan Adrian on Mythbusters]

So it looks like I’m a little behind the curve on this one, because it’s already posted by The Screaming Viking! and the17thman–but I just wanted to make sure everyone has time to set their DVRs for this one.

The episode airs on Discovery Channel at 9PM ET/PT and reruns at midnight.

This Wednesday, Nathan Adrian will be appearing on Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters to help Adam and Jamie test a myth about swimming in syrup. I’ve never heard of that myth, but whatever… if anyone can swim through a vat of syrup I’m sure Olympic gold medalist Nathan Adrian can! Is there anyone who would argue that swimming through syrup would actually be easier? Maybe they’re just testing to see what happens rather than testing an argument.

Here is the episode description from the Mythbusters website:

“On this extra-sticky episode of Mythbusters, we put a classic physics ‘thought-problem’ to the test, and then take on two ‘magic bullet’ myths – one from television, and the other from an American frontier legend.”

> Follow Mythbusters on Twitter @donttrythis
> Read the original article from the Kitsap Sun

I just got an e-mail from the TYR mailing list with a news bite stating that: “a University of California Berkeley swimmer led off the 200-yard freestyle relay at the 2009 Pac 10 Championships and tied the American Record he set earlier that evening in the 50-yard freestyle finals.”

It goes on to say that ‘the same swimmer’ first broke the record in a Tracer Rise, and then led the relay in a Tracer Titan tying his own record of 18.82.

My question is, why is this news bite so vague? I guess it would have something to do with a PAC 10 broadcasting copyright? It just sounds really weird to announce a record by a Cal Berkley swimmer. Results from the meet clearly show Adrian’s performance in both the 50-yard freestyle and 200-yard freestyle relay. (Notice I didn’t exactly announce his place or time on the blog).

So by tying his own American record, Nathan Adrian shows that the Tracer Titan is at least as good as the Tracer Rise. There are still plenty of swims left in the upcoming NCAA Championships to show what the suit can really do!