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Are athletes really getting faster, better, stronger?

9,621,859 views |

David Epstein |

TED2014

• March 2014

When you look at sporting achievements over the last decades, it seems like humans have gotten faster, better and stronger in nearly every way. Yet as David Epstein points out in this delightfully counter-intuitive talk, we might want to lay off the self-congratulation. Many factors are at play in shattering athletic records, and the development of our natural talents is just one of them.

When you look at sporting achievements over the last decades, it seems like humans have gotten faster, better and stronger in nearly every way. Yet as David Epstein points out in this delightfully counter-intuitive talk, we might want to lay off the self-congratulation. Many factors are at play in shattering athletic records, and the development of our natural talents is just one of them.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

About the speaker

David Epstein

Science and investigative reporter

See speaker profile

David Epstein obsesses over mistranslations of scientific research, and tries to temper the misconceptions that follow them.

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This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.