Nature's cheats

By James Krohe Jr.

[
          
            {
              "name": "Air - MedRect Combo - Inline Content 1",
              "component": "11490391",
              "insertPoint": "3",
              "requiredCountToDisplay": "1",
              "parentWrapperClass": "fdn-ads-inline-content-block"
            },{
              "name": "Air - MedRect Combo - Inline Content 2",
              "component": "11490392",
              "insertPoint": "7",
              "requiredCountToDisplay": "5",
              "parentWrapperClass": "fdn-ads-inline-content-block"
            },{
              "name": "Air - MedRect Combo - Inline Content 3",
              "component": "11490393",
              "insertPoint": "12",
              "requiredCountToDisplay": "9",
              "parentWrapperClass": "fdn-ads-inline-content-block"
            }
          
        ]

Appropriate for the Olympics season is this very interesting piece from Scientific American, "Magic Blood and Carbon-Fiber Legs at the Brave New Olympics," in which Daid Epstein addresses some of the same questions I considered in "Cheating is the American way" way back in 2012.

Epstein's answers? He doesn't have any, any more than I did. In addition to drugs, athletes have available performance-enhancing biomechanical limbs and genetic manipulation and high-tech training kit available. ("Well-endowed" these days refers to one's training budget.)

No set of rules can accommodate all the possibilities; better to abolish rules altogether, and may be the best, well, whatever win.

About The Author

James Krohe Jr.

Email James Krohe Jr.

Illinois Times has provided readers with independent journalism for almost 50 years, from news and politics to arts and culture.

Your support will help cover the costs of editorial content published each week. Without local news organizations, we would be less informed about the issues that affect our community..

Click here to show your support for community journalism.