Gadgets with a sporting chance reports on some new, high-tech sporting equipment:
Victor Petrenko, an engineer at Dartmouth College’s Ice Research Lab in New Hampshire, has invented some smart ski-brakes that, he believes, will increase the popularity of cross-country skiing by making the sport less challenging for beginners. The brakes, currently being tested by a ski manufacturer in the Alps, offer the necessary friction for a bigger “kick-off force” and make the skis less likely to slide backwards in their tracks. To make this happen, an electric current from the bottom of the skis pulses through the ice, melting a thin layer of snow that instantly refreezes and acts as a sort of glue.