The Library

Everything we have published

Filter by what a story is — an investigation, an analysis, or a brief — and by what it is about.

49 stories

Investigation
What Makes Elite UFC Fighters Different? A Sports Science Perspective

Beyond raw strength, the truly exceptional UFC fighter optimizes physiology, psychology, and tactical acumen to achieve dominance inside the octagon.

ufccombat-sportsbiomechanics
Investigation
When the Model Misses the Player

A game played by people not spreadsheets

mlbleadershipevolution
Investigation
WAR: What Is It Good For?

Baseball built a statistic to measure individual value. Somewhere along the way we started asking it to explain winning, greatness and championships. Those may not be the same thing.

mlbsportsscience
Investigation
WWE: Why Wrestling Still Matters To Sports Storytelling

Every great sports broadcast borrows from professional wrestling. Most won't admit it.

wweculturestorytelling
Investigation
Sports Science: How Fatigue Changes Decision Making

When athletes get tired, they don't get slower first — they get simpler. The research explains why.

sports-scienceresearchpsychology
Investigation
Tehran UFO Incident (1976)

The Tehran UFO Incident refers to a series of reported radar and visual contacts with an unidentified aerial object (UAO) over Tehran, Iran, during the early morning hours of September 19, 1976. The event involved multiple Iranian Imperial Air Force (IIAF) F-4 Phantom II jet inte

ufouapinternational
Investigation
Is PCA the Greatest Center Fielder Ever?

Is Chicago watching the beginning of the greatest center-field career baseball has ever seen?

mlbhistoryleadership
Investigation
Are Primates Entering the Stone Age?

Capuchins, chimpanzees and macaques are using tools, passing down traditions and leaving archaeological records behind. What does that tell us about the origins of human intelligence?

anthropologyevolutionscience
Investigation
The $9 Billion Bears Problem: Why Are Taxpayers Still Being Asked to Help?

The Bears’ Indiana threat isn’t just a stadium story. It exposes a bigger problem in professional sports: franchise values are exploding, taxpayers are pushing back on subsidies, and private equity may become the inevitable answer.

chicago-bearsnflstatistics
Investigation
Your Sleep Tracker Knows Less Than It Pretends To

Your Apple Watch says you got 1 hour 47 minutes of REM sleep last night. Here's what it actually measured, and why that's a very different thing.

sleep
Investigation
Why Stone Countertops Stain, Etch, Crack and Somehow Get Blamed for Everything

A materials-science look at why granite, marble, quartzite, limestone and engineered quartz fail in such different ways — and why almost everyone calls all of it 'staining' regardless of what actually happened.

materials-science
Investigation
Why Does Fast Food Taste So Damn Good?

Is a value-menu burger engineered to hijack your brain, or just really well-designed food? We looked at the actual sensory science behind salt, sugar, fat, crunch and aroma — and where the 'food addiction' claim starts to wobble.

food-science
Investigation
Why Engineers Don't Build Things to Barely Survive

Why do bridges, elevators, and skyscrapers get built to withstand far more than they'll ever face — and what happens on the rare occasions someone strips that margin away?

engineering
Investigation
Ultra-Processed Food: Is the Problem the Processing—or Everything We Put Into It?

Ultra-processed food is linked to obesity and chronic disease, but researchers still can't agree whether it's the processing, the calories, the sugar and sodium, or simply that UPFs replace whole foods.

nutrition
Investigation
The Bridge Isn't Supposed to Be Perfectly Still

Why do engineers deliberately design bridges and skyscrapers to sway, flex, and creak — and when does that movement cross the line from safe to catastrophic?

engineering
Investigation
Quantum Computers Are Coming. Nobody Agrees on Exactly When.

Real hardware is getting better at fixing its own errors, but the gap between a lab milestone and a machine that outperforms your laptop at anything useful remains wide and contested.

physics
Investigation
Nothing Can Travel Faster Than Light. So Why Does the Universe Cheat?

Distant galaxies are receding from us faster than light, and it's not a loophole — it's a reminder that the speed limit governs motion through space, not the stretching of space itself.

physics
Investigation
Protein Everywhere: How Much Do Normal People Actually Need?

Between protein bars, powders, and 'high-protein' everything, the marketing has outrun the science. Here's what the actual research says about how much protein a normal adult needs—and where more stops helping.

nutrition
Investigation
The Expiration Date Is Lying to You—Sort Of

Americans treat a printed yogurt date like Cinderella's carriage at midnight. The actual rules behind Best By, Sell By, and Use By are looser, more confusing, and more wasteful than almost anyone realizes.

food-science
Investigation
Electrolytes: Necessary Science or Expensive Salt Water?

Sports drink marketing treats electrolytes as universally essential. The physiology says something narrower: they matter a lot, but mostly for people losing a lot of sodium, for a while, in specific conditions.

hydration
Investigation
Eight Hours of Sleep: Scientific Rule or Really Successful Number?

Everyone quotes eight hours like it's carved on a tablet. We looked at what the sleep research actually supports — and what it doesn't.

sleep
Investigation
Eight Glasses a Day: Where Did That Number Even Come From?

The 8x8 water rule sounds like settled science. Tracing it back reveals a dropped sentence, a debunking review nobody read, and a much messier reality about how the body actually manages water.

hydration
Investigation
Concrete Is Strong. Until You Pull on It.

Concrete can hold up a skyscraper but can't hold itself together against a stretch — the question is why the same material can be a champion in compression and a pushover in tension.

materials-science
Investigation
Creating the Rocky Balboa Culture

The White Sox can slug their way off the ropes. Now baseball’s most surprising Chicago revival has to learn how to stop taking punches.

chicago-white-soxmlbperformance-metrics
Investigation
Human Performance: Understanding the Limits of Human Potential

Exploring the complex interplay between our biology, environment, and technological advancements that defines the outermost boundaries of athletic achievement and human capability.

human-performanceexercise-physiologypsychology
Investigation
Vision Science in Sports: Why Seeing Faster Creates Better Athletes

Elite athletes don't just see well; they process visual information differently, unlocking performance advantages that challenge conventional ideas about innate talent.

vision-sciencereaction-timeskill-acquisition
Investigation
Athletic Development: Long-Term Athlete Growth From Youth to Professional

Unpack the scientific principles and practical application of long-term athletic development, guiding young athletes from foundational skills to sustained elite performance.

athletic-developmentskill-acquisitioninjury-prevention
Investigation
Coaching Science: Building Better Athletes Through Evidence

Unpacking the science behind effective coaching, revealing how evidence-based strategies fundamentally reshape athlete development and elevate performance beyond intuition.

coaching-scienceleadershipskill-acquisition
Investigation
Reaction Time: The Hidden Skill That Separates Champions

Beyond raw speed, the ability to rapidly and accurately respond to unpredictable stimuli often defines peak athletic performance across diverse disciplines, from the octagon to the gridiron.

reaction-timevision-scienceskill-acquisition
Investigation
Fatigue Science: Understanding Physical and Mental Performance Limits

Unraveling the intricate dance between physiological breakdown and mental willpower, we explore how the brain orchestrates performance limits and strategies to push through them.

fatigueexercise-physiologypsychology
Investigation
Skill Acquisition: How Elite Athletes Learn Faster

Unpacking the science behind how top performers, through methods like constraints-led learning and ecological dynamics, forge superior skills and adapt to dynamic sporting environments.

skill-acquisitionmotor-learningcoaching-science
Investigation
Performance Metrics: Measuring What Actually Wins Games

Understanding advanced analytical tools like EPA, xG, and WAR is critical for discerning what truly drives on-field success and separates meaningful data from statistical noise.

performance-metricsanalyticstracking-data
Investigation
Recovery Science: Why Rest May Be the Most Important Training Tool

Beyond the gym and the field, the science of recovery reveals how strategic restoration of physiological and cognitive function dictates peak athletic performance and injury resilience.

recoverysleepexercise-physiology
Investigation
Exercise Physiology Explained: How the Human Body Adapts to Training

Unpack the intricate biological mechanisms driving athletic performance, from cellular energy production to long-term systemic adaptations under stress.

exercise-physiologyhuman-performancerecovery
Investigation
Motor Learning: Why Practice Doesn't Always Make Perfect

Unraveling the science behind skill acquisition, we explore why mere repetition often falls short and how strategic practice structures unlock superior athletic performance and lasting mastery.

motor-learningskill-acquisitioncoaching-science
Investigation
Sports Psychology: How Elite Athletes Train Their Minds

Unpack the evidence-based mental strategies champions deploy to sharpen focus, master pressure, and cultivate an unwavering resilience in high-stakes competition.

sports-psychologypsychologyhuman-performance
Investigation
The Science of Professional Wrestling: Performance Beyond Entertainment

Beyond choreographed maneuvers, professional wrestling leverages acute biomechanics, psychological storytelling, and rigorous athletic conditioning to forge a captivating hybrid of sport and spectacle.

wwebiomechanicsinjury-prevention
Investigation
The Science Behind Winning College Football Programs

Unpacking the multifaceted, data-driven strategies and often unheralded innovations that forge championship-caliber college football teams in the modern era.

college-footballcoaching-scienceathletic-development
Investigation
The Quietest Building In The NBA

The United Center is loud on paper. On tape, it sounds like a library. Here is why — and what it costs the Bulls.

nbabasketballchicago-bulls
Investigation
The Scheduling Math That Quietly Punishes The Bears

Travel miles, rest days, and prime-time slots aren't distributed evenly. The Bears keep drawing the short straw.

nflfootballchicago-bears
Investigation
Cap Strategy: The Two-Year Window Chicago Just Bought

Restructures, void years, and dead cap. The Bears bought time. Here is how much, and what it costs later.

nflfootballchicago-bears
Investigation
Offensive Line Audit: The Interior Isn't Fixed Yet

A rep-by-rep audit of the interior line — pass sets, run fits, and the two positions still leaking pressure.

nflfootballchicago-bears
Investigation
Film Room: Why Motion Creates Free Yards

Pre-snap motion is the cheapest yardage in football. The math, the tape, and the coverages that break.

film-roomx-and-oanalytics
Investigation
History: The Greatest Defensive Teams Chicago Ever Built

From the '85 Bears to the 2010 Blackhawks — what the great Chicago defenses actually shared.

historychicago
Investigation
Chicago Culture: Why This City Demands Toughness

Toughness is a Chicago cliche. The origin story is more specific — and more interesting — than the cliche.

chicagoculturehistory
Investigation
AI: Can Artificial Intelligence Evaluate Football Film?

Computer vision now grades every rep of every game. Here is what it sees well — and what it still misses.

aitechnologyanalytics
Investigation
Technology: How NFL Tracking Data Is Changing Coaching

RFID chips generate 200 data points per second per player. The coaches who use it best are winning the margins.

technologyanalyticsnfl
Investigation
Science: The Psychology Of Winning Close Games

Late-game execution isn't clutch — it's rehearsal, workload, and decision architecture.

psychologyresearchdecision-making
Investigation
UFOs: How Evidence Should Be Evaluated

Whatever you believe about UFOs, the standard of evidence should be the same as it is anywhere else.

scienceevidenceskepticism