Cyclist Lance Armstrong appears to be on his way to a seventh consecutive win in the Tour de France bicycling race. But is Armstrong a genetic aberration, or merely a very determined, very well trained rider? In this hour of Science Friday, we'll talk about the physiology needed to be a top bicyclist. From lung capacity to muscular endurance, the biology beneath the yellow jersey is quite demanding. We'll also look at high-tech bicycling designs that can boost a rider's performance.

Plus, it turns out there may be some accounting for taste. We'll talk with a researcher studying the workings of taste buds to try to figure out just how they work New findings suggest that one taste bud may be able to sense both sweet and bitter tastes -- while sour and salty tastes are reported by a completely different mechanism. Join guest host Joe Palca for a taste of the research. Call in with your questions and comments at 1-800-989-8255 (3-4 Eastern). Teachers, find more information about using Science Friday as a classroom resource in the Kids' Connection.

Guests:
M. Scott Herness
Professor, Oral Biology
College of Dentistry
Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio

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Edward F. Coyle
Professor, Department of Kinesiology
Director, Human Performance Laboratory
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX

David Gordon Wilson
Author, "Bicycling Science" (MIT Press, 2004)
Professor Emeritus, Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA

Books/Articles Discussed:

"Expression, physiological action, and coexpression patterns of neuropeptide Y in rat taste-bud cells," by Fang-li Zhao, Tiansheng Shen, Namik Kaya, Shao-gang Lu, Yu Cao, and Scott Herness. PNAS, 2005.

"Improved muscular efficiency displayed as Tour de France champion matures" by Edward F. Coyle. J Appl Physiol 98: 2191-2196, 2005.

"Bicycling Science," by David Gordon Wilson. MIT Press, 2004.

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This segment produced by Erica Altman