So in human joints, we have these multiple physical effects producing incredibly low friction levels.

I remember asking my researchers to look up what was the coefficient of friction in human joints.

And we could not believe what it was.

We were just completely blown away because the friction

in our Olympic joints was 50 times higher than in a healthy human.

ID, the Future, a podcast about evolution and intelligent design.

Designing an Olympic bike requires the best materials, the best lubricants, and the best components,

and the smallest of engineering choices can make the difference between winning and losing the race.

Welcome to ID the Future. I'm your host, Andrew McDermid.

Today I'm speaking again with award-winning British engineer and designer Stuart Burgess. This time our topic is his engineering work as lead

transmission designer on the Olympic bikes used by Team GB, Team Great Britain, in the last three

Summer Olympic Games. Dr. Burgess, in case you don't know about him yet, is Professor of Engineering Design at the University of Bristol.

He has published over 200 scientific publications on the Science of Design and Engineering and Biology.

For the last two decades, his gearboxes have been used successfully on all the large Earth observation

satellites of the European Space Agency. He has received many national, international awards

for his design, including from the Minister of State for Trade and Industry in the UK. In 2019,

he was given the top mechanical engineer award in the UK out of 120,000 professional mechanical engineers.

And he's also been an invited speaker in over 30 countries.

Welcome to the podcast, Stuart.

Yeah, it's good to be here. Thank you.

Well, in February 2026, many of us enjoyed the Winter Olympic Games held in Milan and Cortina,

a stunning display, as always, of human prowess and skill, 2,800 athletes over 90 nations competing.

...