Sometimes I'm surprised by the things that get published--or at least where they get published. A recent paper in the presitgious science journal Nature looks at the times of men and women champions in the 100 meter Olympic races, and concludes that somewhere around the 2164 Olympics, men and women champions will be running this race at the same pace.

"Somewhere around 2164" is very broad though; given the errors in the sample, and assuming the current trends continue, then the crossover could occur as late at 2788. They say there's no reason to assume that current trends in the running times won't continue. But if we extrapolate a bit farther, by the year 3000 men will be running the race in zero time, and women in negative time, arriving at the finish line before they even leave the starting blocks.