QB Scouting Futurama?

Leading scientists such as James Watson, who co-discovered DNA, are convinced that the 21st century will be to the mind what the last was to the atom. Advances in brain science are likely to come fast and furious. The implications will be profound, inside of sports and out.

Recently, doctors John Detre and Jiongjiong Wang of the University of Pennsylvania used a series of MRIs to take the first picture of stress in the brain. Detre cautions that, "It's a long way from seeing stress in the brain to knowing who is going to choke in the big game.” But he says the concept is "perfectly reasonable." Detre says a study that NFL GMs could believe in would require a data bank of all QBs, a couple of years of research and a few million dollars.

The difficulties in measuring the hormones that mediate athletic performance may soon be solved by a New Zealand company called HortResearch. The goal is to develop a skin-patch-like monitor that could be worn during competition. HortResearch's Beth Stark says that about $500,000 in development money would greatly speed the timetable.

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