Yamal and Messi aren’t the only stars of the World Cup finals. If you’ve been watching any of the games, you’ve probably stared directly at a huge, unsung hero: the turf. Turf grass science is a real thing, and it’s <a href="https://utia.tennessee.edu/person/?id=4020"target="_blank" >John Sorochan</a>’s area of expertise. He’s a scientist at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and he’s spent the last eight years preparing for the grass pitch the players are scoring on. John had the daunting task of figuring out how to create consistency and uniformity across all the World Cup stadiums. That meant dozens of team base camps and 16 different stadiums where turf had to weather all kinds of conditions – from Mexico City’s high altitude, to Miami’s sweltering heat. Today on Short Wave, we dive into the science behind it all.  Interested in more science behind your favorite sports? Email us your question at <a href="mailto:shortwave@npr.org"target="_blank" >shortwave@npr.org</a>. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. It includes perks like bonus episodes, early access, archive access, curated playlists and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at <a href="http://plus.npr.org"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org</a>.  See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

Podurama

Home

Trending

Personal

Your Podcasts

New Episodes

My Files

Favourite Episodes

Tags (Folders)

Recently Played

Bookmarks

Followed Playlists

Why did designing the World Cup pitches take eight years?

Short Wave

AI Chapters

AI Insights

Reviews