The 2026 Winter Olympics are unfolding in Milan and Cortina, and we can’t look away: We’re watching athletes fly down mountains on skis and glide — sometimes slipping and falling — on the ice. <a href="https://chiblab.jhu.edu/"target="_blank" >Vikram Chib</a> studies performance and how the brain responds to rewards at Johns Hopkins University. And he says rewards aren’t just for Olympians; they’re baked into basically everything humans do. But those rewards and the pressure that comes with them can come at a cost to people’s brains. And even Olympians are human. Sometimes, we crack. So, today, Vikram dives into the science behind choking under pressure.  Interested in more Olympics science? Email us your question at <a href="mailto:shortwave@npr.org"target="_blank" >shortwave@npr.org</a> – we may cover it in a future episode! Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at <a href="http://plus.npr.org/shortwave"target="_blank" >plus.npr.org/shortwave</a>. Learn more about sponsor message choices: <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy">NPR Privacy Policy</a>

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