He might not have the superhuman running speed of The Flash, but violonist Ben Lee can play Flight of the Bumblebee note perfect on the electric violin in just 58.03 seconds, which makes him the fastest human alive.
Usain Bolt’s not going to like this, but a panel of judges and researchers working on the Discover Channel show Superhuman Showdown have unanimously declared 32-year-old violin player Ben Lee the fastest human on Earth. Ben and several other competitors were tested in a controlled environment and researchers used magnetic electrical pulses to measure their brain activity during their tasks. “It’s taken tens of thousands of hours of practice to reach this speed but it definitely helped that my parents were musical and encouraged me to play,” said Lee, who has been playing the violin since he was five. Now, he hits about 15 notes per second and says he can only get faster. The four-time world violin-speed record holder was the best of a handful of contestants specially selected from hundreds of fast performing humans around the world.Among Lee’s competitors were world base race champion Frode Johannessen, who can ‘fly’ unassisted at 170pm, and Jerry Miculek, a speed shooter who can fire eight rounds on four targets in 1.06 seconds.
Professor Greg Whyte from the Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Science at Liverpool John Moores University, one of the judges on Superhuman Showdownm, said: “Through dedicated and long term practice, Ben is able to devote larger portions of his brain to a task. He bows with his right hand, which means that his left cortex should utilized more than his right. However, with the focus and control he uses with his left hand, Ben has developed a greater proportion of his right cortex, giving him powerful dexterity and the ability to play at 810 notes per minute.”
Other honorable mentions on the Discovery Channel’s show were head spinner Aicho Ono, who can perform 135 head spins in one minute without experiencing dizziness, and speed eater Pete Czerwinski, who can eat a 12 inch pizza in 34 seconds.
via Telegraph.co.uk
