While we think of cross-country skiing as a low-impact sport which enjoys rather than exploits natural areas, research shows that even our small ski trails can impact wildlife through forest fragmentation and stress responses to disturbance by skiers.
In scientific research coming out in the last month, researchers try to find ways to prevent Sudden Cardiac Death in athletes through better screening; markers in saliva can be used to test response to a training load; cross country ski suits, reviewed in different temperatures; no point in taking nitrate supplements; and, finally, how skiers affect reindeer in northern Scandinavia. Because who doesn't love reindeer?