This post first appeared at the Scientific American Guest Blog and is republished with permission.
With a single bad step as he ran untouched across a field this September, one of the best cornerbacks in the National Football League removed himself from the game for a whole season. New York Jets fans who saw Darrelle Revis’s left knee buckle under him that day may have pled with their televisions: not the ACL. But it was too late for Revis and his anterior cruciate ligament, which will undergo surgery this week.