The few times I go bowling each year are more about pitchers of cheap beer than they are satiating some desire for the perfect game, but nevertheless I'm intrigued by this "smart ball" from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Developed by sports scientist Franz Fuss, the smart bowling ball contains aluminum tubes in the finger holes that track the force a bowler applies to each roll. Fuss had ten bowlers of different skill levels bowl various shots down the lane, measured the force, and used it to try and find the perfect shot.

The simple system found that the better bowlers were consistent (surprise!), in that they always pinched the ball with "much greater force prior to release." This allowed for a much faster delivery than the newbs, and of course higher scores. [New Scientist]