On a bright afternoon in Jiangsu, China, Xin Yin is playing personal trainer to some rats. One by one, he sets the rodents on a miniature treadmill that starts at a slow speed and gradually increases the speed. These littermates are born athletes, capable of running farther distances with less lactic acid buildup than the average laboratory rat.
The secret of their swiftness does not lie in their genes – the animals come from the same genetic stock as the group of control rats. And he has not received any special training. Instead, her fitness seems to be inspired by her father’s exercise habits even before her conception. This is a finding that suggests that running may benefit not only the exerciser, but also their unborn babies.
“I was very surprised when I first saw the data,” says Yin, a biochemist at Nanjing University.
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