When an athlete swings upside down atop a 7-meter (23-foot) pendulum, it may seem like a feat of strength, courage or technique. A new study suggests it is something more fundamental: a striking demonstration of how intelligence emerges from the interaction of brain, body and environment.

In a paper published in the Journal of Nonlinear Science, Harvard researchers use mathematics, physics and control theory to analyze kiiking, an extreme sport invented in Estonia in which athletes pump a giant swing until they complete a full rotation.

At one level, the problem appears straightforward. The athlete repeatedly stands and squats to inject energy into the swing. Yet this simple action inspires a question that reaches far beyond sport, touching neuroscience, robotics, biology and human performance: How does an organism learn to exploit the dynamics of its environment to achieve a goal?