A Connecticut family found themselves in the hospital after accidentally ingesting some deadly foraged mushrooms. Last Thursday, Shah Noor picked a handful of mushrooms from the backyard and used them to make dinner for her family. Unfortunately, it turned out that the fungi were a species known as the “destroying angel,” which can be deadly if ingested.
The entire family was in Hartford’s St. Francis Hospital the next day. A combined IV-solution treatment cured Noor, her hu... Read More
Swiss astronomers announced on Tuesday the discovery of a new planet in the Alpha Centauri system. The “lava world,” which orbits the star Alpha Centauri B, is the closest to Earth yet found. Though its temperature is likely too extreme to support life, the yet-unnamed planet orbits a star much like our own sun and has a mass roughly the same as Earth. Geneva Observatory astronomer Stéphane Udry called the new planet a “landmark” discovery. The Swiss team who dis... Read More
The Canadian government knew of Russ George’s plans to dump 100 tons of iron sulfate into the Pacific Ocean over the summer, according to a report in The Guardian. The paper obtained documents revealing that officers from Environment Canada were aware of the impending dump before it happened. They expressed concerns about the idea of ocean fertilization, but it doesn’t appear that they took any further action. George maintains that the government’s involvement went way beyond... Read More
Ski season is underway in the Rockies with the opening of Arapahoe Basin in Keystone, Colorado. With an 18" base, the ski area was only able to open one lift and one intermediate run with the help of some aggressive snow-making. "It was incredibly cold up here. We just made a ton of snow. We've been making snow since then and we've got enough to get it open," Alan Henceroth, A-Basin chief, said. The ski area is typically one of the first to open, but other ski resorts are crossing their finger... Read More
Following the long-anticipated release of the United States Anti-Doping Agency's lengthy report last week that detailed allegations of doping, Lance Armstrong has announced that he is stepping down as chairman of Livestrong, the cancer-fighting charity he founded in 1997. Armstrong has been a vocal leader of the non-profit, which also goes by the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF), for the past 15 years, but decided to distance himself so that "it can focus on its mission instead of its founder'... Read More
