A sewage spill in Tijuana has forced authorities to close several miles of beach in Southern California. A broken pipeline about a mile south of the border dumped millions of gallons of raw sewage into the ocean, leading to the shutdown of Imperial Beach in San Diego County. As of Thursday afternoon, repairs on the damaged pipe were 90 percent complete, and health officials say that beaches on the California side of the border could open as early as today, pending the results of tests for bact... Read More
Older runners can compete in marathons without worrying about permanent cardiac damage, a new study has found. Headed up by Manitoba University professor Davinder Jassal, a team of researchers subjected a group of healthy volunteers from the 2010 and 2011 Manitoba Full Marathons to blood tests, heart ultrasounds, and CT and MRI scans. The group discovered that marathon runners over 50 had the same temporary cardiac abnormalities post-race as younger runners, but didn't incur any permanent dama... Read More
Venezuelan officials are investigating the claim that as many as 80 Yanomami Indians were murdered by illegal Brazilian gold prospectors in July. According to a criminal complaint filed earlier this week by Horonami, the Yanomami rights organization, the prospectors flew in by helicopter and razed the village to the ground. “Survivors of the community who were [off hunting] in the jungle heard gunfire, explosions and even a helicopter in which the miners landed,” said Luis Shatiwe,... Read More
Red Bull released a statement on Wednesday announcing the end of their long-standing relationship with freeskier Tanner Hall. The 28-year-old is a record-breaking seven-time X Games champion and was voted Powder Magazine's 2009 Skier of the Year in a readership poll. He has since suffered from a spate of injuries that have kept him off the slopes, including a bad jump in 2009 in which he tore his ACL in both knees. "After 11 years of hard work for Red Bull and everything I have done and been t... Read More
A precocious young British boy has stumbled upon a chunk of congealed whale vomit that could be worth as much as $63,000. Charlie Naysmith, 8, was walking with his parents along the beach at Hengistbury Head, on the south coast of England, when he got interested in a curious-looking rock. Ambergris, a waxy excretion formed in the intestines of sperm whales, has traditionally been used in perfumes as a fixative, though it has been gradually replaced by synthetics. In Moby Dick, Melville writes ... Read More
