A Washington state man suspected in the murder of his wife and daughter was discovered dead on Saturday in an elaborately constructed underground bunker in a forest near Seattle. A King County Sheriff spokesman said that Keller had spent some eight years building the elaborate, multilevel structure near the Rattlesnake Ridge trailhead. Keller, a gun collector who worked in a computer-repair business, was charged last week with shooting his wife and daughter and setting their home on fire. Poli... Read More
Australia's environmental minister on Monday designated koalas as a threatened species in three territories in response to a population decline and destruction of the marsupial's habitat. There are now 40 percent fewer koalas in Queensland than 20 years ago, a drop that conservationists attribute to habitat loss and higher-than-normal temperatures, which have led koalas to venture into settled areas and risk attack by domesticated animals. The designation will limit development in koala habita... Read More
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has overturned a rule banning British athletes found guilty of doping from competing in the Olympic Games. The CAS ruled Monday that lifetime bans do not comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency code. Cyclist David Millar, who tested postive for EPO in 2004, and sprinter Dwain Chambers, who tested positive for an anabolic steroid in 2003, are now eligible to attempt to qualify for the 2012 Games. Neither athlete has yet been selected to compete in the Olympic... Read More
Cory Richards, a North Face team athlete and member of the National Geographic Society, was flown by helicopter from Everest Base Camp to the nearby medical facility of Lukla, Nepal, after doctors feared a pulmonary embolism. The celebrated photographer—he was just recently awarded the Rowell Award from the American Alpine Club, which honors a great adventure photographer—was making his first attempt at Everest via the little-traveled West Ridge. At about 23,000 feet on Saturday af... Read More
The National Endowment of Arts this week awarded the University of Southern California a $40,000 grant to develop a video game based on Henry David Thoreau's Walden writings. The game will recreate a 3-D environment of Walden Pond in which players "can conduct their own experiments in living deliberately," according to the game's promotional video. Gameplay involves traipsing through Walden Woods, picking berries, fishing the pond, and contemplating Thoreau's ideas in his tiny cabin. The game'... Read More
