Category Archives: Sports

Invasive Algae Kills Thousands of Shad in Arizona Lake

Apache Lake, Arizona (photo by Bernard Gagnon).

A population explosion of golden algae, a fast-growing invasive plant, has killed thousands of threadfin shad and some gizzard shad at Apache Lake, a reservoir in central Arizona.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Algal Toxin Kills Thousands Of Fish In Apache Lake

Arizona’s Kartchner Caverns Steeped in Science, Secrecy

Image of Kartchner Caverns
Photo courtesy Kartchner Caverns State Park.

When co-discovers Gary Tenen and Randy Tufts found the blowhole entrance to the caverns in 1974, they did something extraordinary: They kept it a secret.  And when they could no longer shield the caves through secrecy, they sought out science to help protect Kartchner Caverns post-development.

Research has supported Kartchner ever since, but the reverse is true as well. Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk to find out how:

At Arizona’s Kartchner Caverns, Science Supports Stewardship — And Vice Versa

Brain Activity Patterns Set Young Runners Apart from Healthy Peers

Spatial maps for (from top) the default mode network, frontoparietal network and motor network  (image courtesy Gene Alexander of University of Arizona).

The book The Runner’s Brain told runners how their minds could change their running. Now a University of Arizona study says the reverse might be true as well.

Using functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI), they found significant differences in areas that are active when the brain is at rest. Possibly, such networks could play a key role in the effects of aging and neurodegenerative diseases.

Read/listen to my full story at KJZZ’s Arizona Science Desk:
Arizona Study: Brains Of Young Adult Runners Differ From Those Of Healthy Peers

eSports: So Maybe You Can Make a Living at That

League of Legends Championship Series. Photo by Gabriel Gagne.
League of Legends Championship Series. Photo by Gabriel Gagne.

Yep, after decades of false starts, it is now possible – for the few, the young and the obsessive – to make  a living playing video games. Sprung from LAN party tournaments played for beer money stakes, eSports has today evolved into full-blown sporting franchise, complete with teams, groupies, college athletic programs, dedicated media, arena-filling crowds and tournament prize pools ballooning into the tens of millions of dollars.

For many, this development raises a number of questions. Are these really athletes? (Hint: the U.S. government thinks so.) Why was Amazon willing to pay almost a billion dollars for Twitch.tv? And, well, just how does professional gaming work?

How Professional Gaming Works

Coming to Grips with the Impalement Arts

A woman fastened to a spinning wheel has knives thrown at her.
The Wheel of Death: It’s a living. Photo by Ellin Beltz.

No one can say when people first started throwing knives, but I’m willing to bet that it was the result of boredom, desperation or an ill-thought-out dare.  How we got from there to the Wheel of Death involves a journey from Africa, through the Wild West shows and circuses of the 1800s, and finally to our own  backyards.

Knives hardly sail through the air like arrows, but throwing them is not a difficult as it might seem. So grab your weapon of choice and join me as I explain …

How Knife Throwing Works