Month: August 2016

The game of Squash was invented in London, England around the year 1830, and the first specialized Squash shoe, which led to the founding of Hi-Tec Sports PLC, has now sold more than 19 million pairs. However, despite the fact that the game has been around for over 140 years, it has still not been accepted as an Olympic sport. Squash was once again snubbed by the International Olympic Committee as it missed out on inclusion for the Tokyo 2020 Games. Earlier this month, the Committee voted to add five new sports to the international competition, but Squash was not one of them. Chief executive of the Professional Squash Association Alex Gough said, “The Olympic Game should be the pinnacle of any athlete’s career and inclusion in the Tokyo 2020 Games would have been a defining moment fo...

New research claims to have unearthed a tragic -- and rather ironic -- fate for one of humanity's most famous ancestors. "Lucy," the named skeleton of a hominid who lived in Africa more than 3 million years ago, apparently died after falling out of a tree. Lucy's remains, which were discovered by archaeologists in Ethiopia in 1974, have long served as an important piece of the evolutionary puzzle for understanding how and when humans evolved from apes and other primates. She belongs to the species group Australopithecus afarensis, who resembled chimps with their flat noses, curved fingers, and small brains, but who also possessed canine teeth, arched feet, and the ability to walk upright, just like modern humans. The new revelations about Lucy's death were spearheaded by John Kappelm...

Multiple areas of the Middle-East have experienced record-breaking temperatures this summer, and climate experts are warning that the oppressive heat and severe weather could be a harbinger of worse to come. The UN has predicted that the combined 400 million people residing in 22 Arab countries will grow to nearly 600 million by 2050, and that the area's mushrooming population will face extreme water scarcity, more extreme temperatures, and other issues related to global warming. "This incredible weather shows that climate change is already taking a toll now and that it is -- by far -- one of the biggest challenges ever faced by this region," said Adel Abdul Latif, a senior adviser at the UN Development Programme's Regional Bureau for Arab States who has worked on studies about the i...

Police recovered an alligator from a backyard in West Springfield, Massachusetts on Thursday. The alligator, spanning six feet and weighing around 200 pounds, was being kept as a pet in a fenced-off area in the backyard. West Springfield Police Captain Michael Banas stated that around 12:30 in the afternoon the police department received an anonymous call reporting that an alligator had been spotted at a home on Main Street. A crew from Springfield’s Forest Park Zoo was called in to capture the animal, which was then taken away in the back of a pickup truck. The reptile is currently being held at the zoo while Massachusetts Environmental Police investigate the animal’s presence in the backyard since it is illegal to own an alligator as a pet. Police Sergeant Nolan Ryan stated t...