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Sports

Footballer in the making? This young Ecuadorian seems drawn to the oblong shape and peculiar design of a football on a soccer field in the city of Cuenca.

A Football Team With No One to Play Against

Listen closely around the public parks of Quito, Ecuador, and you just might hear that familiar sound: “Hut hut hike!”

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The Iditarod Is Being Threatened by Warm Temperatures

A lack of snow is affecting the annual Iditarod sled dog race

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There’s No Such Thing as a Concussion-Proof Helmet

Essentially, if you put 15 inches of foam on the outside of the helmet, you can make a concussion free helmet. But that’s completely impractical

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Why Did the Lights Go Out in the Superdome?

What actually caused the power outage in the 73,000 seat Superdome? Well, it’s unclear

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Strange Ball in a Strange Place: Watching the Super Bowl in Ecuador

America’s Biggest Game brings excitement, curiosity and some boredom to Ecuador

Athletes Are Exceptionally Fast Visual Learners

Professional football, hockey, soccer and rugby players significantly better than amateurs or non-athletes at processing fast-moving, complicated scenes

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Riding a Hundred-Foot Wave, Surfer Breaks His Own World Record

Garrett McNamara said he felt awe, joy and excitement as the massive wall of water approached - but no fear

Americans Buy So Many Wings, They’re Now the Most Expensive Part of the Chicken

Each February, the nation’s thirst for chicken wings hits the roof, making the delicate wing the most expensive bit of the bird

The score doesn’t matter, only the ads.

Meta Superbowl Commercials Just Got a Lot More Meta

Around 1998, Super Bowl commercials got meta. But this year, it’s worse. This year, people are running commercials, for their Super Bowl commercials

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Things to Do in Quito While Nursing Achilles Tendonitis

With its clean public parks, brewpubs, museums and tapas bars, Quito is a fine place to spend a week recovering from an injury

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Readers Who Bought Lance Armstrong’s Book Want Their Money Back

Lance Armstrong’s doping confession has cost him his Tour de France medals, sponsors and his charity. But now, readers who bought his books, want their money back too

This sign just north of Tumbes is a clear sign, if the mangroves aren’t, that one is entering the muggy, and in some ways dangerous, tropics.

Ecuador, Land of Malaria, Iguanas, Mangoes and Mountains

The author leaves Peru behind and crosses into Ecuador, where he encounters his first sign of a mosquito

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The Most Famous Fake Women in History

Manti Te’o isn’t the first person to invent (or, have invented for him) a lady. Here are five other women who never existed

Is It Too Late To Forgive Lance Armstrong?

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Ask Smithsonian 2017

Why Are Chimpanzees Stronger Than Humans?

Chimps are far stronger than we are - but why?

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The Baseball Hall of Fame Will Be Missing Some of Baseball’s Best Players Ever

For just the second time in forty years, not a single player was inducted this year. Not Barry Bonds, not Roger Clemes, not Sammy Sosa—nobody

How Dangerous Is Hitting Another Human Being With Your Head?

How much damage does head butting really do?

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No Place Compares to the Unrelenting Lifelessness of Peru’s Sechura Desert

From tropical mountains, we descended into a landscape of flailing-armed cacti, spiny succulents like giant artichokes and sand dunes as high as mountains

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The History of Foosball

How did the tabletop game get from parlor halls in 19th century Europe to the basements of American homes?

The miserable sprawl and slums of north Lima make a poor first impression for tourists fresh out of the airport. Here, the author’s brother, Andrew, is shown 15 kilometers north of Lima, on the way to the mountain town of Canta.

From the Slums of Lima to the Peaks of the Andes

After unpacking and assembling his bicycle at the airport terminal, the author heads north on the Pan-American Highway toward the mountain town of Canta

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