Sunday morning, more than 100 swimmers left the River Dock on the Esplanade, under the watchful eye of the Arthur Fiedler bust, for a mile-long race in the Charles River. Swimming in the Charles: it's a phrase that would make most Bostonians cringe. But, for the Charles River Swimming Club, who hosted Sunday's race, it's a matter of pride. The Charles, a victim of more than a century of raw sewage and industrial waste,......

Now that a partially dissolved piece of sodium metal has been deemed the culprit in the burning of several Charles River cleanup volunteers, the local news is playing up the MIT ritual known as the "sodium drop." MIT students like to drop stuff. Sometimes they drop pianos. In this case, at the start of each school year, students get the sodium from somewhere on campus, tote it to the Longfellow Bridge, and drop it bit......

Update: Our anonymous commenter is likely correct! The substance that burned the crew was solid sodium, which MIT pranksters like to drop into the Charles for orientation. Members of a Charles River cleanup crew were burned when they picked up a "taffy-like substance." When they put it into their boat, the substance ignited upon contact with water. The cleanup crew consisted of volunteers who were cleaning up the river along the Mass Ave Bridge. Three......

Despite the blooms of blue-green algae spotted in the Charles, the Charles River Swimmers were able to hold their one-mile swim Saturday morning. The top overall winner was Sebastian Neumayer, and the top female finisher was Emily Sutliff. The swimmers started at the River Dock, and swam for one mile between Harvard and Longfellow Bridges. The race had been cancelled last year thanks to an abundance of algae. The Globe notes that the organizers......