Yesterday an EU ruling came into force that may change the look of European fruit. While it will ultimately be up to each fruit provider, it seems that fruit stickers will decline and laser-etching will take its place.

But some may find the law disturbing. To be clear, the legislation does not state that fruit must be laser-etched—rather, it states that a ban on coating fruit in certain chemicals is now null and void. For three …

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The University of Massachusetts – Amherst compiled a list of the top 100 air polluters in America, the top 10 of which are shown here. Some of the top 10 polluters have, not surprisingly, very dirty skeletons in their closets. But others on this list are working to clean up their acts.

Although fossil fuel energy companies dominated the list, Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway and the federal government were in the top 5.

The list ranked polluters …

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June 24, 2013 |

If you’re like roughly half of your fellow Americans, you probably popped a multi this morning. As the slightly acrid taste lingered on your tongue, you felt good knowing that something so quick and easy would help safeguard your health.

Multivitamins are the most popular dietary supplement on Earth. But here’s the sobering reality: They may be simply useless—or worse.

For the last several years, a Mount Fuji of evidence has …

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California has lost another federal court decision: a judge on Monday ordered the state to move inmates at risk of contracting valley fever out of two prisons afflicted with the deadly fungus.

The order late Monday by U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson gives the state seven days to begin the transfers and 90 days to complete them. Several thousand inmates, including African Americans, Filipinos and those with diabetes and HIV, are covered by the order affecting …

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Once a business proposition that required little more than a few thousand dollars and some gardening equipment, selling medical marijuana is quickly becoming a dream fit only for deep-pocketed entrepreneurs.

Regulations in states that only recently legalized medical marijuana are mandating that would-be dispensary operators set aside large amounts of cash before even applying for a license, tipping the scales in favor of businesspeople with money to burn. Drawn-out licensing processes being devised in those states …

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BEIJING (AP) — Chinese workers keeping an American executive confined to his Beijing medical supply factory said Tuesday that they had not been paid in two months in a compensation dispute that highlights tensions in China’s labor market.

The executive, Chip Starnes of Specialty Medical Supplies, denied the workers’ allegations of two months of unpaid wages, as he endured a fifth day of captivity at the plant in the capital’s northeastern suburbs, peering out from behind …

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Deric Lostutter — the self-described Anonymous hacker who helped expose the Steubenville, Ohio rapists — faces a significant amount of prison time if convicted, but has a great deal of support. On Monday, activists delivered a petition with 200,000 to signatures to the U.S. Attorney’s office in Columbus, demanding that the case against Lostutter be dropped.

“I’m incredibly overwhelmed with love and honored that 200,000 people support me and also support Jane Doe,” Lostutter said in …

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As the trial of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the soldier who disclosed United States government information to WikiLeaks, enters its fourth week, the world’s focus is on NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and his travel to Ecuador, where he has requested asylum.

The developments around Snowden do not diminish the significance of Manning’s trial. If anything, it makes it even more critical to follow.

With that, here are some notable developments in the trial from last week that people …

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Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is being widely criticized for his behavior on Monday while Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg read the dissenting opinion on an employment harassment case; the associated Justice is widely reported to have rolled his eyes and shook his head “no” while Ginsburg — the second woman to serve on the high court and possessing more than a decade of experience on the bench — noted that the majority ruling on Vance …

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Given the British government’s approach to protecting the environment by trying to sell forests, culling badgers, and cutting environmental protection, the environment secretary’s enthusiastic embrace of the genetic modification (GM) lobby is rather predictable, but no less of a disappointment for that.

Some of my colleagues are still reeling that, with his views on climate change, Owen Paterson would see fit to lecture anyone about science – but as someone born and raised in Africa, I …

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