Bill Gates: can we have an honest conversation about GMOs?

Some of the world's most powerful figures tout the benefits of GMOs, writes Stacy Malkan, but what's the real story? Facts on the ground expose the PR spin, half truths and outright propaganda that has come to dominate a public conversation that is not so much about engineering genes, but engineering truth for the benefit of multinational corporations.

The food industry's fight to stop Vermont from labeling genetically engineered foods is heading to the floor of the US Senate.

There’s No Guarantee That Genetic Tests Are Accurate

Actor Mark Ruffalo Calls Out Monsato: You Are Poisoning People

It’s not an ordinary routine in which someone gets to meet the head of Monsanto, therefore, Mark Ruffalo was aware and knew he had to take advantage of speaking up for millions when he addressed the company’s CEO, Hugh Grant.

Before a segment for the movie Spotlight with Mike Rezendes, Ruffalo was in the green room watching Grant on screen giving “slippery non-answer[s] to every question he was asked.”

That’s according to James Clapper, U.S. director of national intelligence, who on Tuesday, in the annual worldwide threat assessment report of the U.S. intelligence community, added gene editing to a list of threats posed by “weapons of mass destruction and proliferation.”

Is the fog a source of drought relief?

As California faces unprecedented drought, people are finding ways to conserve water. Some methods—installing graywater systems or water-efficient appliances—are expensive and labor-intensive.

Enter fog catchers, a low-impact, low-tech system that requires no pumps or electricity, is easy to set up and has minimal equipment requirements. For as little as $75 (or as much as $200), you can have your own fog catcher.

International Scientists Appeal to U.N. to Protect Humans and Wildlife from Electromagnetic Fields and Wireless Technology

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today 190 scientists from 39 nations submitted an appeal to the United Nations, UN member states and the World Health Organization (WHO) requesting they adopt more protective exposure guidelines for electromagnetic fields (EMF) and wireless technology in the face of increasing evidence of risk. These exposures are a rapidly growing form of environmental pollution worldwide.

To the chagrin of New Mexico’s public health authorities, the rate at which parents are seeking exemptions from vaccinations in Los Alamos is three times the state rate. Los Alamos, home to the Los Alamos National Laboratory, is one of only two places in the U.S. that undertakes classified work in nuclear design. That makes Los Alamos one of the most scientifically literate communities in the world and an embarrassment to the state’s public health establishment, which thinks these scientists should know better.

Family Health Freedom Network

Contrary to popular belief, the marijuana plant is a whole lot more than just a psychoactive drug that “stoners” use to get high. In raw form, marijuana leaves and buds are actually loaded with a non-psychoactive, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer nutrient compound known as cannabidiol (CBD) that is proving to be a miracle “superfood” capable of preventing and reversing a host of chronic illnesses.

Though you may not have heard much about it, the CBD found in the marijuana plant — marijuana is technically just a vegetable, by the way — is a highly medicinal substance with unique immune-regulating capabilities. Since the human body already contains a built-in endogenous cannabinoid system, complete with cannabinoid receptors, inputting CBD from marijuana can help normalize the body’s functional systems, including cell communication and proper immune function.

The way CBDs work is that they bridge the gap of neurotransmission in the central nervous system, including in the brain, by providing a two-way system of communication that completes a positive “feedback loop,” according to Dr. William Courtney, a medical marijuana expert and founder of Cannabis International. As opposed to a one-way transmission, which can promote chronic inflammation of healthy tissue, the unique two-way transmission system engaged by marijuana CBDs mimics the body’s own natural two-way communications system.

Indiegogo

Sagle, Idaho,

Solar panels that you can drive, park, and walk on. They melt snow and... cut greenhouse gases by 75-percent?!!!

Techcrunch

Posted yesterday by Ryan Lawler (@ryanlawler)

Here’s an idea crazy enough that it just might work: Pave the streets with solar-powered panels that have their own built-in heat and LED lights. That’s what Scott and Julie Brusaw hope to accomplish with their ongoing Solar Roadways project, which they just funded through a hugely popular crowdfunding campaign.

The husband-and-wife team has spent the better part of the last decade developing solar-powered modular panels that could be installed in roadways and parking lots, and would be able to collect power from the sun. Those panels could also keep streets clear of snow and ice, while illuminating them with LEDs.

Rather than paving streets and driveways with asphalt, the Solar Roadways panels would theoretically be able to decrease our nation’s dependence on fossil fuels by generating massive amounts of clean energy. Panels are made from ruggedized glass and connect to one another through a mesh network, so that even if one panel fails the system will notify repair crews that it needs to be replaced.