Latest Articles

In New Legal Initiative Against Cheese Maker, FDA Seeks Oversight Over Entirely Local Operation

At first glance, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s two-year legal assault on Estrella Family Creamery in Washington state appears entirely vindictive. The FDA seems intent on using its enormous enforcement powers to cruelly stomp on and obliterate a tiny business that serves as the livelihood of the Estrella family, and a source of eating […]

Tropical Storm Isaac scrambles GOP plans, heads directly for New Orleans

The most recent prediciton for Tropical Storm Isaac shows that it's due to hit New Orleans on the seventh anniversary of Katrina's landfall.

Threatened sea lions are being killed off to save threatened fish

This is a pretty complicated Sophie’s Choice-esque eco-problem brewing in the Columbia River at the base of the Bonneville Dam, in the Pacific Northwest. California sea lions are protected. But they eat Chinook salmon and steelhead, which are also protected. So, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has given the states of Washington and Oregon permission to […]

Cuts to food stamps will hit red state residents hardest

The states with the highest hunger rates include the GOP strongholds of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennesee, West Virginia, and Louisiana.

Ask Umbra: My dog’s pee pads are breaking my heart

A reader wants to find a sustainable alternative to her dog's disposable pee pads. Umbra sniffs around for an answer.

Monsanto’s 10 most misleading talking points on GMO labeling

The biotech giant will go to great lengths to spin the story on GMO labeling, even if that means making claims it can't support.

Two ways to concentrate and save tomatoes

Have a bunch of tomatoes lying around? Lucky you! Here are two delicious ways to make them last.

An oceanographer, a marine chemist, and a couple of geologists walk into a bar …

The Slow Ride Stories gang descends on the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in search of a punchline for this joke -- and a few answers to life's persistent questions.

Prescription for healthier humans: More time at the park

The average boy partakes in two minutes of “vigorous activity” each day. The average girl, just one minute. The solution is right down the street.

Black licorice recalled for containing lead, tasting disgusting

To be fair, not all black licorice contains lead. Just some. It is all disgusting, though.