A spate of new studies suggests vitamin D offers health benefits far beyond strengthening bones. Researchers report that “the sunshine vitamin” may cut cancer risks and help the immune system fight infections. Together these studies raise the possibility that a brief daily dose of sun combined with a vitamin D supplement could help stave off everything from breast cancer to the flu.

In the U.S., the deadliest air pollution is not being regulated or
even measured as it kills tens of thousands of people each year.

The culprit is the smallest particles of airborne soot, known as
"ultrafines," which are emitted routinely by diesel engines,
automotive traffic, garbage incinerators, and power plants burning
coal, oil, natural gas. and biomass.[1,2]

It has been snowing in the Four Corners region of the Navajo Nation, near Burnham, New Mexico, where Navajo grandmothers and youth are camped out in the desert, protesting a proposed 1500-megawatt coal- burning power plant. (See photos here and listen here.) The plant would be built by Sithe Global Power of Houston, Tex., and co-owned by the Dine' Power Authority, a Navajo tribal enterprise. In the Navajo language, dine' means roughly "the people."

The European Parliament passed historic legislation in December that requires companies to prove that the chemicals they use in everyday products are safe. The new measures follow the Precautionary Principle by putting the burden of proof on industry rather than the public.