Safety in numbers: Storing food in plastic. Plastic and Teflon have been godsends to cooks, domestic or otherwise, for more than a half century, but both have fallen under suspicion in recent years. [News Source]

Jackson Lab gets $15m in funding. The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor has been awarded more than $15 million in federal grant funding to advance the science of "systems genetics" - studying the mouse genome in a way that will help scientists understand the interplay between genetics and the environment. [News Source]

Gold-diggers leave worries behind. The lives of 50,000 mostly impoverished people living in the catchment of the Ok Tedi copper and gold mine have changed forever because of the environmental impact of the mines. [News Source]

Chemical reaction. A new study could cast doubt over claims that Halton's shocking cancer death rate is the result of unhealthy lifestyles and not chemical contamination in the ground, air and water. [News Source]

B.C.’s power is ‘running short’. A 20-year plan for moving B.C. Hydro back to a position of independence from imports could mean a new coal-fired generation plant is on the horizon. [News Source]

Govt may help victims of Kanemi oil poisoning. The ruling coalition is considering submitting a draft bill to the current Diet session that would provide the first public aid to victims of the country's worst case of food poisoning. [News Source]

Scans show different growth for intelligent brains. The brains of highly intelligent children develop in a different pattern from those with more average abilities, researchers have found after analyzing a series of imaging scans collected over 17 years. [News Source]

Smoking’s still bad for you. Every few weeks we get a story that upends everything you were told last year. The only item that never gets its properties revised is the humble cigarette. [News Source]

Study: Soy nutrient reduces obesity risk. Duke University scientists say a soy product nutrient changes embryonic gene behavior, permanently reducing the risk of becoming obese later in life. [News Source]

Carcinogen in some sodas. Some leading public-health experts want education officials to ban certain soft drinks from public schools until they're proved safe and free of the cancer-causing chemical benzene. [News Source]

Omega-3 bacon: Right - when pigs fly. In what may be the nutritional equivalent of making a silk purse out of a sow's ear, scientists have cloned pigs that produce heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids. [News Source]

Preschool diet linked to later breast cancer risk. The diet of preschoolers may influence the risk of breast cancer during adulthood, according to a Boston-based group of investigators. [News Source]