New Portal 2 video introduces British comedian Stephen Merchant (Extras, The Office) as the voice of Wheatley.

Plastic causes a trifecta of problems. We're running out of places to dump our non-biodegradable plastic waste and it's clogging up our oceans. Burning plastic releases tons of CO2 into the atmosphere contributing to global warming. And to make the stuff, it soaks up 7% of our annual petroleum use, an in demand, diminishing resource.Akinori Ito

Medical marijuana will soon be available in Germany, with the center-right coalition preparing to make major changes to the country's drug laws, a government health spokeswoman said this week.

In one of the first military commissions held under the Obama administration, a US military judge has ruled that confessions obtained by threatening the subject with rape are admissible in court.

How my G.O.P. destroyed the U.S. economy. Yes, that is exactly what David Stockman, President Ronald Reagan's director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed piece, 'Four Deformations of the Apocalypse.'

Small-brained human ancestors used stone tools to whack into large mammals 800,000 years earlier than previously thought.

For the first time in the United States, populations of genetically modified organisms were found to be growing in the wild in North Dakota.

There may be hope yet for the ludicrously long-in-the-making Duke Nukem Forever. Sources claiming to have knowledge of the situation tell Kotaku that Duke Nukem Forever development continues at a new home, Borderlands developer Gearbox Software.

TED Talks Speaking at the most recent EG conference, author, philosopher, prankster and journalist A.J. Jacobs talks about the year he spent living biblically -- following the rules in the Bible as literally as possible.

Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered the latest in a long list of chemicals your body naturally produces that resemble those found in marijuana -- chemicals they say could eventually be turned into a smokeless cannabis replacement that offers and increases the full efficacy of marijuana's most useful effects.

The current Republican Party, one hijacked by hustlers and extremists, not only looks to destroy President Obama. It even starts to kill its own. Rep. Bob Inglis, a voice of reason at a dumb, unreasonable time in American politics, is one of them.

Muslims have been praying inside the Pentagon since Sept. 11 but right-wingers have been strangely silent.

In Roseto, Pa., a carnival company closed down a shooter game called "Alien Attack," after complaints and news stories that President Obama was one of the targets. The black "alien leader" is holding a scroll titled "Health Bill" and wearing a presidential seal belt buckle. He also has antennae and a troll doll with a KISS T-shirt on his shoulder.

Thirty-four U.S. billionaires pledged Wednesday to give away at least 50 percent of their wealth to charity as part of a campaign by investor Warren Buffett and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

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Sen. Al Franken (D.-Minn.) told more than 2,000 bloggers and organizers attending the Netroots Nation conference in Las Vegas on July 24, 2010, that our media system is at risk everywhere we turn - from our free speech online to the growing power of companies who own a massive number of media outlets.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) joined the effort to persuade President Obama to appoint Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Bureau in an interview with the Huffington Post on Saturday.

Tobacco has dramatic negative consequences for those who smoke it. Comparable consequences would naturally be expected from cannabis smoking. A study was unable to demonstrate a cannabis smoke and lung cancer link, despite clearly demonstrating cannabis smoke-induced cellular damage

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