Shannon Pettypiece In a small laboratory housed in a biotech incubator 90 minutes east of New York City are six bins tightly packed with sealed plastic bags of men’s dress shirts, sheets, and tufts of cotton ready to be spun into yarn. The materials are waiting to be DNA-tested with the same rigor you’d find in an FBI crime lab. But rather than seeking clues in a murder, the forensic scientists at biotech company Applied DNA Sciences are looking for a unique DNA stamp in the fibers to see whether the textiles are, in fact, made of the premium cotton their labels claim. The products have been

CONSIDER THE TOMATO: EASY TO grow, healthy to eat, tasty in just about any recipe and pleasant to look at. And come late summer, in steady supply. Though you can find a stalwart plum variety in produce bins during the coldest winter months, August is the tomato’s season to shine. Farmers’ markets and grocery stores are bursting with lesser-known but arguably more-flavorful varieties, including punch-colored cherries and big-mac heirlooms. “Heirlooms ripened on the vine are the tastiest of all tomatoes,” says Amy Goldman Fowler, author of The Heirloom Tomato. “I think their beauty is more than

Pixabay Wouldn't it be nice? A lot of things can go wrong in the garden. Some seeds just won’t sprout. A plant’s leaves droop and turn colors they shouldn’t. Thankfully, inventive people are starting to tackle this problem, manipulating hot tech to help you keep things...less dead. Don't fret about the color of your thumb; this stuff will bring you a few steps closer to becoming the 21st century's Frederick Law Olmsted (or whatever landscape architect inspires you). Amazon A helpful gardening book Start off small. Teeny Tiny Gardening by Emma Hardy features 35 small-scale gardening projects to