The EPA and religious groups join forces to prevent food waste. Five planets become at once visible for view in the skies of the northern hemisphere. And a study refutes claims of health issues related to Gardasil. It's Earthy Thursday, our weekly segment on science and Earth-related news! All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

The EPA and religious groups might not naturally seems like great allies, but they've come together recently to try and combat an environmental problem facing much of America: the issue of food waste. You can learn more about their plans to reduce food waste here, at Grist.

We all know that alcohol, in excess, can be bad for you. But did ancient alcohol actually help improve the health of our forebears? That's the argument now being made in the light of evidence uncovered that connects ancient Chinese beer to traditional medicine.

The deep sea has sometimes been described as something like another world. You can see that world come alive in part thanks to photos taken by the prize-winning photographers covered over at Live Science.

A planetary alignment is beautiful to behold. An alignment that features all five of the planet visible to the naked eye? That's extraordinary. But that's what's happening in the last few days of January and will happen again later this August.

Despite the overwhelming evidence that vaccines are not only safe but beneficial to public health, many continue to oppose them. Yet another erroneous claim about vaccines, regarding Gardasil, the vaccine used to prevent HPV, a sexually transmitted disease which can cause cancer, is reported on here at Bad Astronomy.