Memorial Day serves as the unofficial start of summer for most of America, with many trekking out to the beach and soaking up some sun. Here at Wonkblog, we’re taking a different sort of trip: a journey through the science of a visit to the beach. It’s not quite seaside reading, but scientists have learned a decent amount about how we change when we’re close to water. So, without further ado, here are a few of their most choice findings. Read full article > >

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A shark attack probably won’t kill you, and other lessons from the science of the beach

The co-chair of the Conservative Party is involved in a dispute over whether she paid rent while staying at a house in London, for which she claimed expenses.

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Labour urges Warsi expenses probe

As more vacation-home owners have entered the rental business, with help from Web sites, the competition for tenants has become fierce.

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The Summer Rental Rat Race

London’s skyline would look very different today if some of the plans for towers and skyscrapers that have been proposed in the past had been built.

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VIDEO: The skyscrapers London never saw

Three children — all apparently 3 years old or younger — were found in a shed among a group of homeless people. Police in Oregon now say they located the mother.

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Mom of 3 kids abandoned in shed found

TIANJIN, China — Few temples to conspicuous consumption are as quirky as the Florentia Village, a sprawling “authentic Italian luxury outlet center” on the outskirts of China’s northern city of Tianjin that boasts its own ersatz Colosseum. Read full article > >

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Chinese urged to spend more, save less

Shafilea Ahmed’s sister tells a court it was a “relief” to tell police after seven years that her parents had murdered the teenager.

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Shafilea sister talks of ‘relief’

Shafilea Ahmed’s sister breaks down in tears as she tells a court how the schoolgirl gasped for air as their parents suffocated her.

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Shafilea Ahmed ‘gasped for air’

Researchers find that ground-dwelling invertebrates such as harvestmen and beetles preferentially live near street lights, even during the day.

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Street lights ‘changing ecology’

During a recent online discussion, lots of people had questions about student loan debt. Here are my answers to a couple I didn’t get a chance to address. One person wanted to know whether when carrying student loan debt — in this case at 7 percent — you should dip into your savings to pay it off. The reader wrote: “The debt would be paid off in a year at my current payment rate. Since the interest rate is so high, I’d like to raid my savings to just be rid of it. My job is stable, so otherwise I’d keep my savings just in case I had a car repair, a needed new roof, etc. What do you think?” Read full article > >

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Student loans require homework

Have new methods left parents out in the cold?

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Are parents left out of maths teaching?

Parents need to do more to stop children spending too much time in front of televisions, computers and smartphones, according to a psychologist.

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Warning over child ‘screen time’

Recall the reasons for the current euro panic: Greece is getting bailed out and, in return, it’s supposed to cut spending and raise taxes even further. But Greek voters don’t enjoy this austerity and are rebelling against politicians who agree to the deal. So Germany’s now hinting that Greece might get booted from the euro. Disaster, right? Read full article > >

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Perhaps Greece won’t leave the euro, after all

Now, yet more evidence that children’s health is in dire need of attention: A new study released today shows that almost a quarter of teens have diabetes or prediabetes. Almost a quarter. That’s up from 9 percent a decade ago, according to a study in the June 2012 issue of Pediatrics, published online today. Read full article > >

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Nearly a quarter of teens diabetic or prediabetic, report says

South Korea urges North Korea to follow a ‘different path to peace’ at the start of talks with the US and Japan, amid fears of a third nuclear test.

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S Korea urges North on ‘new path’