For more than a year, the three entrepreneurs behind Hummingbird Technologies have been working to perfect a device to take the guesswork out of growing plants.

The result of that effort is Nectar, a system that its creators say provides the ideal environment for gardening, albeit on a small scale.

Nectar is 4 feet tall, 18 inches wide and 20 inches long, and can easily fit in a kitchen. It does not require soil or water, but uses a nutrient solution that can be purchased online or in gardening shops. The enclosure is controlled by a smartphone application that allows users to adjust humidity, pH levels, temperature and lighting based on the type of plant being grown.

Former NFL star Ricky Williams is featured in an upcoming SI Films production in which he discusses his experience with marijuana use and his support for legalization.

The exclusive film and accompanying exclusive longform special, written by SI’s Greg Bishop, will debut on SI.com on Wednesday, July 13.

The film, “Ricky Williams Takes the High Road,” is the first in-depth look at Williams’s life today, five years after his NFL career ended. He reflects on his clashes with the NFL drug testing program, his support of marijuana as a medicinal tool in the NFL and the anguish he felt as his image was tarnished because of his public support of the drug.

The official name of Amendment 64, the ballot initiative that legalized recreational marijuana in Colorado, was the “Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol”.

Amendment 64 was passed in 2012 with 55 percent of the vote (66 percent in Boulder County), and legal marijuana became a reality in Colorado on January 1, 2014. But the regulatory regime that has been applied to marijuana is far more severe than anything alcohol has been subjected to.

If there’s any doubt on this point, try this thought experiment: Think what obtaining booze would be like if instead of marijuana being regulated like alcohol, alcohol were regulated like marijuana.

Smoking marijuana may change the way people's brains respond to certain rewards, such as the prospect of winning some money, according to a new study.

In the study, participants played a game in which they could win a small amount of money. The researchers found that the brains of people who smoked marijuana did not respond to the idea of winning the money as strongly as did the brains of people who did not use the drug.

Colorado's green goldrush is turning into something of a bummer for some would-be marijuana-growing mavens, as an oversupply of pot is causing wholesale pound prices for the state's booming recreational market to drop dramatically. But with retail prices not following suit, it's pot shops, not consumers, who are making bank on the price drop.

The wholesale price is the price paid to growers by pot shops, edibles manufacturers and others.

According to Cannabase, an online wholesale marketplace, the average monthly asking price per pound for wholesale buds has declined by a full third so far this year. In January, the average price was $2,106 per pound; by June, it was $1,402.

Pot brownies may be a fun weekend treat for you, but for your dog they could be deadly. 

More "pot dogs" who've eaten raw marijuana buds, or pot edibles made with green butter like brownies, are visiting Chicago's animal emergency rooms, experts say. And as marijuana legalization becomes more common, vets are seeing more pot-sick dogs than ever. 

When dogs ingest marijuana, they typically become lethargic, have breathing problems and have trouble walking. The smaller the animal (and the more marijuana they ingest), the more severe the symptoms, including seizures.

Ultra Health, a national provider for the healthcare cannabis industry with operations and facilities in Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico, and retail dispensaries to commercial-scale cannabis production in New Mexico and Las Vegas, has become the title sponsor for the Gathering of Nations Pow wow for 2017.

In addition to the sponsorship, the official name of the event will be the "Ultra Health - Gathering of Nations." 

This marks the first time a medical cannabis company has sponsored such an event. Ultra Health has agreed to the title sponsorship for the next five years and holds an option to consider sponsorship through 2027.

Google — the major online search engine, advertising platform, and creator of the Android mobile operating system — may be eyeing ways to involve itself with the cannabis industry, according to a report by Marijuana Business Daily‘s Omar Sacirbey.

With its “Stay True to You” campaign released today, Oregon’s state health agency has done what few nonprofits and government agencies have ever done: created a youth cannabis prevention campaign that’s not entirely embarrassing. 

The $4 million campaign, funded by state cannabis tax revenue, uses a combination of adult testimonials, facts about teen brain development, and warnings that younger siblings will emulate their older brothers and sisters. You can watch a couple examples here and here. 

There have been several anecdotal reports of cannabis curing cancer. But less discussion has been publicized about cannabis curing Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel and gut diseases that are considered incurable by mainstream medicine.

Perhaps the most dramatic story has a woman named Shona Banda at its center. Shona was severely stricken with Crohn’s. She was bedridden, and whatever she managed to eat didn’t provide nutrition because her gastrointestinal tract simply wouldn’t absorb nutrients.

She was losing weight and began suffering from cachexia, a wasting away that accompanies chronic disease. Told after several surgeries and stacks of pharmaceutical medications there was nothing more that could be done for her, she was waiting to die.