Thousands of Pacific walruses have come to shore off the northwest coast of Alaska in their earliest appearance since sea ice has substantially receded.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage received a report that several thousand walruses were gathered Tuesday on the barrier island off the coast of Point …

The heat wave that smashed high temperature records in five European countries a week ago is now over Greenland, accelerating the melting of the island’s ice sheet and causing massive ice loss in the Arctic.Greenland, the world’s largest island, is a semi-autonomous Danish territory between the Atlantic and Arctic oceans …

Leading U.N. agencies are urging governments to adopt family-friendly policies to encourage mothers to breastfeed their babies at home and at work. The World Health Organization and U.N. Children’s Fund say breastfed babies have the best chance of enjoying a healthy, productive life.Health experts agree both mothers and babies reap …

Divers and environmentalists found an unpleasant surprise in Aegean waters near Greece and are working to fix it.  What looked like colorful coral turned out to be a plastic wasteland, just one of many challenges delicate marine ecosystems face. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi dives in for a look. …

As the Ebola epidemic in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo enters its second year, experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) are voicing concern about the growing risk of the virus spreading to neighboring countries.Fears that the deadly Ebola virus could spread to Congo’s nine neighboring countries are growing …

Members of the LightSail 2 team declared their mission a success in a teleconference Wednesday. The citizen-funded spacecraft is the highest-performing solar sail to date and the first to demonstrate the ability to orbit Earth in a controlled way.    “This is a very exciting day for us, and for …

The Trump administration said Wednesday it will set up a system to allow Americans to legally import lower-cost prescription drugs from Canada, weakening a longstanding ban that had stood as a top priority for the politically powerful pharmaceutical industry.Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar made the announcement Wednesday morning. …

Lisa Schlein contributed to this report from Geneva.Officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo say the person who was confirmed as the second case of Ebola in the city of Goma has died.The announcement was made Wednesday, a day after the latest case was first revealed.The case involved a man …

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and his guest, director of the World Food Program David Beasley, planted tree seedlings on Tuesday in a salute to Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative, which seeks to combat climate change through mass tree planting. Volunteers in the Horn of Africa state planted 350 million trees …

VOA’s Lisa Schlein contributed to this report.Officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed a second case of the deadly Ebola virus in the city of Goma. Goma is home to more than a million people and lies directly on Congo’s border with Rwanda, where tens of thousands cross on …

The United Nations’ Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, reports an unprecedented number of children in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are being infected with Ebola and many are dying from this deadly disease.Children account for more than 700 of the 2,671 reported cases of Ebola. UNICEF health specialist Jerome Pfaffman …

The move to dismantle the Jason scientific panel follows other Trump administration efforts to abolish or delay the work of independent groups that have been a staple of the U.S. government for decades.U.S. officials say many panels simply add bureaucracy and costs. Opponents of the closures see the change as …

It’s 6 a.m on a chilly Johannesburg morning, and Luyanda Hlatshwayo is elbow-deep in a trash can, pulling out milk bottles, soda cans, the lid of a pot, a broken blender. His eyes light up as he hits pay dirt: a tranche of used white paper. Hlatshwayo, who is 35, has …

The deadliest time for many surgery patients isn’t when they’re on the operating table, it’s while they’re recovering in the hospital and after they go home, a new study suggests.For the study, researchers examined outcomes for more than 40,000 patients age 45 and older who underwent non-cardiac surgery at 28 …

Scientists warn the most effective drug used to treat malaria is becoming ineffective in parts of Southeast Asia — and unless rapid action is taken, it could lead to a global health emergency.Writing in the Lancet journal, researchers from Thailand’s Mahidol University and Britain’s Oxford University say parasites that carry malaria …

Tigers are one of the world’s endangered species.India, however, is working hard to change that classification for its national animal.In just four years, its tiger population has grown from 2,226 to 2,976.In 2010, India’s tiger population was down to 1,400.India is now one of the safest places in the world …

The U.N. World Food Program says it plans to double food rations to assist 440,000 people affected by the Ebola virus and their contacts over the next six months to respond to escalating needs in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The dramatic scale-up of food assistance is aimed at providing essential …

The World Health Organization (WHO) is urging nations to implement a series of cost-effective, anti-tobacco measures it says will help their populations quit smoking. A new WHO report found that progress in combating the tobacco epidemic and in reducing demand is being made, but not enough.A survey found 36 countries …

Two-month-old Lahya Kathembo became an orphan in a day. Her mother succumbed to Ebola on a Saturday morning. By sunset her father was dead, too.    They had been sick for more than a week before health workers finally persuaded them to seek treatment, neighbors said. They believed their illness …

The World Health Organization reports an experimental vaccine is saving lives and slowing the spread of the Ebola virus in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. But as the first anniversary of the Ebola epidemic nears, the WHO warns many challenges remain before the deadly disease is fully contained. More than 2,600 …

Malaria kills more than 400,000 people every year, but malaria prevention expert Dr. Paul Krezanoski says insecticide-treated bed nets can help reduce that number.Estimates from 2000 to 2015 show the mortality rate from malaria dropping by about half, Krezanoski said, adding that “about 60% of that improvement might be due …

The thigh bone of a giant dinosaur was found this week by French paleontologists at an excavation site in southwestern France where remains of some of the largest animals that ever lived on land have been dug up since 2010.The two-meter long femur at the Angeac-Charente site is thought to …

American cities including Atlanta, Miami and New Orleans that set goals to slash planet-warming greenhouse emissions are lacking the data to measure their progress, scientists said in a new report.Some 40% of U.S. cities that committed to cutting emissions are unable to assess their programs because costly tallies of their …

The first fungal disease linked to rising global temperatures may have emerged, suggests a study published in the scientific journal mBio.    Though only 715 people in the United States have contracted the new fungal infection so far, scientists say it may be an indication of what’s to come.    Three unrelated …

Claude Mabowa Sasi had lost his mother, a brother and a sister to Ebola. Instead of fearing death when he, too, was diagnosed with the disease, the young man had a different worry: How would he complete his college entrance exams?It had been his mother’s greatest hope that Mabowa would …