Government health officials say there have been 971 cases of measles in the United States so far this year, the most cases since 1994, when there were 963 cases for the entire year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday if current outbreaks in and around New York …

The Trump administration is committed to making fossil fuels cleaner rather than imposing “draconian” regulations on coal and oil, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Thursday at an energy conference in Salt Lake City. Perry previously said the administration wants to spend $500 million next year on fossil fuel research …

NBCUniversal and WarnerMedia on Thursday joined a wave of U.S. media companies, including Walt Disney Co, saying they will reconsider working in Georgia if a new law banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected takes effect. Georgia is one of nine U.S. states that have passed strict new …

The World Health Organization warns that more than 40 percent of smokers globally die from lung diseases, such as cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and tuberculosis. The warning comes ahead of World No Tobacco Day this Friday, with the theme being, “Don’t let tobacco take your breath away.” The World Health …

The World Health Organization says success in ending the Ebola epidemic in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo hinges upon improving security in North Kivu and Ituri provinces. The region has been engulfed in conflict for many years, and many locals do not trust outsiders, even the ones trying to stop …

Whether you live in a city of somewhere more rural, there are always things in the air, invisible to the naked eye that could make you sneeze or cause major illness. Detecting these microscopic materials such as pollen, mold and pollutants could be time consuming and costly. A lab at …

Roberta Boltz keeps her doors unlocked at night. The former coal mine worker says it is just one perk of living in the small Pennsylvania town of Hegins. But last Christmas morning, she had her first epileptic seizure, and her only worry about rural life took center stage: access to …

A civil lawsuit brought by the state of Oklahoma against drugmaker Johnson & Johnson went to trial Tuesday over the company’s alleged role in the U.S. opioid epidemic.  The first-of-its-kind trial, which holds opioid manufacturers responsible for the drug crisis gripping the country, could have a large impact on other …

A joint rapid response team of experts from the United States and the U.N. World Health Organization arrived in Pakistan Tuesday to support the response to the country’s “biggest” outbreak of HIV infections in a southern district where more than 700 people, mostly children, have been diagnosed over the past …

The idea of pumping excess carbon emissions underground has been around for a while. As the process gets cheaper and more practical scientists are testing new ways to lock away their greenhouse gases. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Overfishing in Senegal is crippling a once-prodigious artisanal industry long relied on to help feed the West African nation’s population. Moreover, this crisis is happening at a time when climate change is reducing the amount of food grown on land. To learn more, VOA’s Salwa Jaafari met with traditional fishermen …

A fluffy pink fungus that decorates itself with gold nanoparticles has been found in Western Australia. Researchers believe the fungus is an indicator of gold deposits and hope the discovery will help miners narrow down where to dig. Scientists in Australia have found a fungus that can bond with gold …

New discoveries about what is inside the body are making scientists rethink what makes a person human and what makes people sick or healthy. Less than half of the cells in the body are human. The rest belong to microorganisms that affect the health, mood and whether certain people respond …

New discoveries are making scientists rethink what makes us human, and even why we get sick and how to stay healthy. Research estimates that we’re only about 43% human. The rest are microorganisms that affect health, mood and how you respond to medication. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee visited a lab at …

The world’s coral reefs host an astounding amount of the ocean’s biodiversity, but warming waters are putting them at risk around the world. Now a group of Australian scientists is searching for corals that can thrive in warm, acidic waters. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

The United Nations has drawn up new measures to strengthen its response to the Ebola epidemic in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and put an end to the spread of this deadly virus, which already has claimed more than 1200 lives. The plan is top-heavy with senior officials who will …

U.S. regulators have approved the most expensive medicine ever, for a rare disorder that destroys a baby’s muscle control and kills nearly all of those with the most common type of the disease within a couple of years.      The treatment is priced at $2.125 million. Out-of-pocket costs for patients …

A SpaceX rocket has launched 60 satellites into orbit, which will be used to provide internet service from space.  The rocket was launched Thursday night from Cape Canaveral in the southeastern U.S. state of Florida.  It had been originally scheduled to launch last week, but was postponed because of high …

Thousands of school students in Australia and New Zealand took to the streets Friday, initiating an international day of protests against the lack of action against climate change. Organizers expect that more than a million young people in at least 120 counties will participate in protests. Demonstrators are demanding that …

Anna, a female green anaconda that has lived most of her life in an all-female enclosure at the New England Aquarium, has given birth. The anaconda produced 18 snakes in early January. A DNA test has confirmed that the births were a result of a nonsexual reproduction process known as …

Chile’s 12,000 square kilometer (4,633 square mile) Southern Patagonia Ice Field split in two and is likely to continue to fracture amid climate change, according to a team of Chilean scientists who were in the region in March. Gino Casassa, chief of the Snow and Glacier Division of Chile’s DGA …

East African countries are set to ban skin-lightening products that contain hydroquinone, a medical agent linked to health problems when used in high concentrations. The East African Legislative Assembly last week passed a resolution calling for a region-wide ban on the manufacturing and importation of products containing hydroquinone. At a …

The World Health Organization has certified Algeria and Argentina as malaria-free, following three consecutive years where no new cases of the deadly disease have been reported.  The malaria parasite, which kills more than 400,000 people each year, was discovered in Algeria in 1880. Most of the victims are children under …

Every year, 8 million tons of waste suffocate beaches and sea beds, says Italy’s environment league, Legambiente. Its Beach Litter report issued this week revealed that more than 80 percent of the waste found on 93 beaches was plastic.    A mass cleanup is planned next weekend, involving thousands of …

People using e-cigarettes to quit smoking are about 95% more likely to report success than those trying to quit without help from any stop-smoking aids according to the results of a large study in England. The research, funded by the charity Cancer Research UK and published in the journal Addiction …