Earth’s glaciers are melting much faster than scientists thought. A new study shows they are losing 369 billion tons of snow and ice each year, more than half of that in North America. The most comprehensive measurement of glaciers worldwide found that thousands of inland masses of snow compressed into …

Venom from a dangerous spider could give stroke patients a better chance of survival, according to Australian biochemists. A bite from the Fraser Island funnel-web spider can kill a person in 15 minutes, but its venom could be used to develop a drug to prevent brain damage. Scientists say the …

U.S. measles cases are continuing to jump, and most of the reported illnesses are in children. Health officials say 465 measles cases have been reported this year, as of last week. That’s up from 387 the week before. The numbers are preliminary. The 2019 tally is already the most since …

When the weather turns cold and stormy around Cape Cod, it’s common for some sea turtles to get stranded in the choppy waters and end up on the areas beaches. But the numbers of turtles getting beached has been going up dramatically every year, and that’s worrying local scientists. VOA’s …

Ever since Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in 1818, the world has been fascinated with the idea of creating life in a lab. But it remained in the realm of fiction… until it became a bit closer to reality with genetic engineering work in a Swiss lab. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. scientists warn that a growing number of patients in Venezuela are getting vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, diphtheria and polio. One of the main hospitals at the Colombia-Venezuelan border says it’s seeing more people who need treatment. Cristina Caicedo Smit has the …

Tens of thousands of people demonstrated Saturday in several Swiss cities against climate change, the Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS reported.    Around 50,000 marched in all, the news agency estimated, including 15,000 in Zurich and up to 9,000 in the capital, Bern, and in Lausanne.    “It’s about knowing if finally we want …

Belize approved a plan Friday to set aside 10 percent of its territorial waters as a protected area, tripling the size of existing reserves in the world’s second largest barrier reef, according to an environmental group. The major expansion of the small Caribbean island’s protected areas follows a six-year effort …

Japan’s space agency said its Hayabusa2 spacecraft successfully dropped an explosive designed to make a crater on an asteroid and collect its underground samples to find possible clues to the origin of the solar system. Friday’s crater mission is the riskiest for Hayabusa2, as it had to immediately get away …

U.S. health officials say that between January and March, 387 cases of measles have been reported in 15 states, exceeding the count for all of last year. In 2018, 372 cases were reported, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Public health authorities worry about outbreaks in communities …

The U.N. Children’s Fund says climate change in Bangladesh is threatening the lives and futures of 19 million children or one-third of all children under age 18 in the country. The report forecasts a grim future for millions of children who live in Bangladesh’s flood- and drought-prone lowlands in the …

New data finds women everywhere live on average 4.4 years longer than men because they see the doctor more frequently and generally take better care of their health. While women outlive men around the world, the World Health Organization’s Statistics Overview 2019 says their life expectancy is sharply reduced because …

Global life expectancy grew by 5.5 years between 2000 and 2016, the World Health Organization said Thursday, warning though that unequal income and access to healthcare translates into far shorter lives for many. The U.N. health agency also stressed significant gender differences in life expectancy worldwide. On average, a child …

Britain’s Prince Charles and his two sons William and Harry were due to attend the world premiere of the Netflix television series “Our Planet” on Thursday to underline the royal family’s support for action against climate change. British naturalist David Attenborough, 92, who narrates the series, was hosting the event …

One in five deaths globally is linked to poor diet, experts said in a study released Thursday, warning that overconsumption of sugar, salt and meat was killing millions of people every year.    The United Nations estimates that nearly 1 billion people worldwide are malnourished, while nearly 2 billion are …

Spain’s health minister called on Wednesday for so-called conversion therapy to be abolished after a report that a branch of the Catholic Church had offered to “cure” gay people. El Diario, an online newspaper, said a reporter posing as a gay man trying to change his sexuality was told to …

Boeing’s new space capsule for astronauts faces more launch delays. The Starliner capsule was supposed to make its debut this month, after a series of postponements. But the first test flight is now off until August. And the second test flight, with astronauts, won’t occur until late in the year. …

A quarter of the world’s health facilities lack basic water services, impacting 2 billion people, the United Nations said on Wednesday, warning that unhygienic conditions could fuel the global rise of deadly superbugs. In the poorest countries, about half of facilities do not have basic water services — meaning water …

Scientists working on developing vaccines against Ebola have found they can “harvest” antibodies from volunteers vaccinated in research trials and use them to make treatments for the deadly viral infection. In a study published Tuesday in the journal Cell Reports, the scientists said the approach could be used for Ebola …

Death rates from prostate cancer — the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men — have stabilized or declined in dozens of countries since the turn of the century, the American Cancer Society reported Tuesday. In 33 of 44 countries surveyed, the incidence of prostate cancer had stabilized in the last …

When Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey introduced their Green New Deal resolution, Markey said it would be “the greatest blue-collar job creation program in a generation.” President Donald Trump, on the other hand, said it would “put millions of Americans out of work.” Battle lines have been drawn …

Vegetarian patties have long been available to Americans seeking healthier alternatives to hamburgers. Mainstream fast food chains also have been looking for healthier alternatives that would not compromise on flavor. Burger King teamed with California-based Impossible Foods to create a meatless hamburger that would taste as good as its world …

New York will become the first U.S. city to impose congestion pricing, seen as a key weapon against global warming, following lawmakers’ approval on Monday of a state budget to fund the plan. Drivers will have to pay to drive in busy midtown Manhattan, one of the city’s five boroughs, …

People with rare cancers have been out of luck — not only do most lack good treatments, but drug companies also don’t pursue them because of small potential sales. Now, a federal study that pools these folks gives them strength in numbers and new options. The first results from this …

A 61-year-old Nebraska woman who served as a surrogate mother for her son and his husband has given birth to a baby girl. Matthew Eledge and Elliot Dougherty were talking about becoming parents when Eledge’s mother and Dougherty’s sister offered to help. Cecile Eledge was 60 at the time and …