March 22 is the annual observance of World Water Day. This year’s theme is “No One Left Behind.” But according to a report from UNICEF and the World Health Organization, nearly a billion people today live without access to clean drinking water. Arash Arabasadi reports. …

Hurricanes Florence and Michael, which caused widespread death and destruction in the United States last year, have earned the dubious distinction of having their names retired.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Wednesday that the two names will be replaced with Francine and Milton, starting with the 2024 hurricane …

Tuberculosis has plagued humans for thousands of years and continues to do so. In advance of this year’s World TB Day, March 24, the World Health Organization is issuing a call to action to eradicate the disease by 2030.   As part of these efforts, the WHO is launching an …

NASA’s plan to scoop up dirt and gravel from an asteroid has hit a snag, but scientists say they can overcome it. The asteroid Bennu was thought to have wide, open areas suitable for the task. But a recently arrived spacecraft revealed the asteroid is covered with boulders and there …

It would be irresponsible for any scientist to conduct human gene-editing studies in people, and a central registry of research plans should be set up to ensure transparency, World Health Organization experts said Tuesday. After its first two-day meeting in Geneva, the WHO panel of gene-editing experts — which was …

A Chinese national has been sentenced to 18 months in a U.S. prison in connection with a scheme to sell mislabeled dietary supplements to U.S. companies.  Xu Jia Bao, an executive with Shanghai Waseta International Trade Co., was also sentenced to one year of probation for selling synthetic stimulant ingredients …

In every generation, young people have led movements for social change. Some were successful, others were not. The latest student movement to make headlines began last year, as students skipped classes on Fridays to pressure world leaders to take action on climate. Their coordinated global protest this past Friday was …

Chimpanzees are second only to humans as the most complex and diverse of the large primates. But a new report from a large group of scientists including the Wildlife Conservation Society, say that humans are threatening the culture of our closest cousins. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Yogita has to fetch water up to six times a day – sometimes going out in the middle of the night – from a hand pump about half a kilometer from her house in India’s Madhya Pradesh state, leaving her baby son with a neighbor. In the summer, her husband …

Japan’s space agency said Monday that its Hayabusa2 spacecraft will follow up last month’s touchdown on a distant asteroid with another risky mission — to drop an explosive to make a crater and collect underground samples to get possible clues to the origin of the solar system. Hayabusa2 made history …

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Paris over the weekend to demand action on climate change. The initiative started with a 16-year-old Swedish girl and ballooned to what environmental groups called the “March of the Century” in France. Arash Arabasadi reports. …

A new test can quickly identify preeclampsia, a common and dangerous condition during pregnancy and help keep mothers and babies healthy and safe. When Jessi Prizinsky was pregnant with her first child, her feet started swelling. “Well, you hear, everybody tell you, you know, the swollen ankles, and get your …

A new test can quickly identify a common and dangerous condition during pregnancy and help keep mothers and babies healthy and safe. VOA’s Carol Pearson has more. …

As climate change heats up, we can expect more extreme weather events, more hurricanes and droughts over time. But small flooding events will also become more common, and while not catastrophic, according to a new report, these events are taking a toll on some local communities. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

They’re angry at their elders, and they’re not taking it sitting down. Students worldwide are skipping class Friday to take to the streets to protest their governments’ failure to take sufficient action against global warming. The coordinated “school strikes,” being held from the South Pacific to the edge of the …

They’re angry at their elders, and they’re not taking it sitting down. Students worldwide are planning to skip class Friday and take to the streets to protest their governments’ failure to take sufficient action against global warming. The coordinated ‘school strike’ was inspired by 16-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who …

Oil is everywhere in Oklahoma, says local student Luke Kerr. But that has not deterred him from planning a protest calling for its phasing out in the state’s capital city on Friday – mirroring similar events due to be staged around the world by students skipping school. “It is very …

The death rate among women undergoing a C-section to deliver a baby is about 50 times higher in Africa than in most wealthy nations, researchers said Friday. One in 200 women dies during or soon after a cesarean in a sampling of nearly 3,700 births across 22 African countries, they …

The World Health Organization (WHO) chief says the Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) can be brought to an end in six months, if everything goes as planned.  Latest figures from the DRC Ministry of Health put the number of Ebola cases at 927, including 584 …

Sickle cell anemia afflicts many millions of people across the globe, mostly of African heritage and including some 100,000 African Americans in the United States. Now, researchers believe they may have discovered an effective treatment for the painful and debilitating disease. Faith Lapidus reports. …

A new study is warning patients that if they feel worse after taking a new medication, it might not be because of the drug but rather an inactive ingredient in it.     The report published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine says medications often contain “inactive” ingredients that can cause allergic reactions or …

U.S. health regulators are moving ahead with a plan designed to keep e-cigarettes out of the hands of teenagers by restricting sales of most flavored products in convenience stores and online.   The new guidelines, first proposed in November, are the latest government effort to reverse what health officials call …

United Nations investigators say intercommunal attacks that killed more than 500 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo were orchestrated. The investigators from the U.N. human rights office in Congo say the attacks may amount to crimes against humanity. The clashes between the Banunu and Batende communities took place in …

Americans most at risk from more frequent and intense heat waves tend to misjudge the deadly dangers hot spells can pose to their health, scientists said on Tuesday. People’s vulnerability to heat waves is growing as cooler states become hotter, in part because air conditioning and other ways to cool …

Researchers have found a new breeding ground for hammerhead sharks off the coast of Ecuador’s Galapagos archipelago. The head of the team of researchers, Eduardo Espinosa, said the natural refuge off the island of Santa Cruz is home to about 20 of the sharks. The team managed to attach monitors …