The emergencies chief for the World Health Organization predicted Tuesday that Congo’s Ebola outbreak will last at least another six months, saying that informal health facilities have become “major drivers” of the current, deadly transmission. Dr. Peter Salama said that makeshift “tradi-modern” health centers — offering both traditional and modern …

Sidewalk prayers near shoot-up spots. Sunday sermons in the back of a bar. Pleas to struggling souls to surrender to God. Funerals for members of their flock who didn’t make it. Clergy members have become spiritual first responders in the opioid crisis, often leaving the pulpit to minister on the …

As the Democratic Republic of Congo battles the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, just across the border Ugandan survivors of a 2007 outbreak are reminded of the near-death experience they went through. Bundibugyo district at the border with Uganda and the DRC faced the brunt of the hemorrhagic disease …

This is part of “Ocean Shock,” a Reuters series exploring climate change’s impact on sea creatures and the people who depend on them. This series has explored the damaging effects of warming waters in the world’s oceans on marine life — and human life. Stressed by this climate change hidden …

The Greater Paris region will become a low-emission zone from next summer, which will limit the circulation of old diesel cars, the regional authority decided on Monday. The Metropole du Grand Paris council said on its Twitter feed it had voted to ban diesel cars registered before Dec. 31, 2000 …

Both nature and humans share blame for California’s devastating wildfires, but forest management did not play a major role, despite President Donald Trump’s claims, fire scientists say. Nature provides the dangerous winds that have whipped the fires, and human-caused climate change over the long haul is killing and drying the …

More women and girls in poor countries are using modern contraception, signifying progress in efforts to involve women in family planning, according to a report released Monday. The number of women and girls using contraceptives in 69 of the world’s poorest countries surpassed 317 million in 2018, representing 46 million …

After years of nursing a sometimes dusty cylinder of metal in a vault outside Paris as the global reference for modern mass, scientists are updating the definition of the kilogram. Just as the redefinition of the second in 1967 helped to ease communication across the world via technologies like GPS …

Move more, sit less and get kids active as young as age 3, say new U.S. federal guidelines that stress that any amount and any type of exercise helps health. The advice is the first update since the government’s physical activity guidelines came out a decade ago. Since then, the …

Dragon’s blood, mandrake root and devil’s snare were used for potions and spells in the Harry Potter series. But in real life, the creepy-named plants were used for medicinal purposes and could be purchased at an apothecary, also known as a pharmacy. Today, one of the best preserved apothecaries in …

A university in London is looking at new ways to use technology that displays fully three-dimensional images. They’re hoping academics and experts can use the technology to deliver lectures in the classroom – remotely. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo reports. …

Extreme weather events predicted by climate change sometimes mean more than just bad storms, sometimes they mean the exact opposite. In Germany, a hot, dry summer has left water levels at near historic lows, and that problem is rippling across the entire economy. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

An outbreak of Ebola in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed more than 200 people. Almost 300 Ebola cases have been confirmed since the outbreak began in August, authorities say. The health ministry said half of the cases were in Beni, a city of 800,000 …

Taking fish oil or vitamin D? Big studies give long-awaited answers on who does and does not benefit from these popular nutrients. Fish oil taken by healthy people, at a dose found in many supplements, showed no clear ability to lower heart or cancer risks. Same for vitamin D. But …

In Uganda, officials have stepped up measures to prevent an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus.  Ebola has infected 319 people in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo since August, killing 198.  The border between the countries remains open, and health experts fear the virus will enter Uganda through the …

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration next week will issue a ban on the sale of fruit and candy flavored electronic cigarettes in convenience stores and gas stations, an agency official said, in a move to counter a surge in teenage use of e-cigarettes. The ban means only tobacco, mint …

In Uganda, officials have stepped up measures to prevent an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus. Ebola has infected 250 people in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo since August, killing 180. The border between the countries remains open, and health experts fear the virus will enter Uganda through the …

Readers with a science bent have likely seen at least one headline about a research paper proposing that the mysterious little space rock with a really funny name that zoomed between the Sun and Mercury last year might have alien origins. The research paper is from Harvard University, the Ivy’est …

Dramatic steps are needed to avoid potentially catastrophic levels of global warming, says the latest report from the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Experts say nature provides some of the best ways to pull planet-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Restoring forests is one route. In West Virginia, where …

Female genital mutilation has dropped drastically among African children this century, research shows, but campaigners said Wednesday that teenagers and young women remained at risk of the harmful practice.  Known as FGM, female genital mutilation is a ritual that usually involves the partial or total removal of the external genitalia, including the clitoris.   Cutting is a …

This is part of “Ocean Shock,” a Reuters series exploring climate change’s impact on sea creatures and the people who depend on them. Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” drifts from Karroll Tillett’s workshop, a wooden shed about half a mile from where he was born. Tillett, known as “Frog” to …

NASA is monitoring how residents near the Texas Gulf Coast react to quiet sonic booms from an experimental aircraft that could reduce commercial flight times by half. The Houston Chronicle reports that the space agency on Monday launched a two-week research project on quiet supersonic research flights near Galveston. NASA …

Egypt says archeologists working at a dig in Cairo have found several fragments of stone slabs with inscriptions dating back up to 4,000 years. The Antiquities Ministry said on Tuesday that the artifacts were the latest finds in eastern Cairo’s Matariya neighborhood.   Some of the fragments date back to …

Around the world plant based diets are on the rise. Statistics from the research firm Global Data say that six percent of Americans now identify as Vegan. That’s not a huge number but it’s jumped from one percent in the last couples years, and continues to go up and up. …

Rats are a problem in towns and cities world-wide. But they’re also causing huge damage to the world’s embattled coral reefs, according to a new study published in the Nature International Journal of Science. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo reports. …