Winter looks wet and especially mild for much of the country, thanks to a weak El Nino brewing, U.S. meteorologists said. The National Weather Service on Thursday predicted a warmer than normal winter for the northern and western three-quarters of the nation. The greatest chance for warmer than normal winter …

You can call it a prehistoric prequel. Scientists said on Thursday they have unearthed in southern Germany the fossil of a fish that, with its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, strongly resembled today’s piranhas, the stars of more than their fair share of Hollywood horror films. But this one lived …

A senior health official in Uganda says “the situation is being handled well” in neighboring Congo after the World Health Organization said the latest Ebola outbreak there is not yet a global emergency. But Uganda’s director of health services, Henry Mwebesa, tells The Associated Press that twice-weekly market days during …

The traditional way for doctors to treat certain illnesses has been to prescribe medications. But as technology advances, researchers are working on new ways of treating symptoms that do not require drugs. One promising possibility: using tiny magnetic particles to treat pain. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee visited one lab at the …

An emergency committee convened by the World Health Organization has decided that the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo does not constitute a public health emergency of international concern. The WHO said Wednesday that 216 cases of Ebola and 139 deaths had been reported, and its International Health …

Family size is closely linked to reproductive rights, according to the State of World Population 2018 report. The U.N. report says people in developed countries tend to have lower fertility rates because of greater access to family planning services, modern contraceptives and age-appropriate sex education. The director of the U.N. …

U.S. regulators have cleared the way for farmers to grow a cotton plant genetically modified to make the cottonseed edible for people, a protein-packed potential new food source that could be especially useful in cotton-growing countries beset with malnutrition. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service …

Federal and state health officials are baffled by a mysterious and rare illness that seems to target children, causing paralysis. As of Tuesday, 62 cases of what doctors are calling acute flaccid myelitis have been confirmed in 22 states. Sixty-five suspected cases are being investigated. “There is a lot we …

Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin says the force he felt during a Soyuz emergency landing last week was like having a concrete block on his chest. Ovchinin and U.S. astronaut Nick Hague spoke separately Tuesday about their frightening experience when an unknown mishap caused their Russian Soyuz to abort its mission …

The World Health Organization says it is convening a meeting on Wednesday to determine whether Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. Aid organizations have expressed alarm as the rate of new cases has more than doubled this month and community resistance to Ebola containment …

Off the shores of Newfoundland, Canada, an ecosystem is unraveling at the hands (or pincers) of an invasive crab. Some 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) to the south, the same invasive crab — the European green crab — is helping New England marshes rebuild. Both cases are featured in a new study that …

A new study says global warming may leave people crying in their costlier beer. The international study says bouts of extreme heat waves and drought will cut production of barley, a key ingredient of beer. When that happens, beer prices on average could double. In countries like Ireland, prices could …

It’s one of the easiest ways to stop the spread of disease. The U.S. Center for Disease Control says spending just 20 seconds washing hands with soap and warm water can reduce illness in more than a million kids who die each year from preventable sickness. Two young women from …

The U.N. children’s fund reports the vast majority of children living in Ebola-affected areas of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have returned to school where they are taught ways to avoid infection. School began one month ago in Democratic Republic of Congo. The U.N. children’s fund says efforts to get …

For 30 years, the Ocean Conservancy has conducted an ocean cleanup campaign on the world’s beaches. They’ve collected 300 million pounds of garbage, a lot of it plastic. But slowly and surely some entrepreneurs are working to reduce the amount of plastic filling up oceans and landfills. VOA’s Kevin Enochs …

Climate change is usually thought to bring hotter weather, but scientists say it can also make some places colder. Temperature changes mean some plants and animals struggle to survive, while others seek new territory. That may be the case for one species of barracuda that is living in colder waters …

A runaway hearse carrying an Ebola victim has become the latest example of sometimes violent community resistance complicating efforts to contain a Congo outbreak — and causing a worrying new rise in cases. The deadly virus’ appearance for the first time in the far northeast has sparked fear. Suspected contacts …

The World Food Program warns climate change will have a devastating impact on agriculture and the ability of people to feed themselves.  The WFP forecasts a huge increase in worldwide hunger unless action is taken to slow global warming.   The WFP warns progress in reducing global hunger is under …

One of the joys of computer algorithms and machine learning is their ability to extract new data from old technologies. Doctors at the University of London in Oxford for instance have figured out a way to take regular CT heart scans and predict heart problems years in advance. VOA’s Kevin …

The United States and dozens of other countries have pledged to work together to tackle the illegal wildlife trade and treat it as a “serious and organized crime” following a two-day conference in London that ended Friday. Trade in endangered wildlife, such as elephant tusks, rhino horns and tiger bones, …

Scientists say climate change is becoming more pressing with news of melting permafrost and rising sea levels. Scientists have been urging people around the globe to reduce emissions of climate warming carbon, but the Salk Institute in San Diego is taking a different approach. There, scientists are working on developing …

A U.N. employee in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has tested positive for Ebola, the first such incident during the current outbreak, according to the head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission. “I am writing today to inform you that my leadership team and I have regretfully just received news …

Artists are putting the finishing touches on an 82-foot-long (24-meter-long) blue whale made from discarded plastic that will be on display near San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge to raise awareness about ocean pollution. The Monterey Bay Aquarium said Friday a blue whale can weigh 300,000 pounds (136,000 kilograms) — about …

Another NASA space telescope has shut down and halted science observations.  Less than a week after the Hubble Space Telescope went offline, the Chandra X-ray Observatory did the same thing. NASA said Friday that Chandra automatically went into so-called safe mode Wednesday, possibly because of a gyroscope problem. Hubble went into …

Worldwide cesarean section use has nearly doubled in two decades and has reached “epidemic” proportions in some countries, doctors warned Friday, highlighting a huge gap in childbirth care between rich and poor mothers. They said millions of women each year may be putting themselves and their babies at unnecessary risk …