A new approach for detecting food poisoning is being used to investigate the recent outbreak of E.coli bacteria in romaine lettuce grown in the U.S. state of Arizona. The tainted produce has sickened at least 84 people in 19 states. The new method, used by the Centers for Disease Control …

U.S. officials will not restore federal protections for Yellowstone-area grizzly bears, despite a court ruling that called into question the government’s rationale for turning grizzly management over to states that are now planning public hunts for the animals, according to an announcement Friday in in the Federal Register. The disclosure …

Archaeologists in northern Peru say they have found evidence of what could be the world’s largest single case of child sacrifice. The pre-Columbian burial site, known as Las Llamas, contains the skeletons of 140 children who were between the ages of five and 14 when they were ritually sacrificed during …

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday announced charges against four Chinese nationals and six co-conspirators for trafficking large quantities of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the United States, part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on an abuse epidemic that has killed tens of thousands of Americans. The charges, handed down by a …

European Union countries backed a proposal Friday to extend a partial ban on the use of insecticides known as neonicotinoids that studies have shown are harmful to bees. The full outdoor ban will be on the use of three active substances: imidacloprid, developed by Bayer CropScience; clothianidin, developed by Takeda …

A prehistoric sloth hunt is frozen in time in footprints preserved in the New Mexico desert, according to new research. It’s an extremely rare find that authors say could revolutionize our understanding of how ancient humans interacted with large animals. It also may shed light on whether our ancestors drove …

International scientists have identified 44 genetic variants that can increase the risk of developing major depression and found that all humans carry at least some of them. The new findings could help explain why not everyone treated with antidepressants sees their condition improve, the scientists said, and point the way …

Scientists in Kenya believe they have discovered a new way to combat malaria. As Faith Lapidus reports, a common medication, already used to treat a host of illnesses, makes people’s blood poisonous to the anopheles mosquito, which spreads the deadly disease. …

The U.S. House approved a bill Wednesday that would reverse a federal judge’s order to spill more water from four Pacific Northwest dams to help migrating salmon reach the Pacific Ocean. The bill, approved 225-189, would prevent any changes in dam operations until 2022. It was sponsored by Republican Reps. …

It’s a punchline that sends every 12-year-old boy into a fit of giggles. Now it has been proven to be true. Uranus stinks! Scientists using a huge telescope on Hawaii’s Mauna Kea volcano found the seventh planet from the sun is surrounded by clouds made up of hydrogen sulfide, the …

A customer from Beijing and one from Hong Kong walk into Starbucks. A chair blocks the path between the counter and their seats. Who of the two moves the chair? It’s not a joke. It’s a psychology experiment, designed to test the long-lasting imprints of a culture’s agrarian past. A new …

The World Health Organization is joining a worldwide call to stop a resurgence of malaria that threatens much of the progress made over the past decade. To mark World Malaria Day, WHO is pushing for urgent action – and money – to get the global fight against this ancient scourge …

The theme of this year’s World Malaria Day, Wednesday April 25th, is Ready to Beat Malaria. Along with medical advances, beating the disease will take money. After sixteen years of steady decline, malaria cases are on the rise again globally, and experts warn that unless efforts to tackle the disease …

This year marks the 35th anniversary of the discovery of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Visiting Malawi this month, one of the pioneers of that research, the American scientist Jay Levy, said Malawi could be among the countries in Africa on track to eradicate the virus, though he said …

The Environmental Protection Agency announced a new rule Tuesday that would stop it from relying on scientific research underpinned by confidential data in its making of regulations. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt billed the measure as a way to boost transparency for the benefit of the industries his agency regulates. But …

Iceland’s small, snowy capital, Reykjavik, has been crowned the greenest city for travelers, with the most green space per head of 50 cities surveyed, a travel agency said Tuesday. Auckland in New Zealand came in second, followed by the Slovakian capital Bratislava and Sweden’s Gothenburg, with Sydney in Australia taking fifth place in …

Malaria is spreading rapidly in crisis-hit Venezuela, with more than an estimated 406,000 cases in 2017, up roughly 69 percent from a year before, the largest increase worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday. Venezuelan migrants fleeing the economic and social crisis are carrying the mosquito-borne disease into Brazil and other parts of …

The path to sharper vision has gone from glasses to contact lenses to laser correction… and now, to eye drops. Faith Lapidus has details of the latest development. …

A woman who played a key role in exposing the lead-tainted water disaster in Flint, Michigan, is among seven people from around the world to be awarded a Goldman Environmental Prize for grassroots environmental activism.   LeeAnne Walters was repeatedly rebuffed by Gov. Rick Snyder’s administration, even as she confronted …

NASA’s new boss is already getting cheers from space.   Immediately after being sworn into office Monday by Vice President Mike Pence, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine took a call from the three U.S. astronauts at the International Space Station who offered “hearty congratulations.” The Oklahoma congressman became the 13th administrator …

A young military veteran who had his genitals blown off in a blast in Afghanistan has received the world’s most extensive penis transplant. Surgeons at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, rebuilt the man’s entire pelvic region —  transplanting a penis, scrotum and part of the abdominal wall from a …

California will suffer more volatile weather this century with a “whiplash” from drought to rain and mounting risks a repeat of the devastating “Great Flood” of 1862, scientists said on Monday. Climate change, driven by man-made greenhouse gas emissions, would drive more extreme shifts between hot and dry summers and …

A British scientist is proposing a new approach to fighting the spread of malaria, a treatable mosquito-borne disease that kills hundreds of thousands each year, the vast majority of them young children in Africa. As Faith Lapidus reports, he is developing an antimalarial drug designed not for humans, but for …

Each year on April 22, many people stop to think about the health of the world environment, as as if it were a New Year’s Day for nature, many make resolutions to treat the world around them more responsibly. The day first celebrated in 1970 is approaching a half-century of existence …

The United Kingdom is proposing a ban on disposable plastic straws. With Earth Day coming up this Sunday, advocates are asking everyone to follow suit and skip the straw. Straws and stirrers are among the top 10 items found in coastal cleanups worldwide, according to the nonprofit Ocean Conservancy, which …