World-renowned British physicist Stephen Hawking, who sought to understand a range of cosmic topics from the beginning of the universe to the intricacies of black holes, died Wednesday at the age of 76. A family spokesman said he died peacefully at his home in the city of Cambridge where he …

Malawi continues to register new cases of cholera in an outbreak that has now reached half of the country’s 28 districts. However, the government and communities trade blame over containment efforts.   According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health 23 people have died from cholera since the …

A supervolcano eruption about 74,000 years ago on Indonesia’s island of Sumatra caused a large-scale environmental calamity that may have decimated Stone Age human populations in parts of the world. But some populations, it seems, endured it unscathed. Scientists on Monday said excavations at two nearby archeological sites on South …

Trim your hair, your beard, your blood pressure? Black men reduced one of their biggest medical risks through a novel project that shows the power of familiar faces and trusted places to improve health. The project had pharmacists work with dozens of Los Angeles barbershops to test and treat clients. …

A brain implant to decode complex speech signals could soon be a reality, giving people who’ve lost the ability to speak the power to be heard again. Faith Lapidus reports. …

A San Francisco fertility clinic says thousands of frozen eggs and embryos may have been damaged after a liquid nitrogen failure in a storage tank. Dr. Carl Herbert, president of Pacific Fertility Clinic, told the Washington Post on Sunday that officials have informed some 400 patients of the failure that …

One of the South Pacific’s most vocal climate change campaigners is urging Australia to abandon plans for a giant Indian-owned coal mine in Queensland. Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner is from the Marshall Islands, a poet and daughter of the Micronesian nation’s first female president, who says the proposed Adani mine and the …

So far, 114 children in the U.S. have died from influenza or a flu-related illness, and the flu season is not yet over. Most of those children had not been vaccinated against the virus, Dr. Anne Schuchat, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said. In her …

Two remarkable women are putting to rest the idea that sports are for the young. Faith Lapidus has their stories. …

Bones found in 1940 on a western Pacific Ocean island were quite likely to be remains from famed aviator Amelia Earhart, a new analysis concludes. The study and other evidence “point toward her rather strongly,” University of Tennessee anthropologist Richard Jantz said Thursday.  Earhart disappeared during an attempted flight around …

California wildlife biologists have caught two rare Sierra Nevada red foxes in three weeks, a feat they say is a “huge” step to understanding the animal listed as threatened in the state in 1980. A nearly 9-pound (4-kilogram) female walked into a trap this week near Manzanita Lake in Lassen …

The U.N. environment program is taking aim at corporations and governments that threaten and intimidate environmental defenders and foul the planet for financial gain. A panel of environmental activists meeting in Geneva explored the actions needed to ensure a safe, healthy environment. A film that began a panel discussion is …

The U.N. environment program is taking aim at corporations and governments that threaten and intimidate environmental defenders and foul the planet for financial gain. A panel of environmental activists meeting in Geneva explored the actions needed to ensure a safe, healthy environment. A film that began a panel discussion is …

Samsung’s new Galaxy S9 phone has a darn-good camera. But other top-end phones also have darn-good cameras. Technology in smartphones has improved to the point that it’s really hard to tell the difference. The S9 outperforms its rivals in many test shots. The evening sky is darker, for instance, with …

Samsung’s new Galaxy S9 phone has a darn-good camera. But other top-end phones also have darn-good cameras. Technology in smartphones has improved to the point that it’s really hard to tell the difference. The S9 outperforms its rivals in many test shots. The evening sky is darker, for instance, with …

An observatory telescope in Arizona used to discover the distant Pluto nearly 90 years ago will reopen for business on Saturday after a year of extensive restoration work. Nearly every part of Lowell Observatory’s Pluto Discovery Telescope and accompanying dome near Flagstaff has been refurbished, from the trio of lenses …

With the rising cost of healthcare in the U.S., and the growing demand for services by those who can least afford them, two doctors in Clarkston, Georgia, made a commitment to do something about it. Founded five years ago, the non-profit Clarkston Community Health Center wanted to make a difference …

The fight to keep tiny pollutants from reaching the dinner plate might start in the laundry room. Innovators are coming up with tools to keep tiny pieces of thread that are discharged with washing machine effluent from reaching marine life. Such “microfibers” are too small to be caught in conventional …

Wealthy cities are responsible for a huge share of greenhouse-gas emissions when calculations include goods they consume from developing countries, researchers said on Tuesday, challenging traditional estimates that put blame on manufacturing nations. Looking at emissions based on consumption, affluent cities, mostly in North America and Europe, emit 60 percent …

The Trump administration Tuesday launched a new effort under the direction of presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner to overcome years of problems with electronic medical records and make them easier for patients to use.   Medicare will play a key role, eventually enabling nearly 60 million beneficiaries to securely access claims …

Winter at the top of the world wimped out this year. The Arctic just finished its warmest winter on record. And sea ice hit record lows for this time of year, with plenty of open water where ocean water normally freezes into thick sheets of ice, new U.S. weather data …

“We’ve got an emergency on our hands,” said acting director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Anne Schuchat, as the agency released a report saying emergency room visits due to opioid overdose have increased an average of 30 percent nationwide. The CDC released its report Tuesday, noting the Midwestern …

A note written by Albert Einstein to an Italian woman scientist who had declined to meet him sold at auction Tuesday along with a batch of other letters left by the renowned physicist. “To the scientific researcher, at whose feet I slept and sat for two full days, as a …

In a square in central Barcelona, families with young children perch at picnic tables as traffic thunders past and high-rise blocks loom above them. But the concrete mecca that is Placa de les Glories Catalanes is about to undergo a major facelift that will create a new green public space …

The U.N.’s new envoy for climate action, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said Monday that President Donald Trump can become “a great leader” if he changes his mind about global warming and keeps the United States in the Paris climate agreement.   The billionaire media mogul expressed hope that …