To his toolbox of Botox, fillers and plastic surgery, cosmetic dermatologist Dr. Murad Alam has added a new, low-cost, noninvasive anti-aging treatment: facial yoga. Dermatologists measured improvements in the appearance of the faces of a small group of middle-age women after they did half an hour of daily face-toning exercises for eight weeks, followed by …

Only 1 in 3 U.S. children are active every day. And less than 5 percent of U.S. adults exercise at least 30 minutes every day. But that is not stopping these fitness entrepreneurs from showing off their wares. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

The president will undergo several hours of testing Friday at Walter Reed military hospital in Maryland President Donald Trump will be the patient, not the commander in chief offering comfort, when he visits the Walter Reed military hospital on Friday. Trump is headed to the medical facility in Bethesda, Maryland, …

The Canada lynx, a wild cat found in just a handful of mostly western U.S. states as well as Canada, no longer needs federal protection from extinction in the Lower 48 states, U.S. wildlife officials said Thursday, sparking an outcry from conservationists. The finding is one step in a process that will see the …

New York City is making a move against the fossil fuel industry on two fronts. Democratic Mayor Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Wednesday the city is suing five big oil companies for global warming and divesting $5 billion in oil investments from the city’s pension funds. “We’re bringing the fight …

Doctors say this year’s flu season in the U.S. is moderately severe and could get worse. It’s sending scores of patients to the hospital, and a number of people have died from either the flu or its complications. VOA’s Carol Pearson reports that what many people think of as a …

Over a quarter of the world’s land could become significantly drier over the coming decades, according to new research from Britain’s University of East Anglia and China’s Southern University of Science and Technology. The scientists warn that changes in precipitation and evaporation linked to climate change could increase the likelihood …

The Zambian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization are beginning a cholera vaccination campaign January 10 to help stop an outbreak of this deadly disease. Latest official figures put the number of cases at 2,672, including 63 deaths. Two rounds of immunizations are planned. At each stage, about …

The United Kingdom is now banning the manufacturing of tiny plastic microbeads used in products such as cosmetics, toothpaste and shower gels because they could hurt marine animals. The move comes as some other countries have banned microbeads, including the United States. It is estimated that more than 8 million …

Human antibodies made in genetically engineered cows have proved safe in an early stage clinical trial, U.S. scientists said on Wednesday, and could be developed into a treatment for the fatal viral disease, MERS. MERS, or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, is a SARS-like viral infection first identified in Saudi Arabia …

President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered the secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs to come up with a plan to improve mental health care for U.S. veterans. “They get out of the military and they had nobody to talk to, nobody to speak to. And it’s been a …

A handful of Indian cities are gearing up to launch bike-sharing systems to ease traffic congestion and deadly air pollution, as urban populations surge and vehicles clog the streets. Bike-sharing systems in the southern city of Mysuru and the central city of Bhopal, both launched last June, have met with …

Failure to rein in global temperature rises could cause the marine food web to collapse, devastating the livelihoods of tens of millions of people who rely on fisheries for food and income, scientists have warned. Warming oceans restrict vital energy flows between different species in the marine ecosystem, reducing the …

Honeybees are attracted to a fungicide used in agriculture with “unsettling implications” for global food production, a scientist said Tuesday. Tests carried out by a team from the University of Illinois showed bees preferred to collect sugar syrup laced with the fungicide chlorothalonil over sugar syrup alone. The finding follows …

With their alpine grasslands shrinking due to erratic rainfall and glacier retreat, herders in Peru’s central Andes have decided that the future lies in reviving the past. To improve access to water and save their livestock, indigenous communities in the villages of Canchayllo and Miraflores have restored abandoned dams, reservoirs …

SpaceX is defending its rocket performance during Sunday night’s launch of a secret U.S. satellite, responding to media reports that the satellite codenamed Zuma was lost.   SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell says the Falcon 9 rocket “did everything correctly” and suggestions otherwise are “categorically false.”   Northrop Grumman — which provided …

Children who eat restaurant carry-out, or “takeaway,” meals once a week or more tend to have extra body fat and long-term risk factors for heart disease, suggests a UK study. In the study of 9- and 10-year-olds, the kids who ate carry-out most often also consumed more calories but fewer …

One of the most common New Year’s resolutions is to lose weight and get fit. Faith Lapidus takes a look at how some people are trying to keep that commitment. …

From gritty neighborhoods in New York and Los Angeles to clinics in Kenya and Brazil, health workers are trying to popularize a pill that has proven highly effective in preventing HIV but which – in their view – remains woefully underused. Marketed in the United States as Truvada, and sometimes …

Three people in South Sudan have died of a suspected viral hemorrhagic fever and 60 of their contacts are being monitored for any infection, the World Health Organization said Monday. Ebola, Marburg and yellow fever are among viral hemorrhagic fevers that have caused deadly outbreaks in Africa. More than 11,300 …

The death toll from an outbreak of listeria in South Africa has jumped beyond 60 in the past month, health authorities said Monday, adding they had closed a poultry abattoir where the bug that causes the disease had been detected. Since monitoring of the outbreak began last January, 720 laboratory-confirmed …

In 2012, Britons delighted in the spectacular opening ceremony of the London Olympics celebrating British history. One of the curtain-raiser’s most popular sequences, drawing loud applause, involved 1,800 dancers and 320 hospital beds honoring the country’s National Health Service. Six years on, and Britons are more likely to moan about …

A group of disabled Egyptians is not letting the lack of having lost a leg get in the way of playing football. They have formed a team they hope will be a part of a soccer league for people with special needs. Faith Lapidus reports. …

The unpredictable and aggressive nature of wolf-dog hybrids makes them difficult to keep as household pets. But the founders of the Lockwood Animal Rescue Center in California say the dual nature of these animals makes them ideal therapists for combat veterans who suffer from PTSD. VOA’s Genia Dulot has more …

A remote island volcano in Papua New Guinea has begun spewing ash into the air, forcing the evacuation of more than 500 residents, media and nonprofit groups said. Kadovar Island, a 365-meter (1,197 feet) tall volcano on the north coast of PNG, was thought to be dormant until it began …