Spacewalking astronauts gave the International Space Station’s big robot arm a new hand Thursday. Commander Randy Bresnik and Mark Vande Hei accomplished the job on the first of three NASA spacewalks planned over the next two weeks. “One down, two to go,” Bresnik said as the seven-hour spacewalk came to …

As India’s financial capital, Mumbai, reeled under swirling floodwaters in August after it was lashed with more rain in 12 hours than it receives in two weeks, the inevitable question followed: Are such events being increasingly triggered by climate change? A new study gives an answer. It says extreme rainfall …

News bulletin in 1957: Sputnik stuns the world. CIA in 2017: Not really. The CIA released newly declassified documents Wednesday revealing that while the American public was surprised when the Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite 60 years ago, intelligence agencies weren’t caught off guard. President Dwight D. …

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is heading to the hurricane-battered Caribbean, where he said Wednesday that scientists predict the extreme storms during this year’s Atlantic hurricane season “will be the new normal of a warming world.” The U.N. chief told reporters that Hurricane Irma, which devastated Barbuda, was a Category 5 storm …

The Trump administration has refused to designate the Pacific walrus as an endangered or threatened species. The move announced Wednesday reverses the Obama administration finding that the walrus deserves protection because of diminished Arctic Ocean sea ice. The Fish and Wildlife Service has instead concluded the walrus population is healthy …

A report shows that solar energy was the fastest-growing source of power last year, accounting for almost two-thirds of net new capacity globally.   The International Energy Agency said Wednesday that the rise was due to a boom in photovoltaic panel installations, particularly in China, thanks to a drop in …

Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson have won the Nobel Prize for chemistry for their work to simplify and improve the imaging of biomolecules. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the award Wednesday along with its $1.1 million prize. The scientists developed a way to generate three-dimensional images …

The plague, bubonic plague to be exact, is endemic to the island of Madagascar, where about 400 cases show up every year. But this year cases have spiked early and more than two dozen people have died. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

An outbreak of plague has killed at least 20 people in a month in Madagascar, with more than 80 others infected, the World Health Organization said. Plague is mainly spread by flea-carrying rats. Humans bitten by an infected flea usually develop a bubonic form of plague, which swells lymph nodes …

Three U.S.-based astrophysicists won the Nobel prize in physics Tuesday for their discovery of gravitational waves, a phenomenon Albert Einstein predicted a century ago in his theory of general relativity. Here’s what their discovery means and why they won the prize worth $1.1 million (9 million kronor). Who won? Rainer …

Fifty leading United Nations and international agencies on Wednesday will roll out a global road map for reducing cholera deaths by 90 percent by 2030. The new strategy from the Global Task Force on Cholera Control will target “hot spots” with simple, effective tools to prevent the disease from taking …

The rates of 12 obesity-related cancers rose by 7 percent from 2005 to 2014, an increase that is threatening to reverse progress in reducing the rate of cancer in the United States, U.S. health officials said on Tuesday. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than …

Aid agencies are scaling up efforts to contain an outbreak of diarrheal diseases that could have serious health consequences for many of the more than one-half million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar who are living in squalid, overcrowded conditions in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The U.N. refugee agency, Bangladeshi public health authorities …

Scientists Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish and Kip Thorne have won the Nobel Prize in physics for their work in detecting gravitational waves. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the award Tuesday along with its $1.1 million prize. Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity predicted the existence of gravitational waves …

Increasingly, doctors are working on ways to turn a cell phone into a powerful tool for preventive medicine. Fitness apps and calorie counter apps are paving the way. But soon to arrive on your phone — screening apps that could diagnose everything from diabetes to cancer. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

Gun violence interrupts a peaceful gathering and scores of people die once again. This time it was in Las Vegas, where a gunman fired upon thousands of people attending a music festival Sunday night. At least 59 people died. More than 500 were wounded. VOA’s Carol Pearson looks at why …

In Zimbabwe, researchers say they are breeding maize that is drought and heat resistant as part of efforts to fight hunger across Africa, where maize is a staple food. In Hezekaya Village in Gokwe, about 200 kilometers west of Harare, cotton is what most people plant because it can grow …

The 2017 Nobel Prize for Medicine has been awarded to three American scientists. Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young were awarded for their discoveries of the molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm. “Using fruit flies as a model organism, this year’s Nobel laureates isolated a gene that controls the …

Animals that make the water their home are uniquely sensitive to changes in their liquid world. Oysters are very good at filtering dirty water, and crayfish are very sensitive to changes in water quality. Now scientists in the Czech Republic are using these sensitive bottom dwellers to monitor water quality …

What makes autistic children different and how can their parents make the best choices to integrate them into daily life, especially with an overwhelming amount of clinical research to consider? In the United States, where an estimated one in 68 children suffer from the condition, thousands of parents are faced …

To mark the International Day of the Older Person, the World Health Organization is calling for a new, integrated approach to meet the health needs of an aging population. By mid-century, the World Health Organization reports one in five people in the world will be aged 60 or older. As …

A rescued green sea turtle named Picasso was released back into the Gulf of Mexico on Saturday, carrying the ashes of a self-taught Texas oceanographer who founded the rehabilitation center that helped nurse it back to health.  Hundreds of well-wishers pressed forward to get better views during a sunset ceremony …

The World Health Organization warns a highly infectious, deadly form of pneumonic plague is spreading rapidly in Madagascar and quick action is needed to stop it.  Pneumonic plague, which is transmitted from person to person, has been detected in several cities in Madagascar.  This worries the World Health Organization as …

U.S. billionaire innovator Elon Musk has unveiled plans for a new rocket that would allow passengers to travel from one continent to another in about 30 minutes. At a presentation Friday in Adelaide, Australia, Musk showed a video of images of a rocket taking off in New York and landing …

Cardiovascular disease is a growing health concern in Kenya and around Africa. In Nairobi, 100 motorcycle taxi drivers are riding stationary bicycles and being trained to provide emergency resuscitation using automatic electronic defibrillators. It’s all part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness about heart health in Kenya. Lenny Ruvaga …