To the untrained eye, the Scottish wildcat looks quite similar to a normal domestic cat. But it is a unique species, and it could become extinct. As VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports, the greatest threat to these cats is other cats. …

A new simple dipstick test can provide fast results for people who may have contracted the Zika virus or dengue fever. People who fear they may have been exposed to the mosquito-borne viruses can seek immediate help. And women can be tested for the Zika virus before they get pregnant …

Nearly 300 species of fish, mussels and other sea critters hitchhiked across the Pacific Ocean on debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami, washing ashore alive in the United States, researchers reported Thursday.   It is the largest and longest marine migration ever documented, outside experts and the researchers said. The …

Melania Trump invited experts and people affected by addiction to opioids to the White House for a listening session and discussion about the epidemic.   The first lady hosted Thursday’s event in the State Dining Room and invited journalists to attend a portion of the meeting to help raise awareness. …

First lady to host discussion on opioid crisis Melania Trump has invited experts and people affected by addiction to opioids to the White House for a listening session and discussion about the epidemic.   The first lady is hosting Thursday’s event in the State Dining Room and has invited journalists …

Giant pandas Cai Tao and Hu Chun arrived Thursday to fanfare in Indonesia where a new “palace” like home that cost millions of dollars has been built for them. The male and female pair landed at Jakarta’s international airport from Chengdu and will be quarantined at Taman Safari zoo outside …

It is estimated that nearly 40 million people in the U.S. alone suffer from chronic sleep deprivation. But a new study, perhaps the first of its kind, is shedding light on how and why humans sleep, or don’t sleep. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

In the Australian bushland, citizen scientists are helping conservation officials track invasive, and endangered species. Using a special app, nature lovers can mark the vulnerable or even invasive wildlife as they wander the countryside. VOA’s Kevin Enochs. …

Rocky outcrops in eastern Canada contain what may be some of the oldest evidence of life on Earth, dating back about 3.95 billion years. Scientists said on Wednesday they found indirect evidence of life in the form of bits of graphite contained in sedimentary rocks from northern Labrador that they …

The United States space agency NASA says it will partner with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, to build a “deep space gateway” in the vicinity of the moon. The lunar space station, which is still in conceptual stage, is part of a long-term project aimed at putting humans on Mars. …

Researchers say the likelihood of scorching summer temperatures in southern Europe is increasing because of man-made climate change. Hotter-than-usual temperatures in the Mediterranean region – including an August heatwave in Italy and the Balkans dubbed ‘Lucifer’ – resulted in higher hospital admissions, numerous forest fires and widespread economic losses this …

According to U.S. government statistics, nearly 40 percent of all pregnancies around the world are unwanted or unplanned. And yet the means to prevent every unwanted pregnancy in the world exists, and has existed for more than 50 years. VOA’s Kevin Enochs looks at the history of birth control on …

The United States and Mexico have agreed to renew and expand a far-reaching conservation agreement that governs how they manage the overused Colorado River, which supplies water to millions of people and farms in both nations.   The agreement to be signed Wednesday calls for the U.S. to invest $31.5 …

Miami is a city that lives on air conditioning. When it fails, people can die. After Hurricane Irma knocked down power lines and disconnected the cooling system at a nursing home north of Miami this month, 11 residents perished when temperatures inside soared. Florida Governor Rick Scott blamed management at …

Venezuela’s doctors, fed up with what they called the World Health Organization’s passive attitude toward the country’s deep medical crisis, protested at the agency’s Caracas office on Monday to demand more pressure on the government and additional assistance. Venezuela is suffering from a roughly 85 percent shortage of medicines, decrepit …

The latest Republican effort to overhaul the nation’s health care system appears to have failed after another Republican senator came out against the plan. Senator Susan Collins from Maine became the third Republican senator to oppose the measure, saying Monday night, “This is simply not the way that we should …

U.S. researchers are getting ready to recruit more than 1 million people for an unprecedented study to learn how our genes, environments and lifestyles interact. Today, health care is based on averages, what worked best in short studies of a few hundred or thousand patients. The massive “All of Us” …

As lawmakers propose banning the sale of shark fins in the U.S., a pair of scientists is pushing back, saying the effort might actually harm attempts to conserve the marine predators. Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey introduced a bill this year designed to prevent people from possessing or …

The Environmental Protection Agency says it has recovered 517 containers of “unidentified, potentially hazardous material” from highly contaminated toxic waste sites in Texas that flooded last month during Hurricane Harvey. The agency has not provided details about which Superfund sites the material came from, why the contaminants at issue have …

Royal families around the world, from Britain, to Jordan, to Nepal, have given their time, attention and resources to conservation efforts. Prince Albert II of Monaco has received numerous awards for his conservation work. This month he joined an Atlantic mission to save an endangered seal species. Faith Lapidus reports. …

The U.S. Justice Department has announced it is putting nearly $59 million toward fighting the epidemic of opioid drug addiction. In a news release Friday, the department cited preliminary figures from the National Center for Health Statistics showing that drug overdose deaths in the United States rose 21 percent from …

Early in life, children get the message that boys are strong and capable and that girls are vulnerable and limited in what they can do. That’s the result of a new study, the first ever, that looks at adolescents and the messages they get from society and their parents. VOA’s …

NASA’s asteroid-chasing spacecraft is swinging by Earth on its way to a space rock. Launched a year ago, Osiris-Rex will pass within about 11,000 miles (17,700 kilometers) of the home planet Friday afternoon. It will use Earth’s gravity as a slingshot to put it on a path toward the asteroid …

At their low point in the late 1980s, there were 22 California condors left in the world. But in 1992, after dedicated efforts to save them, the condors began rebounding. Today, these magnificent raptors are coming back. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

In a landmark deal, HIV patients in Africa will now have access to the latest drugs for $75 a year. The arrangement is a major victory for the poorest nations fighting AIDS, a health epidemic with unrestrained global reach. …