Opening a new era in cancer care, the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday approved the first treatment that genetically engineers patients’ own blood cells into an army of assassins to seek and destroy childhood leukemia. The CAR-T cell treatment developed by Novartis Pharmaceuticals and the University of Pennsylvania is …

With rising urban populations and ever scarcer water supplies, cities and companies are teaming up to invest billions of dollars in water management projects, a report said on Tuesday. Around two thirds of cities from London to Los Angeles are working with the private sector to address water and climate …

A 15-year-old schoolgirl in northern India has launched a charity to provide oxygen to impoverished patients after 63 people, nearly half of them children, died due to a lack of oxygen at the main government hospital in her home town. The patients died from encephalitis, a disease which causes brain …

Forests in the northeastern United States and southern Canada could be ravaged by tree-killing beetles in coming decades as a warming climate expands the pest’s habitat, a study has found. Over the next 60 years, southern pine beetles could infest forests in new areas of the United States and Canada, …

The U.S. space agency’s Cassini spacecraft will end its 13-year mission to Saturn in mid-September by transmitting data until the final moment before it plunges into the ringed planet’s atmosphere, officials said Tuesday. Cassini, the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, will make the last of 22 farewell dives between the …

School playgrounds across Syria are being transformed into vegetable gardens where children whose diets have been devastated by six years of war can learn to grow — and then eat — aubergines, lettuces, peppers, cabbages and cucumbers. Traditional Syrian cuisine is typical of the region, and rich in vegetables. Its …

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the opioid crisis America’s “top lethal issue” Tuesday, saying that a “comprehensive antidote” was needed to address the crisis. Speaking from the National Alliance for Drug Endangered Children national conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Sessions thanked the audience for their work in making the …

Middle-class cocaine users are turning a blind eye to the link between their drug habit and sex trafficking, slavery and murder, said the former head of UK drug strategy. “These are middle-aged, middle-class people at dinner parties,” Tony Saggers, former head of drugs threat at the National Crime Agency, told …

By the time the rain stops, Harvey will have dumped about 1 million gallons of water for every man, woman and child in southeastern Texas – a soggy, record-breaking glimpse of the wet and wild future global warming could bring, scientists say. While scientists are quick to say climate change …

Countries need to quadruple spending to $150 billion a year to deliver universal safe water and sanitation, helping to reduce childhood disease and deaths while boosting economic growth, said the World Bank. Investments should be better coordinated and targeted to ensure services reach the most vulnerable, and governments need to …

Countries need to quadruple spending to $150 billion a year to deliver universal safe water and sanitation, helping to reduce childhood disease and deaths while boosting economic growth, said the World Bank. Investments should be better coordinated and targeted to ensure services reach the most vulnerable, and governments need to …

By the time the rain stops, Harvey will have dumped about 1 million gallons of water for every man, woman and child in southeastern Texas — a soggy, record-breaking glimpse of the wet and wild future that global warming could bring, scientists say. While scientists are quick to say that …

The muddy floodwaters now soaking through dry wall, carpeting, mattresses and furniture in Houston will pose a massive cleanup challenge with potential public health consequences. It’s not known yet what kinds or how much sewage, chemicals and waterborne germs are mixed in the water. For now, health officials are more …

More than 1 in 4 cases of possible sexual and physical abuse against nursing home patients apparently went unreported to police, says a government audit that faults Medicare for failing to enforce a federal law requiring immediate notification. The Health and Human Services inspector general’s office was issuing an “early …

More than 1 in 4 cases of possible sexual and physical abuse against nursing home patients apparently went unreported to police, says a government audit that faults Medicare for failing to enforce a federal law requiring immediate notification. The Health and Human Services inspector general’s office was issuing an “early …

Researchers in Moscow are testing a battery-powered driverless vehicle with a guidance system based on human eyesight. They say it will be cheap to produce and could soon be seen on closed roads, such as technology parks and college campuses. VOA’s George Putic reports. …

Bolivia is forging an approach to maternal care that combines traditional and Western medicine, in an effort to reduce the country’s high rate of new mother and newborn deaths. Faith Lapidus reports for VOA. …

Scientists have not been able to develop a vaccine against the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea, despite working toward one for more than 100 years. However, they may have stumbled onto something that could provide clues to advance the development of such a vaccine. Decades ago, in the late 1990s, a …

American workers are facing a paradox – many of them cannot find work while a lot of companies say they cannot find suitable candidates for job openings. Experts say the problem is in the so-called ‘skill gap,’ the incompatibility between available skills and job requirements. VOA’s George Putic has more. …

Bonobos are primates that are very closely related to chimpanzees, and humans. They are found exclusively in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It’s not completely clear how many of them there are, but it is known that their numbers are on the decline. But the world’s only bonobo sanctuary is …

A new device, developed by an Israeli start-up, could make routine visits to the doctor’s office a thing of the past. Faith Lapidus reports. …

In spite of many attempts to replace it with a more suitable material, asphalt concrete remains the best and cheapest material for paving roads. Vulnerable to heat, ice, ultraviolet light and mechanical stress, it has a relatively short lifespan and has to be repaired or replaced at regular intervals. Swiss …

The Olive Ridley Sea Turtle is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the IUCN. Threats come on land and sea. Thousands of turtles die every year in fishing nets, and their eggs are considered a delicacy. But on one protected beach in Mexico, the Olive …

Marine authorities in the U.S. and Canada said Friday they will marshal resources to try to find out what’s behind a string of deaths of endangered North Atlantic right whales. The animals are among the rarest marine mammals in the world, with only about 500 still living. The countries will …

The Saffir-Simpson scale of a hurricane’s intensity is used to estimate potential property damage and coastal flooding caused by storm surge. The scale is determined by wind speed. Storm surge is an abnormal rise of water above the normal tide, generated by a storm. Flooding from storm surge depends on …