To celebrate World Environment Day (June 5th) representatives of more than a dozen embassies and international organizations joined the State Department to plant underwater seagrass in the Potomac River. Diplomats say their participation in “green diplomacy” is to help raise awareness of the challenges of clean water here at at …

A kiss from a colorful reef fish called a tubelip wrasse is no one’s idea of romance, being so full of slime and suction, but it is perfectly suited for eating a hazardous diet using one of the animal kingdom’s most unique feeding strategies. Scientists on Monday described for the …

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg submitted a statement to the United Nations on Monday that over 1,000 U.S. governors, mayors, businesses, universities and others will continue to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement abandoned by President Donald Trump last week. Bloomberg, who is the U.N. Secretary-General’s …

The remote South Pacific island of Henderson hit the headlines recently not for its pristine natural beauty, but for the 38 million tons of accumulated plastic and other debris that ocean currents had landed on its shores. The uninhabited island is a UNESCO heritage site and one of the world’s …

A smartphone app lets citizen scientists help professional scientists track changes in the natural world as urbanization, habitat loss, invasive species and climate change shake up ecosystems worldwide. More than 100,000 users on all seven continents are snapping pictures of plants and animals they find and uploading the images using …

India’s heaviest, newly-developed rocket hurtled into space Monday evening carrying a communication satellite of more than three tons from Sriharikota in eastern India. It marks another milestone in the country’s ambitious space program and brings India a step closer to sending astronauts into space.   “Today is a historic day.…we …

More than a billion people around the world rely on food from the ocean as their primary source of protein. But as the planet’s oceans become more polluted, they are changing and all kinds of marine life are being impacted. VOA U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer reports that this week ((June …

If you’re being treated for cancer, speak up about any side effects. A study that had patients use home computers to report symptoms like nausea and fatigue surprisingly improved survival – by almost half a year, longer than many new cancer drugs do.   The online tool was intended as …

SpaceX launched its first recycled cargo ship to the International Space Station on Saturday, another milestone in its bid to drive down flight costs. After a two-day delay caused by thunderstorms, the unmanned Falcon rocket blasted off carrying a Dragon capsule that made a station delivery nearly three years ago. …

U.S. President Donald Trump “believes the climate is changing,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley says. “President Trump believes the climate is changing and he believes pollutants are part of the equation,” Haley said during an excerpt of a CNN interview released Saturday. The interview will be broadcast …

Reacting to President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the landmark Paris climate agreement, leading scientific organizations say evidence clearly shows the world’s climate is changing and urgent measures must be taken to slow the warming of the planet. The organizations say the scientific evidence is clear …

Virgin Galactic has conducted another unpowered test flight of its space tourism spacecraft over the Southern California desert. The company says Thursday’s glide flight incorporated a special ballast tank filled with water at the rear of the craft to check handling qualities with more weight on board and with the …

Like its neighbor Russia, Ukraine is currently struggling against epidemics of dangerous contagious diseases, such as HIV, Hepatitis C, and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. While the country has made remarkable progress thanks to the partnership of the post-2014 government with civil society organizations, Ukraine also faces an added burden. It must …

In the past seven years, the number of children in India classified as obese has risen to 30 percent of the population. That number is expected to double over the next eight years. All that extra weight has led to an increase in weight-related type 2 diabetes. Doctors are sounding …

Astronomers said Thursday that they had detected a third ripple in the fabric of space-time, a remnant of a cosmic crash of two black holes 3 billion years ago. These invisible ripples, called gravitational waves and first theorized by Albert Einstein, first burst into science’s view to great fanfare in …

A new report showed greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union rose in 2015, the first increase since 2010, even as European officials on Thursday urged the United States to remain part of a global climate pact. Emissions grew by 0.5 percent compared with 2014, mainly due to increases from …

Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen’s entry into the commercial space race has been revealed. Allen posted a picture of a plane nicknamed the “Roc” on Twitter, showing an extremely unusual and enormous plane that he hopes will eventually launch rockets into space. The Roc has six engines, two fuselages, 28 wheels …

The U.S. state of Ohio filed a lawsuit Wednesday against five prescription drug manufacturers, saying they used deceptive practices that fueled an opioid addiction epidemic. “These drug manufacturers led prescribers to believe that opioids were not addictive, that addiction was an easy thing to overcome, or that addiction could actually …

The United Nations predicts that by 2025 nearly two billion people will be living in places where there’s not enough water to go around. And since on average water makes up about 60% of the human body, not having it has a host of devastating effects that go way beyond …

Your smartphone can help scientists keep tabs on changes happening in the natural world. More than one hundred thousand citizen scientists around the globe are snapping pictures of all kinds of plants and animals using the iNaturalist app. It is giving researchers an unprecedented amount of information about what lives …

DNA from mummies found at a site once known for its cult to the Egyptian god of the afterlife is unwrapping intriguing insight into the people of ancient Egypt, including a surprise discovery that they had scant genetic ties to sub-Saharan Africa. Scientists on Tuesday said they examined genome data …

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday urged the Trump administration not to leave the Paris Climate Agreement, saying the deal would have long-term benefits for the U.S. economy and even its security. Speaking to an audience of students, civil society and business leaders at New York University, Guterres delivered his …

The World Health Organization warns that more than 7 million people die prematurely every year from tobacco-related causes, and it’s a costly drain on national economies. In advance of World No Tobacco day, to be observed Wednesday, the global health agency urged governments to implement strong tobacco control measures for …

Scientists have tweaked a powerful antibiotic, called vancomycin, so it is once more powerful against life-threatening bacterial infections.  Researchers say the more powerful compound could eliminate the threat of antibiotic resistance for many years to come. Antibiotic resistance, in which microbes no longer respond to drugs, is quickly becoming a …

Marty Mozzo gets a gorgeous show each night when the sun sets over wetlands near his property on the bay side of a barrier island. When he and his wife bought the house in 2008, she looked at the marsh, where the only sign of water was a tiny trickle …