The rusty patched bumblebee on Tuesday became the first officially endangered bee species in the continental U.S., overcoming objections from some business interests and a last-minute delay ordered by the Trump administration. One of many bee types that have suffered steep population declines, the rusty patched has disappeared from about …

International climate and environment agreements have a flaw which may jeopardize attempts to curb global warming quickly: they do not highlight the role trees play in creating rainfall and cooling the earth’s surface, 22 scientists said on Tuesday. Traditionally, international agreements have focused on how trees affect carbon levels in …

“This legislation will not fix everything that ails our health care system, but it moves us decisively in the right direction.” Those were the words of then-President Barack Obama just after the U.S. House of Representatives voted 219-212 to overhaul the nation’s health care system seven years ago this week. …

U.S. President Donald Trump has signed into law a bill that increases the budget of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), maintains the agency’s earth science program and adds human exploration of Mars as a goal. The measure increases NASA’s budget to $19.5 billion. Trump’s initial budget proposal submitted …

Celebrity physicist Stephen Hawking, a vocal critic of U.S. President Donald Trump, said Trump’s environmental policies are particularly concerning, going so far as to call for Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency’s chief, to be replaced. “He should replace Scott Pruitt at the Environment Protection Agency,” Hawking said in an …

Mars may have had Saturn-like rings in the past and may have them again, a new study suggests. According to models developed by researchers at Purdue University, the Red Planet was likely hit by an asteroid or other body about 4.3 billion years ago. The debris from the impact might …

The biggest construction project in Europe is taking place beneath the British capital, London. The largely subterranean Crossrail route linking Heathrow airport to the eastern financial district and beyond is designed to ease congestion as London’s population grows; but, it has also unearthed a trove of archaeological finds that provide …

Animal testing has become problematic in the past few decades. Animal rights activists have uncovered numerous instances of animal cruelty, and it’s also expensive to keep animal test subjects, especially if they’re treated humanely. But how else can pharmaceutical companies test the effectiveness, and safety of their products, some of …

Fifty thousand Haitians will have access to quality health care for the first time after a modern new hospital opened Monday in the isolated and impoverished Cotes-de-Fer region. The Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan Center for Health will serve those who, until now, had to travel for hours on rough roads …

An experimental anti-malaria vaccine has been developed that protects against more than one strain of the malaria parasite that causes the mosquito-borne illness.   The vaccine, tested by principal investigator Kirsten Lyke and colleagues, is called PfSPZ and uses whole, live weakened early versions of the most common form of …

Tanzania has announced a plan to send 500 doctors to Kenya after a doctors’ strike paralyzed health services in the neighboring country for months. Kenyan doctors, however, say the government should not hire any foreign doctors but instead employ the more than 1,000 trained physicians who are unemployed. Tanzanian President …

Would you drink beer made from toilet water? The brewers at one popular brewery in California are betting you would. Stone Brewing of San Diego unveiled a new beer made from water that “comes from the toilet,” according to ABC 10 News in San Diego. Granted, the water for the …

Only 17 snowy miles from the Canadian border, Katie Bushey’s most basic needs are met by traveling health aides who come into her home to change her diapers, track her seizures, spoon-feed her fettucine Alfredo and load her wheelchair into the shower. But that’s only if someone shows up. Bushey, …

Eight million metric tons of plastic wind up each year in the oceans, harming marine life and entering the food chain. Mike O’Sullivan reports a new documentary film called “A Plastic Ocean” looks at the problem, and its solutions. …

For some medical students, getting a yes or no Friday was more important than finding the right life partner. Friday was “Match Day,” the annual day when medical students find out which U.S. medical institution has accepted them for a residency program. It is a competition, of sorts: 32,000 training …

Washington’s National Zoo hired its first animal nutritionist 30 years ago. Since then the zoo has been preparing specific, well-balanced meals for each animal, provided by volunteers and food preparation teams. For Yahya Barzinji, Elizabeth Cherneff reports. …

In a medical emergency, an ambulance with a qualified medical team on board can be a lifesaver. But in Nepal, this service is rare if not nonexistent. To help provide the best possible medical emergency services, a team of doctors from Stanford University in California spent 12 weeks training four …

As deaths from painkillers and heroin abuse spiked and street crimes increased, the mayor of Everett took major steps to tackle the opioid epidemic devastating this working-class city north of Seattle.   Mayor Ray Stephanson stepped up patrols, hired social workers to ride with officers and pushed for more permanent …

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday it had awarded $100 million to upgrade Flint, Michigan’s drinking water infrastructure to address a crisis that exposed thousands of children to lead poisoning. The grant to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality will enable the city to “accelerate and expand” its …

Malawi has started registering new cases of cholera in areas bordering Mozambique, one week after the government in Malawi warned of a cholera outbreak in the neighboring country. The disease — an acute diarrheal infection caused by eating food or drinking water contaminated with a bacterium — affects children and …

Thousands of HIV-negative Kenyans will for the first time be placed on daily antiretroviral medication, or ARVs, in a bid to avert new infections. The new program seeks to lower the country’s HIV transmission rate to individuals who face a substantial risk of contracting HIV, such as rape victims and …

Australian scientists, working with counterparts in Myanmar, are hoping to reduce Myanmar’s high death toll from snake bites in rural communities, especially among vulnerable populations facing inadequate emergency care. The official toll from snake bites in Myanmar is 600 deaths a year out of some 13,000 cases among a rural …

Tucked away in Spain’s Pyrenees mountains, patients at psychiatric facility Benito Menni stretch out across floor mats and stroke greyhound puppies Atila and Argi. Puppy love is part of the treatment for conditions such as schizophrenia. The facility, based in a town near the border with France, uses the dogs …

On a cold winter morning in the Iranian capital recently, a homeless dog lay basking in the sun’s rays for warmth. Suddenly, the canine moaned — it had been shot with an anesthetic dart from a blowpipe. It ran several steps, then fell immobilized. The cream-and-gray colored dog was collected …

During the Cold War, the films were highly classified, but now anyone can watch a newly released treasure trove of U.S. nuclear weapons tests on YouTube. Greg Spriggs, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, said the 750 movies were in danger of becoming degraded to the point …