Month: September 2022

NASA has so far been unable to launch its first Artemis mission, bringing added scrutiny to a program that is billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule in returning humans to the moon. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports that despite scrubbed launches, the U.S.…

Hoping to witness the launch of NASA's Artemis 1 rocket to the moon is – so far – an exercise in frustration for Mark Franko.  "I was hoping to feel the noise and the power and the sound – it would have been pretty interesting…

As temperatures reach record highs worldwide, air conditioning is becoming more of a necessity. From Somerville, Massachusetts, Matt Dibble has this story of a company hoping to make AC units more efficient. ...

In an executive order signed Monday, President Joe Biden announced steps by his administration to bolster the “bioeconomy” in the United States, a classification that covers research and development across a broad swath of products, including medical supplies, sustainable new fuels and food, as well…

President Joe Biden on Monday urged Americans to come together for a new "national purpose" — his administration's effort to end cancer "as we know it." At the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Biden channeled JFK's famed moonshot speech 60 years ago, likening…

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Monday recommended a COVID-19 booster designed to combat the currently circulating Omicron BA.4/5 subvariants, days after endorsing a pair of boosters tailored to target the older BA.1 Omicron variant. The latest recommendation is for a so-called bivalent vaccine developed…

Jeff Bezos' rocket company suffered its first launch failure Monday. No one was aboard, only science experiments.  The Blue Origin rocket veered off course over West Texas about a minute after liftoff. The capsule's launch abort system immediately kicked in, lifting the craft off the…

When Emmanuel Obeng-Dankwa is worried about making rent on his New York City apartment, he sometimes holds off on filling his blood pressure medication.  “If there’s no money, I prefer to skip the medication to being homeless,” said Obeng-Dankwa, a 58-year-old security guard.  He is…

New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a disaster emergency Friday in a bid to accelerate efforts to vaccinate residents against polio after the virus was detected in wastewater samples taken in four counties.  Hochul's executive order followed the discovery of the virus last month in…

NASA's moon mission suffers another setback, this time delaying a test launch for at least a few weeks. Plus, a look back at the first color images of Mars, and we wish a very happy birthday to a TV space pioneer. VOA's Arash Arabasadi brings us…

The introduction of a nationwide mental health hotline has increased the numbers of people calling for help in the United States and the need for more counselors to answer their calls. For VOA, Svitlana Prystynska has this story from the Western state of Colorado. Camera…

The World Health Organization is warning of a resurgence of deadly meningitis in Africa because COVID-19 has disrupted lifesaving vaccination campaigns. The near elimination of the deadly form of meningitis type A in Africa is one of the continent’s biggest health success stories. Over the…

A new malaria vaccine developed by Britain's University of Oxford is 80% effective in preventing infection, according to trial results published Thursday in The Lancet medical journal. Scientists say it represents a huge breakthrough that has the potential to save millions of lives and eventually…

A panel of federal health advisers voted Wednesday to recommend approval for an experimental drug to treat Lou Gehrig's disease, a remarkable turnaround for the much-debated medication that was previously rejected by the same group earlier this year. The Food and Drug Administration advisers voted…

As the world grapples with multiple climate-related disasters on different continents, a watchdog group in Washington is pressing the Biden administration to take more aggressive action to reduce emissions in the United States. A report, issued by the liberal-leaning Revolving Door Project, outlines a wide…

Electronic cigarette maker Juul Labs has agreed to pay nearly $440 million to settle a two-year investigation by 33 U.S. states into the marketing of its high-nicotine vaping products, which have long been blamed for sparking a national surge in teen vaping. Connecticut Attorney General…

Zimbabwe is struggling to contain a measles outbreak that has killed nearly 700 people, most of them children and young people. Zimbabwe’s government said Tuesday thousands of people have been infected with measles since an April outbreak and 698 people have died, most of them…

The death toll from a measles outbreak in Zimbabwe has risen to almost 700 children, the country's health ministry has said. Some are calling for the enactment of legislation to make vaccination mandatory in a country where anti-modern medicine religious sects hold sway on large…

Argentine health officials said Saturday that four people in a clinic in northwestern Tucuman province had died of Legionnaires' disease, a relatively rare bacterial infection of the lungs. Health Minister Carla Vizzotti told reporters that Legionnaires' had been identified as the underlying cause of double…