Month: May 2023

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Wednesday approved Pfizer Inc.'s respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for older adults, making it the second shot against the common respiratory disease that can be fatal for seniors. The approval comes less than a month after the…

Canada will soon require that health warnings be printed on individual cigarettes and cigars in a further crackdown on smoking, the country's addictions minister announced Wednesday. The messaging, to be phased in starting August 1, will include lines such as "Poison in every puff," "Tobacco…

Scientists have expanded the search for technologically advanced extraterrestrial civilizations by monitoring a star-dense region toward the core of our galaxy for a type of signal that could be produced by potential intelligent aliens that until now has been ignored.  Efforts to detect alien technological…

Earth has pushed past seven out of eight scientifically established safety limits and into "the danger zone," not just for an overheating planet that's losing its natural areas, but for the well-being of people living on it, according to a new study. The study looks…

Operations to salvage 1.1 million barrels of oil from a decaying tanker moored off Yemen's coast will soon begin after a technical support ship arrived on site on Tuesday, the United Nations said. U.N. officials have been warning for years that the Red Sea and…

Health care providers in Kenya's Dadaab refugee camp say an ongoing cholera outbreak is becoming a looming catastrophe. Doctors Without Borders has described the six-month-long cholera outbreak as the worst yet, amid an influx of new refugees from Somalia. Medecins Sans Frontieres, popularly known as…

China sent three astronauts to its Tiangong space station on Tuesday, putting a civilian scientist into space for the first time as Beijing pursues plans to send a manned mission to the Moon by the end of the decade.    The world's second-largest economy has invested…

An International Atomic Energy Agency team arrived in Tokyo on Monday for a final review before Japan begins releasing massive amounts of treated radioactive water into the sea from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, a plan that has been strongly opposed by local fishing communities…

The United Arab Emirates unveiled plans Monday to send a spaceship to explore the solar system's main asteroid belt, the latest space project by the oil-rich nation after it launched the successful Hope spacecraft to Mars in 2020.  Dubbed the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid…

China’s burgeoning space program plans to place astronauts on the moon before 2030 and expand the country's orbiting space station, officials said Monday. Monday’s announcement comes against the backdrop of a rivalry with the U.S. for reaching new milestones in outer space, reflecting their competition…

Zimbabwe officials hope vaccinations will tame a cholera outbreak as citizens continue to drink unsafe water. As Columbus Mavhunga reports from Harare, authorities are urging people to practice good hygiene to contain the waterborne disease. Camera: Blessing Chigwenhembe     ...

The mpox health emergency has ended, but U.S. health officials are aiming to prevent a repeat of last year's outbreaks. Mpox infections exploded early in the summer of 2022 in the wake of Pride gatherings. More than 30,000 U.S. cases were reported last year, most…

Britain's health minister, Steve Barclay, said on Sunday that the government would not negotiate on pay with the nurses' union, as the threat of further strikes looms. The government's offer, which includes a one-off payment equivalent to 2% of salaries in the 2022/23 financial year…

A meeting of a United Nations committee dedicated to eradicating plastic pollution begins in Paris Monday. Plastic piles up from ocean beds to landfills. Manufacturers have begun the shift to biodegradable materials, but the billions of tons of plastic waste already in our environment are…

South African customs officials recently became suspicious when they noticed that shipments of "Made in China" children's toys were being sent, oddly, back to China. On closer inspection, the packages did not contain toys at all but were filled with poached contraband. Chinese criminal syndicates,…

When Thomas Hertog was first summoned to Stephen Hawking's office in the late 1990s, there was an instant connection between the young Belgian researcher and the legendary British theoretical physicist. "Something clicked between us," Hertog said. That connection would continue even as Hawking's debilitating disease…

France confirmed its aim to launch a vaccination program against bird flu in the autumn after results from a series of tests on the vaccination of ducks showed "satisfactory effectiveness," the farm ministry said.  A severe strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird…

When the Popocatepetl volcano reawakened in 1994, Mexican scientists needed people in the area who could be their eyes and ears. State police helped them find one, Nefi de Aquino, a farmer then in his 40s who lived beside the volcano. From that moment on,…

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration stripped one of the nation's largest drug distributors of its license to sell highly addictive painkillers Friday after determining it failed to flag thousands of suspicious orders at the height of the opioid crisis. The action against Morris & Dickson…

Elon Musk's brain implant company Neuralink says it's gotten permission from U.S. regulators to begin testing its device in people. The company made the announcement on Twitter Thursday evening but has provided no details about a potential study, which was not listed on the U.S.…

Global investment in clean energy production in 2023 will be significantly larger than investment in fossil fuel-based energy generation, and for the first time, more money will be invested in solar energy than in the oil sector, according to a report issued by the International…

The Supreme Court on Thursday sharply limited the federal government's authority to police water pollution into certain wetlands, the second decision in as many years in which a conservative majority narrowed the reach of environmental regulations. The outcome could threaten efforts to control flooding on…

Teachers from 115 schools in the Mozambican province of Manica are creating their own teaching material using cardboard, plastic gallon jugs, and bags made from raffia leaves, offered by the community. They say they’re saving money by replacing expensive conventional teaching material while helping the…