Month: July 2023

U.S. officials have approved the first over-the-counter birth control pill, which will let American women and girls buy contraceptive medication from the same aisle as aspirin and eyedrops. The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it cleared Perrigo's once-a-day Opill to be sold without a prescription, making it the first such medication to be moved out from behind the pharmacy counter. The company won't start shipping the pill until early next year, and there will be no age restrictions on sales. Hormone-based pills have long been the most common form of birth control in the U.S., used by tens of millions of women since the 1960s. Until now, all of them required a prescription. Medical societies and women's health groups have pushed for wider access, noting that an estimated 45%…

It is possible to end AIDS by 2030 if countries demonstrate the political will to invest in prevention and treatment and adopt non-discriminatory laws, the United Nations said on Thursday. In 2022, an estimated 39 million people around the world were living with HIV, according to UNAIDS, the United Nations AIDS program. HIV can progress to AIDS if left untreated. "We have a solution if we follow the leadership of countries that have forged strong political commitment to put people first and invest in evidence-based HIV prevention and treatment programs," UNAIDS said in a report published on Thursday. It said an effective response to HIV also meant adopting non-discriminatory laws and empowering community networks, among other initiatives. People living with HIV or AIDS in many countries face stigma, discrimination and…

Warmer, drier weather because of an earlier-than-usual El Nino is expected to hamper rice production across Asia, hitting global food security in a world still reeling from the impacts of the war in Ukraine.  An El Nino is a natural, temporary and occasional warming of part of the Pacific that shifts global weather patterns, and climate change is making them stronger. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced this one in June, a month or two earlier than it usually does. This gives it time to grow. Scientists say there's a one in four chance it will expand to supersized levels.  That's bad news for rice farmers, particularly in Asia where 90% of the world's rice is grown and eaten, since a strong El Nino typically means less rainfall for…

BEIJING — Employers across much of China were ordered Monday to limit outdoor work due to scorching temperatures, while the east and southwest were warned to prepare for torrential rain as the country struggled with heat, flooding and drought. Temperatures as high as 40 C (104 F) were reported in cities including Shijiazhuang, southwest of Beijing, the capital. Highs of 35 C (95 F) to 38 C (100 F) were reported in Beijing, Guangzhou in the south, Chongqing in the southwest and Shenyang in the northeast. The weather agency issued an orange alert, its second-highest warning, for heat across southern China and much of the north and northeast. That requires employers to limit outdoor work, though delivery workers for restaurants and online retailers were still working. The agriculture ministry warned…

The Webb Space Telescope is marking one year of cosmic photographs with one of its best yet: the dramatic close-up of dozens of stars at the moment of birth.  NASA unveiled the latest snapshot Wednesday, revealing 50 baby stars in a cloud complex 390 light-years away. The region is relatively small and quiet yet full of illuminated gases, jets of hydrogen and even dense cocoons of dust with the delicate beginnings of even more stars.  "Prepare to be awestruck!" NASA Administrator Bill Nelson tweeted, noting that the image "presents star birth as an impressionistic masterpiece."  All of the young stars appear to be no bigger than our sun. Scientists said the breathtaking shot provides the best clarity yet of this brief phase of a star's life.  "It's like a glimpse…

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Tuesday it has extended its probe into Novo Nordisk's diabetes drugs Ozempic and weight-loss treatment Saxenda, following two reports of suicidal thoughts, to include other drugs in the same class. The agency began its review on July 3 after Iceland's health regulator flagged the reports of patients thinking about suicide and one case of thoughts of self-harm after use of Novo Nordisk's drugs. There have been issues of suicidal thoughts linked to another class of weight-loss drugs, which have hobbled previous attempts by the drug industry to develop lucrative weight-loss drugs. Sanofi's weight-loss drug Acomplia, which never won U.S. approval, was withdrawn in Europe in 2008 after being linked to suicidal thoughts. The EMA said on Tuesday it will investigate the class of…

Australian scientists say they have developed a special glue that can be used to repair parts of the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef. Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology believe the biodegradable putty has the potential to help the coral recover after it's been damaged by cyclones, hit by boats or suffered bleaching. The Great Barrier Reef is arguably Australia’s most valuable natural treasure. It is the world's largest coral system and faces an array of threats, including climate change, pollution, over-fishing and coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish. When reefs are damaged by cyclones, or struck by boats, patches of rubble are often left behind. These can be shifted by waves and currents, preventing the formation of a stable seabed that coral needs to grow. Coral bleaching can also cause reefs…

Humanity has etched its way into Earth's geology, atmosphere and biology with such strength and permanence that a team of scientists figures we have shifted into a new geologic epoch — one of our own creation. It's called the Anthropocene. A geologic task force recommends marking this new epoch's start in the deep, pristine Crawford Lake outside Toronto, Canada, with a “golden spike.” The start of the human epoch is sometime around 1950 to 1954. The specific date will be determined soon, probably by levels of plutonium in new measurements from the bottom of the lake. "It's quite clear that the scale of change has intensified unbelievably and that has to be human impact," said University of Leicester geologist Colin Waters, who chaired the Anthropocene Working Group, which is making…

Double Olympic champion runner Caster Semenya won an appeal against track and field's testosterone rules on Tuesday when the European Court of Human Rights ruled she was discriminated against and there were "serious questions" about the rules' validity. World Athletics, which enforces the regulations, said in reaction to the decision that its rules would remain in place, however, meaning there would not be an immediate return to top-level competition for the South African runner. Semenya's case at the rights court was against the government of Switzerland, and not World Athletics itself, although the decision was still a major moment in throwing doubt on the future of the rules. Semenya was legally identified as female at birth and has identified as female her entire life, but regulations introduced by track and…

India will launch a mission to the moon later this week hoping to become the fourth country to land a craft on the lunar surface.     So far only three countries — the United States, Russia and China — have achieved what is called a "soft landing" on the moon in which vehicles touch down without damage.   The mission marks the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) second attempt to land a rover on the moon — a previous effort nearly four years ago failed.     The spacecraft called Chandrayaan-3, which means moon vehicle in Sanskrit, is scheduled to be launched Friday afternoon (2:35 p.m. Indian time) It is equipped with a lander and a robotic rover that are expected to land on the moon on August 23 or August 24 to map…

Astronomers have discovered the most distant black hole yet using NASA’s Webb Space Telescope, but that record isn't expected to last. The black hole is at the center of a galaxy created a mere 570 million years after the Big Bang. That’s 100 million years closer to the beginning of the cosmos than a black hole identified in 2021 by a Chinese team using a telescope in Chile. Webb already has spotted other black holes that appear to be even closer to the Big Bang nearly 14 billion years ago, but those findings are still under review, said University of Texas at Austin astronomer Steven Finkelstein, one of the lead researchers. The finding has been accepted for publication by The Astrophysical Journal Letters. Because the signals from this particular black…

Scientists say crushing temperatures that blanketed Europe last summer may have led to more than 61,000 heat-related deaths, highlighting the need for governments to address the health impacts of global warming. In their study, published Monday in the journal Nature Medicine, researchers examined official mortality figures from 35 European countries and found a marked increase in deaths between late May and early September last year compared with the average recorded over a 30-year period. The increase in heat-related deaths was higher among older people, women and in Mediterranean countries, they found. But the data also indicated that measures taken in France since a deadly heat wave two decades ago may have helped prevent deaths there last year.  "In the pattern of summer mean temperatures in Europe during the summer of…

Meta Platforms' Twitter rival Threads crossed 100 million sign-ups within five days of launch, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday, dethroning ChatGPT as the fastest-growing online platform to hit the milestone.  Threads has been setting records for user growth since its launch on Wednesday, with celebrities, politicians and other newsmakers joining the platform seen by analysts as the first serious threat to the Elon Musk-owned microblogging app.  "That's mostly organic demand, and we haven't even turned on many promotions yet," Zuckerberg said in a Threads post announcing the milestone.  The app's sprint to 100 million users was much speedier than that of OpenAI-owned ChatGPT, which became the fastest-growing consumer application in history in January about two months after its launch, according to a UBS study.  Still, Threads has some catching…

Health officials are reporting a deadly outbreak of cholera in the South African province of Gauteng Authorities say nearly 50 people have died, with most of the deaths concentrated in the Hammanskraal area. Cases have been reported in other areas as well.   Medical officials have urged residents to be vigilant about what they consume and to practice good hygiene, like hand washing.     Cholera mainly spreads through contaminated water or food.   Symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration. ...

Two years after Brazil began emerging from its pandemic horror show thanks to a massive immunization campaign, officials face a paradoxical predicament: vaccination rates have plunged, and not just for COVID-19.  The troubling trend has left millions exposed to once-eradicated diseases.     Doctors, public officials and UNICEF have sounded the alarm over collapsing immunization rates in Brazil, where overall vaccination coverage has fallen from an impressive 95% in 2015 to just 68% last year, according to official figures.   For polio, the figure fell from 85% to 68%, triggering warnings that the disease could make a comeback in Brazil, where it was eradicated in 1989.   The figures are similar for other vaccines, allowing diseases to spread. Measles, officially eliminated in Brazil in 2016, returned two years later. There are fears diphtheria is…

One person is dead and three missing in landslides in southwestern Japan, authorities said Monday, as the country's weather agency warned of the "heaviest rain ever" in the region.  A 77-year-old woman was confirmed dead in a landslide that entered her home overnight in rural Fukuoka, the local fire department told AFP.  Her husband was recovered conscious and taken to hospital.  Three people were also missing after a landslide in Karatsu City, in Saga prefecture, which neighbors Fukuoka, local authorities there said.  The Japan Meteorological Agency urged people to take shelter as the heavy downpours risked flooding and landslides across the Fukuoka and Oita regions.  "A special heavy rain warning has been issued for municipalities in Fukuoka Prefecture. This is the heaviest rain ever experienced" by the region, Satoshi Sugimoto…

Natural disasters can be dramatic — barreling hurricanes, building-toppling tornadoes — but heat is more deadly. Chicago learned that the hard way in 1995. That July, a weeklong heat wave that hit 106 degrees Fahrenheit (41 degrees Celsius) killed more than 700 people. Most of the deaths occurred in poor and majority Black neighborhoods, where many elderly or isolated people suffered without proper ventilation or air conditioning. Power outages from an overwhelmed grid made it all worse. Initially slow to react, Chicago has since developed emergency heat response plans that include a massive push to alert the public and then connect the most vulnerable to the help they may need. Other cities like Los Angeles, Miami and Phoenix now have "chief heat officers" to coordinate planning and response for dangerous…

Partnership is opening eyes of students of color who never pictured themselves fighting forest fires ...

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met Saturday with his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, to build momentum for an upcoming regional summit on the Amazon rainforest and enhance efforts for its protection. The meeting took place in Colombia's Leticia, a town in the Amazon's triple border region between Colombia, Brazil and Peru, where organized crime has recently increased its hold. The meeting aimed to lay groundwork for the Amazon Summit that the Brazilian government is organizing in Belem next month. That summit will be attended by leaders of the countries that are party to the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. Lula is pushing for a joint declaration from the summit, which would be presented at the United…

A solar storm forecast for Thursday is expected to give star gazers in 17 U.S. states a chance to see the northern lights, the colorful sky show that happens when solar wind hits the atmosphere. Northern lights, also known as aurora borealis, are most often seen in Alaska, Canada and Scandinavia, but an 11-year solar cycle that's expected to peak in 2024 is making the lights visible in places farther south. Three months ago, the light displays were visible in Arizona, marking the third severe geomagnetic storm since the current solar cycle began in 2019. The Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks has forecast auroral activity on Thursday in Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, New Hampshire, Vermont,…

WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Friday on dozens of countries to work together to combat synthetic drugs, but China — facing blame in Washington over an addiction epidemic — denounced the effort.  Inaugurating a new U.S.-led "coalition" on the scourge, Blinken told ministers from more than 80 countries that the United States — where nearly 110,000 Americans died last year from drug overdoses, mostly from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids — was "a canary in the coal mine."  "Having saturated the United States market, transnational criminal enterprises are turning elsewhere to expand their profits," Blinken said.  "If we don't act together with fierce urgency, more cities around the world will bear the catastrophic costs" witnessed in the United States, he said.  Americans' addictions began soaring in the…