Category: All

The agency that oversees the United States' nuclear arsenal says it doesn't need to do any broad environmental reviews of a proposal that calls for ramping up production of plutonium triggers at federal installations in New Mexico and South Carolina.The National Nuclear Security Administration on Wednesday released a supplemental analysis related to the project, saying the determination was made after reviewing extensive documentation and public comments that were received last year.Nuclear watchdogs, government accountability advocates and other critics argue that the decision skirts requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and a decades-old court order that included a mandate for an environmental review when the federal government embarked on plans to boost production to more than 80 of the nuclear cores a year.A key component of every nuclear weapon, most…

Health officials in China say an outbreak of pneumonia in the central city of Wuhan has been caused by a new strain of the virus that led to the deadly SARS outbreak over a decade ago.State-run Xinhua news agency says a team of scientists identified the new type of coronavirus after tests run on 59 people who have been hospitalized since early December.  The World Health Organization issued a statement Wednesday confirming the preliminary discovery of the virus.Health officials in Hong Kong say as many as 38 people have been hospitalized in recent days after returning from Wuhan with flu or pneumonia-like symptoms.  The outbreak comes just days before the Lunar New Year, when millions of Chinese will be traveling by planes, trains or buses to celebrate the holiday.  An…

The Trump administration on Thursday proposed greatly narrowing the use of one of the country″s landmark environmental laws, calling for changes that could allow projects ranging from oil pipelines to mines to move forward with far less federal review of their impact on the environment.President Donald Trump was set to present a proposed overhaul of the half-century old National Environmental Policy Act. That law changed environmental oversight in the United States by requiring federal agencies to consider the impact of major projects on the land and on wildlife.Key among the changes proposed is one that would newly limit the requirement for federal environmental review to projects that have major federal funding. The change would mean a range of predominantly privately funded and managed projects would not have to assess the…

A preliminary investigation into viral pneumonia illnesses sickening dozens of people in and around China has identified the possible cause as a new type of coronavirus, state media said Thursday.Chinese health authorities did not immediately confirm the report from state broadcaster CCTV.Coronaviruses are spread through coughing or sneezing or by touching an infected person. Some cause the common cold and others can lead to more severe respiratory diseases, such as SARS and MERS. Such viruses are common in people but more exotic versions from bats, camels and other animals have caused severe illness.The novel coronavirus is different from those that have previously been identified, CCTV said. Health authorities ruled out SARS and MERS as possible causes over the weekend.Patients in four locationsAs of Sunday, the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said…

Volcanoes can be among earth's deadliest natural phenomena, challenging researchers tasked with monitoring surface pressure and other conditions to, ultimately, save lives.  VOA's Arash Arabasadi reports on one scientist who hikes off-the-grid to keep tabs on an active volcano in Ecuador. ...

The World Meteorological Organization warns Australians should brace for a protracted summer of catastrophic bush fires, blaming climate change for record-breaking heat waves and persistent drought.Australia's summer fire season usually begins in late January or early February, but got off to an early and catastrophic start in September 2019 in the states of Queensland and New South Wales. The bush fires have killed more than 22 people, destroyed hundreds of homes, burned large swathes of land, and caused massive devastation to wildlife, ecosystems and the environment.   WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis says naturally occurring climate variability is playing a role in these unprecedented events, adding that another driver is a phenomenon called the Indian Ocean dipole, which was very strong last year.FILE - Firefighters try to protect homes around Charmhaven, New…

Virgin Galactic's next passenger spaceship has reached a major construction milestone, the company said Wednesday.All major structural elements have been assembled and the rocket plane is standing on its own landing gear at Mojave Air & Space Port in California, Virgin Galactic said in a statement.Photos of the "Weight on Wheels" achievement show the craft in a hangar next to the Virgin Space Ship Unity spacecraft, which has been to space twice during test flights in preparation for commercial operations based at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico.We've reached the Weight on Wheels milestone in the build of our next spaceship considerably faster than it took to get to this stage with our first spaceship, VSS Unity, which is currently in flight test. Our third spaceship is making good progress…

What can Malaysia teach Southeast Asia about water resources? A new study shows that Malaysia has been able to spread access to toilets and safe  sanitation to nearly 100% of the partial island nation. After some trial and error, its experience offers some lessons for others around the world, particularly at a time when places from California to South Africa are increasingly worried about how well they will be able to manage their water resources in the long run.Water access improvesIn recent decades Malaysia has increased citizens’ access to water thanks to a mix of top-down determination from the government, partial privatization, and clearly defined roles and rules for all stakeholders, author Dorai Narayana writes in a new book chapter. As a British colony until 1957, Malaysia used to see…

Hong Kong’s health chief said Tuesday that a respiratory illness whose cause remains unknown will be added to an official list of diseases that medical practitioners are required to report to the government.The disease — an unidentified form of viral pneumonia — has sent 59 people to the hospital in the mainland Chinese city of Wuhan, in central Hubei province. As of Sunday, seven were in critical condition, while the rest were stable. Municipal authorities have ruled out SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome that killed 700 people in 2002 and 2003.In Hong Kong, a total of 15 patients were being treated Sunday for symptoms including fever and respiratory infection after recent visits to Wuhan. It is not clear whether they have the same illness as the Wuhan patients.Speaking at…

U.S. insurers and providers spent more than $800 billion in 2017 on administration, or nearly $2,500 per person — more than four times the per-capita administrative costs in Canada's single-payer system, a new study finds.Over one third of all healthcare costs in the U.S. were due to insurance company overhead and provider time spent on billing, versus about 17% spent on administration in Canada, researchers reported in Annals of Internal Medicine.Cutting U.S. administrative costs to the $550 per capita (in 2017 U.S. dollars) level in Canada could save more than $600 billion, the researchers say."The average American is paying more than $2,000 a year for useless bureaucracy," said lead author Dr. David Himmelstein, a distinguished professor of public health at the City University of New York at Hunter College in…

Asthma is often controlled with an inhaler, or, sometimes, with medication. When neither works, it might be that the patient doesn't have asthma at all. VOA's Carol Pearson reports that researchers have found another disease with the same symptoms as asthma that actually starts in the stomach.  ...

In a move that could put the Obama-era health law squarely in the middle of the 2020 election, Democratic-led states Friday asked the Supreme Court for a fast-track review of a recent court ruling that declared part of the statute unconstitutional and cast a cloud over the rest.A coalition of 20 states led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed a petition seeking expedited review. They hope to get a Supreme Court hearing and decision by this summer, before the November elections. For the court to agree to such a timetable would be unusual, but not unprecedented.Defenders of the Affordable Care Act are arguing that the issues raised by the case are too important to let the litigation drag on for months or years in lower courts, and that the…

Illinois, the largest Midwestern state in the U.S.,  is beginning 2020 with the implementation of a new law that allows people to legally buy marijuana for recreational use. The Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act also also allows the governor to pardon thousands for past low-level cannabis convictions. VOA's Mariama Diallo reports ...

Australia's unprecedented wildfires are supercharged thanks to climate change, the type of trees catching fire and weather, experts say.And these fires are so extreme that they are triggering their own thunderstorms.Here are a few questions and answers about the science behind the Australian wildfires that so far have burned about 5 million hectares (12.35 million acres), killing at least 17 people and destroying more than 1,400 homes."They are basically just in a horrific convergence of events," said Stanford University environmental studies director Chris Field, who chaired an international scientific report on climate change and extreme events. He said this is one of the worst, if not the worst, climate change extreme events he's seen."There is something just intrinsically terrifying about these big wildfires. They go on for so long, the…

More companies could begin making an easy-to-use version of an opioid overdose antidote under a deal announced Thursday by New York's attorney general.Under the agreement, Emergent BioSolutions will no longer enforce a contract that had allowed it to be the only company to sell naloxone in a spray called Narcan, a popular form for police, firefighters and others to use to try to revive people who are overdosing.The attorney general's office said the new agreement came after it found that Adapt Pharma, which has since been bought by Rockville, Maryland-based Emergent, had the exclusive rights to sell naloxone using Aptar Pharma's nasal spray technology."Given the tragic, devastating effects of the opioid crisis, and the urgent need for additional drugs for the emergency treatment of opioid overdoses, my office will do…