Empty capsule to return to Earth soon; 2 astronauts will stay behind

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — Boeing will attempt to return its problem-plagued capsule from the International Space Station later this week — with empty seats

Australian researchers plan new generation of biodegradable plastic

SYDNEY — Global concerns over plastic pollution and cuts to fossil fuel use are behind a new Australian-led initiative to develop a new generation of 100 percent compostable plastic

Experts blame Africa's mpox outbreaks on neglect, world's inability to stop epidemics

LONDON — The growing mpox outbreaks in Africa that triggered the World Health Organization's emergency declaration are largely the result of decades of neglect and the global community's inability to stop sporadic epidemics among a population with li[..]

Doctor who helped Agent Orange victims wins Magsaysay Award

MANILA, Philippines — A Vietnamese doctor who has helped seek justice for victims of the powerful defoliant dioxin Agent Orange used by U

Rocket scientists build robot probes to gauge melting beneath Antarctic ice shelf

LOS ANGELES — Engineers who specialize in building NASA spacecraft to explore distant worlds are designing a fleet of underwater robot probes to measure how rapidly climate change is melting vast ice sheets around Antarctica and what that means for r[..]

Newborn rattlesnakes at Colorado 'mega den' make their live debut

CHEYENNE, Wyoming — A mega den of hundreds of rattlesnakes in Colorado is getting even bigger now that late summer is here and babies are being born

Bird species extinct in Europe returns, and humans must help it migrate

PATERZELL, Germany — How do you teach a bird how, and where, to fly? The distinctive northern bald ibis, hunted essentially to extinction by the 17th century, was revived by breeding and rewilding efforts over the last two decades

Health authorities begin large-scale polio vaccinations in war-ravaged Gaza

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Palestinian health authorities and United Nations agencies on Sunday began a large-scale campaign of vaccinations against polio in the Gaza Strip, hoping to prevent an outbreak in the territory that has been ravaged by the[..]

Africa’s mpox outbreaks could be stopped in 6 months, WHO chief says

geneva — The head of the World Health Organization believes mpox outbreaks in Africa might be stopped in the next six months, and he said Friday that the agency's first shipment of vaccines should arrive in Congo within days

Wasn't polio wiped out? Why it is still a problem in some countries

LONDON — Polio was eliminated from most parts of the world as part of a decadeslong effort by the World Health Organization and partners to wipe out the disease

Floods in Nigeria kill scores, wash away farmland, raise hunger concerns

ABUJA, Nigeria — Weeks of flooding have killed 185 people in Nigeria and washed away homes and farmlands, the country's disaster management agency said, further threatening food supplies, especially in the hard-hit northern region

Israel gives go-ahead for Gaza polio vaccination campaign

Geneva — World Health Organization officials say Israel has given United Nations agencies the go-ahead to start inoculating hundreds of thousands of young Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip against polio

Second elephant calf in 2 weeks is born at California zoo

FRESNO, Calif

Snakehead fish: The invasive species disaster that wasn’t

Invasive plants and animals disrupt food supplies, carry diseases and cause an estimated $423 billion in damage every year around the world

WHO: Israel agrees to daily pauses in Gaza for polio vaccinations

United Nations — A senior World Health Organization official said Thursday that Israel has agreed to a series of daily nine-hour humanitarian pauses for the duration of a massive polio vaccination campaign in the Gaza Strip, where the first case of t[..]