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Global warming tops milestone ahead of climate summit

London —  2024 is likely to be the hottest year ever recorded, with global warming already exceeding the threshold of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, according to scientists, who released the latest data ahead of the COP29 climate summit due to…

Global warming tops crucial milestone ahead of COP29 climate summit

The COP29 climate summit is due to get under way on Monday in Baku, Azerbaijan — a country whose economy is largely based on selling fossil fuels. Over 12 days, world leaders and thousands of delegates will try to negotiate…

DNA evidence rewrites long-told stories of people in ancient Pompeii

When a volcanic eruption buried the ancient city of Pompeii, the last desperate moments of its citizens were preserved in stone for centuries. Observers see stories in the plaster casts later made of their bodies, like a mother holding a…

US health officials call for expanded bird flu testing for farm workers

Federal health officials on Thursday called for more testing of employees on farms with bird flu after a new study showed that some dairy workers had signs of infection, even when they didn’t report feeling sick. Farmworkers in close contact…

Mpox spread slows slightly in Africa

KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO —  The spread of mpox has slowed down slightly across Africa, but the epidemic is not over, the African Union’s health watchdog said Thursday. Fifteen countries across Africa recorded 11,453 mpox cases in the last…

Can honeybees and dogs detect cancer earlier than technology?

Washington —  Researchers at Michigan State University recently discovered that honeybees, with their keen sense of smell, can sniff out lung cancer on a patient’s breath. “Our world is visual. Insects’ world is all based on smell, so their sense…

European climate agency says this will likely be the hottest year on record — again

CHICAGO —  For the second year in a row, Earth will almost certainly be the hottest it’s ever been. And for the first time, the globe this year reached more than 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming compared to the pre-industrial…

Vaccine doses allocated for 9 African countries hardest hit by mpox

An initial 899,000 vaccine doses have been allocated for nine countries across Africa that have been hit hard by the current mpox surge, the WHO and other health organizations said on Wednesday. The WHO declared mpox a global public health…

Can bees and dogs sniff out cancer better than machines?

In labs across the United States, scientists are working on innovative tests using animals and insects to detect cancer earlier. As VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports, recent research suggests bees and dogs can sniff out the disease sooner than machines can….

WHO: 2 UK mpox cases first local transmissions in Europe

London —  Two new cases of the mpox variant clade 1b detected in the U.K. are the first locally transmitted cases in Europe and the first outside Africa, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. The U.K. Health Security Agency (UKHSA)…