Genome study deepens mystery of what doomed Earth’s last mammoths
About 4,000 years ago, the last of Earth’s wooly mammoths died out on a lonely Arctic Ocean island off the coast of Siberia, a melancholy end to one of the world’s charismatic Ice Age animals. But what doomed this last…
List of threatened species grows by 1,000
More than 45,000 species are now threatened with extinction — 1,000 more than last year — according to an international conservation organization that blames pressures from climate change, invasive species and human activity such as illicit trade and infrastructural expansion….
Ice baths and ventilators: India’s hospitals adapt to killer heat
NEW DELHI — The Nigerian student only popped out to repair his phone, but he ended up in a New Delhi hospital, the latest victim of a brutal heat wave that has cost scores of lives, sent birds plummeting from…
New blood tests may help predict who is at risk of preeclampsia
When you’re expecting a baby, you hope nothing goes wrong. But at least one in 20 people who are pregnant develop a scary complication called preeclampsia, a high blood pressure disorder that kills 70,000 women and 500,000 babies worldwide every…
Beryl strengthens into a hurricane, forecast to become major storm
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Beryl strengthened into a hurricane Saturday as it churned toward the southeast Caribbean, with forecasters warning it was expected to strengthen into a dangerous major hurricane before reaching Barbados late Sunday or early Monday. A…
Antelope poaching on rise in South Sudan
BADINGILO and BOMA NATIONAL PARKS, South Sudan — Seen from the air, they ripple across the landscape — a river of antelope racing across the vast grasslands of South Sudan in what conservationists say is the world’s largest land mammal…
More African nations focus on HPV vaccination against cervical cancer
ABUJA, Nigeria — Yunusa Bawa spends a lot of time talking about the vaccine for the human papillomavirus that is responsible for nearly all cases of cervical cancer. But on most days, only two or three people allow their daughters…
Palestinians face summer heat surrounded by sewage, garbage
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza — Children in sandals trudge through water contaminated with sewage and scale growing mounds of garbage in Gaza’s crowded tent camps for displaced families. People relieve themselves in burlap-covered pits, with nowhere nearby to wash their hands….
NASA astronauts to stay aboard ISS longer, troubleshooting Boeing capsule
Two NASA astronauts will stay longer at the International Space Station as engineers troubleshoot problems on Boeing’s new space capsule that cropped up on the trip there. NASA on Friday did not set a return date until testing on the…
India airport roof collapse kills 1, injures 6
Heavy monsoon rains in India caused part of a roof to collapse at a New Delhi airport Friday, leaving one person dead and six injured. Indira Gandhi International Airport, which is New Delhi’s main airport and one of the three…