WHO: First fatal human case of H5N2 bird flu identified
Geneva — The World Health Organization said Wednesday a person in Mexico had died in the first confirmed human case globally of infection with the H5N2 variant of bird flu. The patient, who died on April 24 after developing fever,…
NASA unveils catalog of 126 exoplanets
A new NASA paper on exoplanets catalogs 126 confirmed and candidate exoplanets beyond our solar system, including some that could possibly support life. The catalog, published May 23 by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) with the W. M. Keck…
UN chief warns target to limit global warming is slipping away
NEW YORK — The U.N. secretary-general said Wednesday that the world is “at a moment of truth” to reach targets in the 2015 Paris climate accord to limit global warming, as the planet has just experienced the 12 hottest consecutive…
Panel rejects psychedelic drug MDMA as a PTSD treatment
washington — Federal health advisers voted Tuesday against a first-of-a-kind proposal to begin using the mind-altering drug MDMA as a treatment for PTSD, handing a potentially major setback to advocates who had hoped to win a landmark federal approval and…
Rare fossil of adolescent Tyrannosaurus – ‘Teen Rex’ – found by US kids
A rare fossil of an adolescent Tyrannosaurus rex has been excavated in North Dakota’s badlands — a find noteworthy for the scientific insight it may offer into the life history of this famous dinosaur and for the tale of the…
Chinese lunar probe returning to Earth
Chinese state-run media say an uncrewed spacecraft is headed back to Earth after blasting off from the far side of the moon Tuesday. The China National Space Administration says the ascender module of the Chang’e-6 probe entered a preset lunar…
Climate change, El Niño to blame for deadly floods in Brazil
Climate change and the El Niño weather phenomenon are to blame for the historic floods in southern Brazil that killed almost 170 people and displaced about 600,000 people, a team of international scientists said Monday. The World Weather Attribution (WWA)…
Trillions of cicadas descend on parts of US
Trillions of cicadas that have burrowed underground for 13 and 17 years are now emerging in parts of the midwestern and southern United States. “The southern states and the central U.S. are going to be the hardest hit,” says Paula…
In Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, a hidden underground world is under threat by the Maya Train
AKTUN TUYUL CAVE SYSTEM, Mexico — Rays of sunlight slice through pools of crystal water as clusters of fish cast shadows on the limestone below. Arching over the emerald basin are walls of stalactites dripping down the cavern ceiling, which…
Extreme heat: Climate change’s silent killer
Geneva — Nearly 62,000 people died from heat-related stress in the summer of 2022 in Europe alone, and, according to a new study by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, “With further global warming, we can expect an…