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Life expectancy bouncing back globally after COVID pandemic

London —  Life expectancy in Europe has returned to the level it reached before the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, while the U.S. is still trying to regain lost ground. Overall, new numbers show life expectancy has increased in most parts of…

Life expectancy bouncing back globally after COVID pandemic

Life expectancy in Europe has returned to the level it reached before the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, while the U.S. is still trying to regain lost ground. Overall, new numbers show life expectancy has increased in most parts of the world,…

Africa’s cholera crisis worse than ever

LILANDA, Zambia —  Extreme weather events have hit parts of Africa relentlessly in the last three years, with tropical storms, floods and drought causing crises of hunger and displacement. They leave another deadly threat behind them: some of the continent’s…

Report: Tobacco industry uses manipulative practices to hook young people on addictive products

Geneva —  The World Health Organization and STOP, a global tobacco industry watchdog, warn the tobacco industry is using a variety of manipulative tactics to hook a new generation of young people into becoming users of their addictive, toxic tobacco…

Can pink noise enhance sleep and memory?

You may have heard of white noise used to mask background sounds. Now, it has colorful competition. There’s a growing buzz around pink noise, brown noise, green noise — a rainbow of soothing sounds — and their theoretical effects on…

New cars in California could alert drivers for breaking the speed limit

SACRAMENTO, California —  California could eventually join the European Union in requiring all new cars to alert drivers when they break the speed limit, a proposal aimed at reducing traffic deaths that would likely impact motorists across the country should…

Use of weight-loss drugs soars among kids, young adults

At 17, Israel McKenzie was so burdened by obesity that he stopped going to high school in person and was embarrassed to speak to people at his restaurant job. “I was in a really dark place,” said McKenzie, whose weight…

Italian museum recreates Tanzanian butterfly forest

TRENTO, Italy —  In a lush greenhouse high in the Alps, butterflies of various species and colors flutter freely while butterfly pupae are suspended in a structure as they grow into adult insects. This is the Butterfly Forest in the…

WHO negotiators fail to draft pandemic treaty

Two years of negotiations ended Friday without a final draft of a global agreement on how to best handle the next pandemic that public health officials say is sure to come. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization was…

Bird flu detected in US dairy cow sent to slaughter, USDA says

Bird flu virus particles were found in tissue samples taken from one dairy cow sent to slaughter at a U.S. meat processing plant, but none were detected in samples from 95 other cattle, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on…