Month: May 2020

In just 50 years, 2 billion to 3.5 billion people, mostly the poor who can’t afford air conditioning, will be living in a climate that historically has been too hot to handle, a new study says. With every 1 degree increase in global average annual temperature from man-made climate change, about a billion or so people will…

An alliance of world leaders is holding a virtual summit Monday hoping to drum up billions of dollars to fund research into a vaccine for the new coronavirus as well as develop better treatments and more efficient testing.Governments have reported around 3.5 million infections and more than 247,000 deaths from the virus, according to a…

Goodbye lockdown, hello smartphone. As governments race to develop mobile tracing apps to help contain infections, attention is turning to how officials will ensure users’ privacy. The debate is especially urgent in Europe, which has been one of the hardest-hit regions in the world, with nearly 140,000 people killed by COVID-19. The use of monitoring…

An infant manatee rescued off the coast of Florida over the weekend is being treated at Miami Seaquarium, the Florida Keys News Bureau said. Owners of a private residence spotted the manatee along their dock and contacted the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, according to Florida Keys. The female calf is underweight at about 30  kilograms, a veterinarian at Seaquarium said. The Dolphin Research Center’s Manatee Rescue Team and the…

Conner Brown, a law student at Stanford University, spent the early days of the pandemic following his brother as he spotted and collected characters in the Pokemon Go mobile game.Then, Brown noticed the birds.”I thought, ‘Why don’t I take up birding?’ It’s like real-life Pokemon Go. It’s super addicting because you can start logging them…

The U.N. Children’s Fund warns that COVID-19 mitigation measures are preventing the shipment of vaccines to dozens of developing countries, putting the lives of millions of children at risk.     Lockdowns and other measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus are causing a massive backlog in vaccine shipments.  UNICEF reports it had procured…

The United Nations says torrential rains and flooding have affected nearly 150,000 people throughout Yemen, causing serious damage to vital infrastructure and exposing thousands to potentially life-threatening disease outbreaks.U.N. agencies say the rains, which have been ongoing since mid-April, have damaged houses and shelters, rendering thousands homeless. Flood waters have washed out roads and bridges,…

The U.S. space agency NASA has announced a new high-pressure ventilator developed by its engineers and designed specifically to COVID-19 patients has been approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The device, called VITAL — meaning “Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally” — was designed and built in 37 days by engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in the city of Pasadena, California. Its designers say it is intended to be used exclusively…

The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that it has not been invited by China to join the investigation into the cause of the coronavirus pandemic.WHO’s representative in Beijing Dr. Gauden Galea said he expected China would discuss collaborations with the organization in the “near future.””We know some national investigation is happening but at this…

The International Space Station received several tons of supplies this week from an unmanned craft, but the big story this week is a milestone birthday for the ultimate eye in the sky, as the Hubble Telescope turned 30. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi spoke with NASA’s director of astrophysics and brings us this story. …