Personal possession of a small amount of hard drugs is now legal in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The controversial move is intended to reduce deaths from drug use. The personal possession of 2.5 grams of hard drugs, including cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, methamphetamine and morphine, has now been decriminalized. This temporary exemption … continue reading -> “Canadian Province Decriminalizes Small Amount of Hard Drugs”

For thousands of years, ancient Egyptians mummified their dead in the search for eternal life. Now, researchers have used chemistry and an unusual collection of jars to figure out how they did it. Their study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, is based on a rare archaeological find: An embalming workshop with a trove of … continue reading -> “How to Make a Mummy: Ancient Egyptian Workshop Has New Clues”

Two mass shootings in California in one week have highlighted the complex mental health issues faced by older Asian Americans who may have been traumatized in their homelands and who — after building new lives in the United States — now find themselves facing additional challenges as they age. Some first-generation Asian immigrants, especially those … continue reading -> “Deadly California Shootings Spotlight Mental Health Issues Among Older Asian Immigrants”

Australian authorities on Wednesday found a radioactive capsule smaller than a coin that was lost in the vast Outback after nearly a week-long search along a 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) stretch of highway, officials said.  The Caesium-137 capsule was discovered when a vehicle travelling at 70 kms per hour equipped with specialist detection equipment picked … continue reading -> “Needle in a Haystack Found: Australia Recovers Missing Radioactive Capsule”

The dodo bird isn’t coming back anytime soon. Nor is the woolly mammoth. But a company working on technologies to bring back extinct species has attracted more investors, while other scientists are skeptical such feats are possible or a good idea.  Colossal Biosciences first announced its ambitious plan to revive the woolly mammoth two years … continue reading -> “Bring Back Extinct Species? Ambitious Plan Draws Investors, Critics”

The world will likely breach the internationally agreed-upon climate change threshold in about a decade and keep heating to break through a next warming limit around mid-century, even with big pollution cuts, artificial intelligence predicts in a new study that’s more pessimistic than previous modeling. The study in Monday’s journal Proceedings of the National Academy … continue reading -> “AI: World Likely to Hit Key Warming Threshold in 10-12 Years”

In the 1980s, more than 3 million people worldwide were infected with Guinea worm. At the end of 2022, the number of reported cases globally was down to 13. There were 15 cases reported a year earlier, “which does not sound like a big reduction, but when you are dealing with very small numbers in … continue reading -> “Global Guinea Worm Infections Continue Downward Trend”

World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warns global health challenges are growing and threatening the well-being of millions of people worldwide. He spoke at the opening of WHO’s week-long executive board meeting.  The WHO chief began his presentation on a somber note. He told meeting participants that an emergency committee convened to assess … continue reading -> “WHO: Scope, Scale of Health Emergencies Growing”

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies warns the world is dangerously unprepared for the next pandemic and this will have severe health, economic and social consequences for countries around the world.  The IFRC has just released this year’s World Disaster Report. In a marked departure from previous reports, the IFRC does … continue reading -> “Red Cross: World is Dangerously Unprepared for Next Pandemic”

Ahead of World Neglected Tropical Diseases Day Monday, the World Health Organization is calling for action to tackle these debilitating illnesses, which affect an estimated 1.65 billion people globally.  A diverse group of 20 parasitic and bacterial tropical diseases is categorized as neglected. This is because they disproportionally affect people who live in poor, remote … continue reading -> “WHO: Over 1.6B People Infected with Neglected Tropical Diseases “

The discovery of an asteroid the size of a small shipping truck mere days before it passed Earth on Thursday, albeit one that posed no threat to humans, highlights a blind spot in our ability to predict those that could actually cause damage, astronomers say. NASA for years has prioritized detecting asteroids much bigger and … continue reading -> “Asteroid’s Sudden Flyby Shows Blind Spot in Planetary Threat Detection”

Heavy rainfall hit New Zealand’s north island again on Sunday, causing landslides, flash floods and knocking out roads, with the death toll rising to four after a person who had been missing was confirmed dead. Battered by rain since Friday, Auckland — New Zealand’s largest city of 1.6 million people — remained under a state … continue reading -> “New Zealand Roiled by Flash Floods, Landslides for Third Day”

The U.N.’s main AIDS program says thousands of children are dying from HIV/AIDS because, unlike adults, they do not receive treatment for the deadly disease. HIV/AIDS is no longer an automatic death sentence. People infected with the disease can live a normal lifespan, provided they receive treatment and care. Unfortunately, there is a glaring disparity … continue reading -> “Children Denied Same Access to Treatment for HIV/AIDS as Adults”

This week India launched its first nasal COVID-19 vaccine, four months after it received approval for its restricted emergency use among adults in the country. The mucosal vaccine, made by India’s leading vaccine maker, Bharat Biotech, is based on technology licensed from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, in the U.S. It is … continue reading -> “India’s First Nasal COVID-19 Vaccine Launched”

A comet is streaking back our way after 50,000 years.  The dirty snowball last visited during Neanderthal times, according to NASA. It will come within 42 million kilometers (26 million miles) of Earth on Wednesday before speeding away again, unlikely to return for millions of years.  Discovered less than a year ago, this harmless green … continue reading -> “Green Comet Zooming Our Way; Last Visited 50,000 Years Ago”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday proposed revisions to its guidelines to make it easier for gay and bisexual men to donate blood, eliminating a three-month abstinence period before donations. The restrictions were implemented years ago to prevent the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In a release posted to the … continue reading -> “US FDA Proposes Eased Restrictions on Blood Donations from Gay, Bisexual Men”

The Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 has likely become the dominant variant in the United States, accounting for 61.3% of COVID cases in the week ended January 28, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed on Friday. The subvariant accounted for 49.5% of cases in the week ended January 21, according to estimates … continue reading -> “CDC Says Omicron Subvariant XBB.1.5 Accounts for 61.3% of US COVID Cases”

The Biden administration moved Thursday to protect northeastern Minnesota’s pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness from future mining, dealing a potentially fatal blow to a copper-nickel project. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland signed an order closing more than 900 square kilometers of the Superior National Forest in the Rainy River Watershed around the town of Ely, … continue reading -> “US Moves to Protect Minnesota Wilderness from Planned Mine”

The U.S. space agency NASA says a small asteroid will pass very close to Earth Thursday, just 3,600 kilometers from our planet’s surface, well within the orbit of most geosynchronous satellites.   In a release on its website, NASA says the object, known as 2023 BU, poses no threat to the Earth. The agency says … continue reading -> “Small Asteroid to Pass Near Earth Thursday”

An asteroid the size of a delivery truck will whip past Earth on Thursday night, one of the closest such encounters ever recorded. NASA said it will be a near miss with no chance of the asteroid hitting Earth. NASA said Wednesday that the newly discovered asteroid will zoom 3,600 kilometers above the southern tip … continue reading -> “Asteroid on Path for Close Call With Earth”

The United States is “actively seeking to reengage” China on counternarcotics, including stopping the flow of illicit synthetic drugs like fentanyl into the U.S., said the State Department ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Beijing in early February. U.S. officials admit engagement between the two countries on these issues “has been limited … continue reading -> “US Seeks Reengagement with China to Stop Illicit Fentanyl as Blinken Heads to Beijing”

Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday that they are trying to uncover the meaning of a recently discovered hand imprint carved into the stone wall of an ancient moat outside Jerusalem’s Old City. The imprint, which may been made as a “prank”, was found in a thousand-year-old moat exposed during works to expand a road in Israeli-annexed … continue reading -> “Ancient Jerusalem Hand Imprint Baffles Israel Experts”

Malawi has appealed for more than 7 million additional doses of cholera vaccine from the World Health Organization as it struggles to control a record outbreak of the bacterial illness. The WHO donated almost 3 million doses of the vaccine to Malawi in November but those were quickly used up. Since March of last year, … continue reading -> “Malawi Makes Fresh Appeal for Cholera Vaccine”

A so-called space environmentalist is working to make the public more aware about space debris by tracking its movement in real time on a website. He says we need to think about space as an ecosystem. Deana Mitchell has the story. Camera: Deana Mitchell Produced by: Deana Mitchell …

The World Health Organization is appealing for a record $2.54 billion to assist millions of people in 54 countries facing catastrophic health emergencies triggered by multiple man-made and natural disasters.   In launching the appeal, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the world is witnessing an unprecedented convergence of crises that demand an unprecedented … continue reading -> “WHO Appeals for Record $2.54 Billion to Address 54 Global Health Emergencies”