U.S. space agency NASA on Monday asked American aerospace companies to offer detailed ideas for vehicles that could bring two astronauts to the moon by 2024, an American objective that was reconfirmed on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.NASA called the request for input a “major step” forward for its new moon mission, dubbed Artemis — who in Greek mythology was Apollo’s twin sister.The space agency published documents explaining in detail what it is looking for in a lunar lander that will bring the two astronauts, one a woman, to the moon’s south pole, where they will stay for six-and-a-half days.In May, 11 companies including sector mainstays Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman were picked to lead feasibility studies and develop prototypes by November. Also on the list were newcomers such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.That same month, Blue Origin unveiled its lander project, …

Yukiya Amano, the Japanese diplomat who led the International Atomic Energy Agency for a decade and was extensively involved in negotiations over Iran’s controversial nuclear program, has died at 72, the agency announced Monday.   Amano, who had wide experience in disarmament, non-proliferation diplomacy and nuclear energy, had been chief of the key U.N. agency that regulates nuclear issues worldwide since 2009.   The news of his death comes at a time of increasing concerns and escalating tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, after U.S. President Donald Trump left a 2015 deal with world powers that restricted the country’s nuclear uranium enrichment. Amano was heavily involved in the yearslong negotiations that led to the landmark Iran nuclear deal.   As head of the IAEA, Amano also dealt with the aftermath of the devastating 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan.   The IAEA Secretariat did not give a cause of death for …

India successfully launched an ambitious mission to land a rover on an unexplored area of the moon as a rocket hurtled into space from Sriharikota in eastern India.In a feat accomplished by only three countries so far – the United States, Russia and China – the project aims to make a soft landing on the moon and seal India’s reputation as a leading space power.The launch on Monday afternoon came a week after the high profile lunar mission was abruptly aborted less than an hour before takeoff due to a “technical snag.”A man at New Delhi’s Nehru Planetarium, takes pictures of a web cast of the lift off of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)’s Geosynchronous Satellite launch Vehicle (GSLV) MkIII carrying Chandrayaan-2 from the Satish Dhawan Space Center.After a live telecast showed the Chandrayaan-2 taking off, onlookers cheered and scientists clapped and hugged in the control room. The head of …

From mobile phones, tablets and laptop computers to all the different types of social media out there, modern day society as a whole is distracted in a way it never has before.  Scientists have noticed that as technology becomes more prevalent, people are also getting fatter.  VOA’s Elizabeth has the details on a Rice University study examining whether there is a link between technology habits and obesity. …

India will make a second attempt Monday to send a landmark spacecraft to the Moon after an apparent fuel leak forced last week’s launch to be aborted.The South Asian nation is bidding to become just the fourth nation — after Russia, the United States and China — to land a spacecraft on the Moon.The mission comes 50 years after Neil Armstrong became the first person to step foot on the moon, an occasion celebrated by space enthusiasts globally on Saturday.The fresh launch attempt for Chandrayaan-2 — Moon Chariot 2 in some Indian languages including Sanskrit and Hindi — has been scheduled for 2:43 pm (0913 GMT) on Monday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.”Chandrayaan 2 is ready to take a billion dreams to the Moon – now stronger than ever before!” it said on Thursday.The first launch attempt was scrubbed just under an hour before the scheduled lift-off because of what authorities described …

There are more than 150 patients at the “Alcor Life Extension Foundation.” Each had their body frozen cryonically shortly after death in the hopes that one day, medical science will find a cure for what killed them, and they can be revived and healed. It’s a scientifically dubious idea, but some people are willing to pay a lot of money in the hopes that one day they can come back for a long and healthy life. Iacopo Luzi has the story.  …

MIAMI — American crocodiles, once headed toward extinction, are thriving at an unusual spot — the canals surrounding a South Florida nuclear plant. Last week, 73 crocodile hatchlings were rescued by a team of specialists at Florida Power & Light’s Turkey Point nuclear plant and dozens more are expected to emerge soon. Turkey Point’s 168-mile (270-kilometer) man-made canals serve as the home to several hundred crocodiles, where a team of specialists working for FPL monitors and protects them from hunting and climate change. From January to April, Michael Lloret, an FPL wildlife biologist and crocodile specialist, helps create nests for the creatures. Once the hatchlings are reared and left by the mother, the team captures them. They are measured and tagged with microchips to observe their development. Lloret then relocates them to increase survival rates. “We entice crocodiles to come in to the habitats FPL created,” Lloret said. “We clear greenery on the berms …

On the 50th anniversary of humanity’s first moon landing, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence paid tribute to the three American astronauts who helped make the historic event a reality.     “They did more than win the space race, they brought together our nation, and for one brief moment, all the people of the world were truly one,” Pence said at an anniversary event Saturday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.    “Now, true to their creed, astronauts have never liked the idea of being called heroes. Yet for all they did, for all the risks they took, if Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins are not heroes, then there are no heroes,” said Pence, chairman of the National Space Council, to enthusiastic applause.    On July 20, 1969, America’s lunar module named Eagle touched down at 2018 GMT, with Armstrong, the late astronaut, placing his left foot on the …

A report issued on the eve of an international AIDS conference in Mexico finds progress in combating the global HIV/AIDS epidemic is receding.  The joint U.N. program on HIV/AIDS, known as UNAIDS, warns the pace of progress in reducing new HIV infections is slowing because nations lack the political will needed to end this scourge. UNAIDS latest global update finds 1.7 million people were newly infected with HIV in 2018 and 770,000 died of AIDS-related illnesses.  The report finds more than 23 million people are receiving anti-retroviral treatment, but another 15 million are still not receiving this life-saving treatment.UNAIDS Chief: Testing is Critical in Combating HIV/AIDSUNAIDS Acting Executive Director Gunilla Carlsson says the report for the first time shows key populations and their sexual partners account for more than half of all new HIV infections.  She notes up to 54 percent of new infections is being spread by sex workers, drug …

The National Weather Service warned that dangerously high temperatures and humidity in the United States over the weekend could quickly cause heat stress or heat stroke, if precautions are not taken. The NWS advises people to check in on relatives and friends, especially the elderly.Temperatures have been rising in cities from the Midwest to the East Coast because of a high pressure system that has trapped the  warm air.  City officials are allowing public pools to stay open longer and municipalities are issuing advisories to inform the public about how best to deal with the heat.   Forecasters say temperatures in New York City will reach 33 degrees Celsius Saturday, but with the humidity, it will feel like 43 degrees Celsius.Saturday in the nation’s capital will reach 38 degrees Celsius and Philadelphia will go up to 36 degrees Celsius.  The World Meteorological Organization says June 2019 was the planet’s warmest month …

Summer in the city is hot. How hot? A team at the University of Georgia is developing a way to map how hot it is in so-called urban heat islands, down to the level of individual street blocks. Faith Lapidus reports. …

Fifty years ago, two American astronauts became the first humans to walk on the Moon. But before humans had left Earth, animal astronauts had blazed a trail into space. VOA’s Kerry Hensley has more. …

The Environmental Protection Agency rejected a key legal challenge Thursday to a pesticide linked to brain damage in children, saying environmental groups had failed to prove that a ban was warranted.The agency’s defense of continued use of the widely used bug-killer chlorpyrifos could set the stage for a pivotal federal court decision on whether to overrule the EPA and force the agency to ban it.“To me, this starts the clock on the use of chlorpyrifos on food crops in the US,” said former senior EPA attorney Kevin Minoli.Scientists say studies have shown that chlorpyrifos damages the brains of fetuses and children. The pesticide has been used nationally on dozens of food crops, but California — the nation’s largest agricultural state — and a handful of other states have recently moved to ban it.The agency said the environmental groups had failed to prove that the pesticide wasn’t safe.Last summer, a three-judge …

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says the world’s leading weather stations confirm the Earth has just had the warmest June on record, since record keeping began in 1880. Meteorologists say nine of the 10 warmest Junes on record have occurred since 2010.  The 10th record-holder was in June 1998.  WMO says last month’s record-breaking temperatures were felt across the globe.  It says no land or ocean areas have recorded cold temperatures in June.But WMO spokeswoman Claire Nullis says temperatures are only part of the story.”June saw the second-smallest Arctic sea ice extent for the month on record and the lowest Antarctic sea ice extent,” she said. “… There is a lot of concern this week about fires in Greenland as part of the unusual spike in Arctic blazes.” Nullis notes Alert, Canada, the northernmost settlement on Earth, reached a high of 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit) for the first time in …

About 60 percent of the world’s coral reefs are under stress from rising temperatures, according to the nonprofit group Reef Resilience Network. And new research shows just how devastating two heat waves were to coral in the Indian Ocean. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. …

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an ambitious climate change bill Thursday with the goal of slashing the state’s greenhouse gas emissions 85% below what they were in 1990.    “Cries for a new green movement are hollow political rhetoric if not combined with aggressive goals and a realistic plan on how to achieve them,” Cuomo said before signing the bill into law.    He was joined by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who has made fighting global warming his life’s work.    “We still have it within our power to grab hold of this crisis,” Gore said.    The measure Cuomo signed looks to use renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, to generate 70% of the state’s electric power by 2030.     It also includes construction of massive wind farms off the coast of Long Island, which Cuomo said would generate enough electricity to power 1 million …

Medical providers say some pregnant women in developing countries have lost access to prenatal health care because of the Trump administration’s expanded “global gag rule” that cut aid to international organizations involved in abortion-related activities.A recent study in the Lancet Global Health journal also reports that abortions actually increased in Africa when these aid restrictions were enacted in the past.U.S. President Donald Trump in 2017 reinstated the partisan “global gag rule,” which blocks around $8.8 billion of U.S. international health assistance to organizations that provide abortion services, offer pro-abortion counseling or advocate for the liberalization of abortion laws.Also called the “Mexico City Policy,” named after the city that hosted a 1984 United Nations population conference where it was first announced, the abortion-related restrictions have been enacted by Republican U.S. presidents since Ronald Reagan and repealed whenever Democrats occupied the White House.Closed clinicsSince the Trump administration’s reinstatement of the rule, a …

Fifty years after humans first set foot on the moon, the rock samples collected by Apollo astronauts are being studied by volcanologists who believe what they learn could help predict eruptions on Earth more accurately. Faith Lapidus reports. …

Scientists are finally closing in on a goal they’ve spent years trying to achieve: a blood test to screen people for possible signs of Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. At an international conference in Los Angeles, July 14-19, different research groups will present evidence to show how far they’ve progressed. Faith Lapidus reports.   …

GENEVA — The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s conflict-ridden North Kivu and Ituri provinces a public health emergency of international concern. The declaration by an emergency committee at WHO headquarters in Geneva elevated the disease and the efforts needed to combat it to a significantly higher level of concern. Nevertheless, committee chairman Robert Steffen cautioned against overreacting to the meaning of the decision.      “This is still a regional emergency and by no way a global threat,” he said. “And, why this change of opinion … there is concern about the spread of Ebola from Goma, a gateway, even though so far no cases were newly infected in the city.”    On Sunday, the first case of Ebola was discovered in Goma, a city of 2 million.  The pastor infected with the virus later died.     Steffen said the recurrence of intense …