Two weeks after their bank accounts were frozen amid a swirl of investigations by the Trump administration, nonprofit organizations that were supposed to receive $20 billion to help curb climate change are still unable to withdraw money, raising concerns about their ability to pay staff. The accounts were frozen by Citibank, which holds the money, … Read more
A measles outbreak that has spread over a swath of West Texas, killing one child, shows no signs of slowing, according to data announced on Tuesday by state health officials. The Texas Department of Health reported that since late January, nearly 160 people have contracted measles — 20 more cases than reported on Friday — … Read more
A company in Washington State voluntarily recalled a raw food product for cats this week because of the potential risk that it may have been contaminated with bird flu amid outbreaks in poultry and cows across the United States, federal safety regulators said. Wild Coast Raw of Olympia, Wash., issued the recall for its frozen … Read more
After months of drifting, the world’s largest iceberg has come to a halt near the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic Ocean. While a “Titanic II” scenario isn’t very likely, and the area’s penguins seem to be mostly safe, the berg may be a symptom of unwelcome change to the Antarctic and the … Read more
The new head of the Food and Drug Administration division that regulates infant formula was in recent months a corporate lawyer defending a top formula maker from claims that its product gave rise to debilitating harm to premature babies. Kyle A. Diamantas joined the F.D.A. last month to lead the food division, leaving the law … Read more
Feb. 28: This article was updated to include an announcement on Thursday night from NASA about the status of the Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft. The moon is not bone dry, scientists now know. But how many drops of water will thirsty astronauts find? No one knows for sure. A robotic NASA spacecraft called Lunar Trailblazer, which … Read more
The ocean, a vast and complex ecosystem, is facing unprecedented challenges due to climate change. Rising temperatures are not just affecting surface waters; they are fundamentally altering the base of the ocean food web, with potentially catastrophic consequences for marine life and beyond. The Foundation: Phytoplankton Phytoplankton, microscopic marine algae, are the foundation of the … Read more
The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw foreign aid and dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development is likely to cause enormous human suffering, according to estimates by the agency itself. Among them: up to 18 million additional cases of malaria per year, and as many as 166,000 additional deaths; 200,000 children paralyzed with polio annually, … Read more
In a first test of the Trump administration’s ability to respond to an infectious disease emergency, its top health official has shied away from one of the government’s most important tools, experts said on Sunday: loudly and directly encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary, was widely criticized … Read more
The opening week of the landmark trial of Greenpeace in a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by Energy Transfer over the Dakota Access Pipeline protests did not bode well for the defense. Lawyers for Greenpeace said so themselves in a petition filed in North Dakota’s Supreme Court. They asked the court on Thursday to move the trial out … Read more