Anyone who has cats knows they are smart. But anyone who knows cats knows they can also seem a bit aloof, at least until dinnertime. But do not let them fool you, turns out your cat is watching you closely, …

Scientists are seeing surprising melting in Earth’s polar regions at times they don’t expect, like winter, and in places they don’t expect, like eastern Antarctica. New studies and reports issued this week at a major Earth sciences conference paint one …

With its wooden walls and posters on protecting forests and fauna, Brazil’s pavilion at the U.N. climate talks in Poland offers no hint of the angst at home and abroad over mixed messages on global warming from its president-elect. But …

A new proposal from the Trump White House would roll back more Obama-era environmental regulations. Trump administration officials say Tuesday’s proposed change in the Clean Water Act provides “a clear, understandable, and implementable definition” of what kinds of bodies of …

Environmental groups opposed to offshore drilling sued the federal government Tuesday to prevent future seismic tests for oil and gas deposits  in Atlantic waters off the U.S. East Coast.  Seismic testing, which uses air gun blasts, violates federal laws that protect marine …

Deforestation in Brazil’s tropical Cerrado savanna, which makes up a quarter of the country, fell 11 percent to a record low in 2018 compared with a year earlier, the Ministry of Environment said in a statement Tuesday.  Deforestation in the South American country’s savanna biome totaled …

A U.S. energy official says “no country should have to sacrifice economic prosperity or energy security in pursuit of environmental sustainability” during a U.N. climate discussions in Poland. Preston Wells Griffith, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of International Affairs at the Department …

Scientists have drilled a mile and a half (2.5 kilometers) beneath the seabed and found vast underground forests of “deep life,” including microbes that persist for thousands, maybe millions of years, researchers said Monday. Feeding on nothing but the energy …

When a U.S. district judge last month ruled a federal ban on female genital mutilation unconstitutional, he undercut the federal government and alarmed anti-FGM activists, who hope to eradicate the practice. The World Health Organization calls FGM, also known as …

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has discovered ingredients for water on a relatively nearby skyscraper-sized asteroid, a rocky acorn-shaped object that may hold clues to the origins of life on Earth, scientists said on Monday. OSIRIS-REx, which flew last week within a …

City frogs and rainforest frogs don’t sing the same tune, researchers have found.   A study released Monday examined why Panama’s tiny tungara frogs adapt their mating calls in urban areas — an unexpected example of how animals change communication …

Environment ministers from nearly 200 countries are arriving in the Polish city of Katowice to join haggling over ways to advance the 2015 Paris accord to curb climate change. National leaders have stayed away from this year’s climate change conference …

Many companies including McDonald’s and Kellogg are purging artificial colors from their foods, but don’t expect your cheeseburgers or cereal to look much different. Colors send important signals about food, and companies aren’t going to stop playing into those perceptions. …

Efforts to boost global action against climate change are stuttering, as several key nations have objected to a key United Nations-backed report on the impacts of rising temperatures at the COP24 talks in Poland. Many developing nations say they are …

As the U.N. global climate conference in Katowice, Poland entered its second week Sunday, the non-governmental environmental organization Greenpeace demanded urgent action from world leaders to tackle climate change. Greenpeace activists projected a message onto the roof of the “Spodek” …

According to the World Ocean Review, shipping by sea is responsible for about 3 percent of the world’s total carbon emissions. But one Norwegian shipping company is creating hybrid ships and planning for a carbon free future. VOA’s Kevin Enochs …

A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship finally delivered more than 2,500 kilograms of holiday treats Saturday to the International Space Station after a communications drop-out delayed the shipment. After two approach attempts, the Dragon locked onto the orbiting lab three days …

U.S. health officials are concerned about the increasing number of American teenagers smoking electronic cigarettes, a practice commonly known as vaping. So many teenagers are taking up the habit that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is worried that it’s …

China launched a groundbreaking mission Saturday to land a spacecraft on the largely unexplored far side of the moon, demonstrating its growing ambitions as a space power to rival Russia, the European Union and the U.S.    A Long March …

NASA’s new Mars lander has captured the first sounds of the “really unworldly” Martian wind. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory released audio clips of the alien wind Friday. The low-frequency rumblings were collected by the InSight lander during its first week …

Gorillas at a zoo in England have demonstrated a distinctly human trait while attempting to solve a puzzle: cheating. …

The World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for urgent action to put a brake on road traffic crashes that kill 1.35 million people every year, mostly in poor developing countries. In Geneva, the U.N. agency launched its global status report …

When people get magnetic resonance imaging scans, known as MRI’s, they spend a long time in a tube with very little head room. The procedure is especially difficult for people who are claustrophobic. At the University of Missouri, researchers are …

In the three months since the Ebola outbreak began in the volatile east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the hemorrhagic fever has sparked debate in communities and become a talking point for politicians ahead of the Dec. 23 election. …