Origami – the ancient Japanese art of paper folding – can create cranes whose wings flap and frogs that jump. Engineers are taking the same idea and apply it to robotics. VOA’s Deborah Block reports. …
Forty-eight years ago this July, U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon. That image transfixed a little Costa Rican girl as she watched on a neighbor’s TV. VOA Vero Balderas explains how that …
Science seems to be finally starting to win in the war against the human immunodeficiency virus HIV that causes AIDS. But experts gathered at the Paris conference on the deadly disease say proposed cuts in global funding may delay the …
Promising startups in the United States receive a shred of the billions of dollars investors pump into them when led by women, a major study found Tuesday. Between 2011 and 2013, companies with a female CEO received $1.5 billion of …
U.S. President Donald Trump named on Tuesday two possible candidates to run the Federal Reserve over the next few years: current Fed Chair Janet Yellen and Trump’s economic adviser Gary Cohn, according to an interview with The Wall Street Journal. …
Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has committed to build three big manufacturing plants in the United States, the Wall Street Journal quoted U.S. President Donald Trump as saying. “I spoke to [Cook], he’s promised me three big plants — big, …
Colombian officials received $27 million in bribes from Brazilian engineering firm Odebrecht, more than double previously thought, as the company sought to win a road-building contract, Colombia’s attorney general said on Tuesday. As fallout from a massive corruption scandal continues …
Dozens of teen pregnancy prevention programs deemed ineffective by President Donald Trump’s administration will lose more than $200 million in funding following a surprise decision to end five-year grants after only three years. The administration’s assessment is in sharp contrast …
Peruvian authorities have launched a major crackdown on modern slavery after a warehouse fire in Lima last month killed four workers, including two who were trapped inside a padlocked container on the roof. Officials said they had shut down six …
A pesticide banned by international treaty in 2011 could be responsible for the deaths of young children in South Asia, according to new findings. In June 2012, 14 children were brought to the Dinajpur Medical College Hospital in northern Bangladesh …
Al Gore admits he was frustrated upon hearing the news last month that President Donald Trump was pulling out of the Paris climate accord, but since then he’s become more optimistic. Gore worried that a U.S. withdrawal from the treaty …
Silicon Valley baron Elon Musk insulted rival billionaire Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday, escalating a tech wizard war of words over whether robots will become smart enough to kill their human creators. “His understanding of the subject is limited,” Musk said …
A Wisconsin company is offering to microchip its employees, enabling them to open doors, log onto their computers and purchase break room snacks with a simple swipe of the hand. Three Square Market, also known as 32M, says it expects …
In spite of an earlier denial, the Chinese government has tightened its grip on the Internet, stepping up efforts against netizens’ access to unsupervised connections, including those via virtual private networks (VPNs) halfway through its 14-month-long crackdown nationwide. VPNs are …
Following a lack of agreement at the U.S. China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue in Washington last week, analysts say they expect the Trump administration to impose stiff penalties on Chinese steel and other imports. They are also predicting the U.S. might …
Countries with few health-management resources are prone to periodic outbreaks of insect-borne diseases affecting both people and livestock. One of the best ways to reduce the impact is timely vaccination and eradication of insects. But how to tell when an …
A Ghanaian teenager wanted to develop a video search engine that could challenge the dominance of YouTube. As Faith Lapidus reports, he’s well on his way. …
From recycled paint to rented jeans, businesses large and small are looking at ways to cut waste, use fewer resources and help create what has been coined a “circular economy” in which raw materials and products are repeatedly reused. Unilever, …
More steps to free up trade globally have been taken since Donald Trump was elected than measures to restrict it, the World Trade Organization said, despite concerns his administration would introduce a raft of punitive rules to protect U.S. jobs. …
Thailand’s justice ministry froze some of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s bank accounts, the ministry and her legal team said on Monday, in relation to a $1 billion fine imposed by the ruling junta over her administration’s rice-subsidy program. She …
New technology allows scientists working on new vaccines to combat infectious diseases to test their products’ effectiveness on a model immune system in a laboratory, without putting the upgraded vaccine into humans. Researchers have begun building model immune systems using …
The worst-ever outbreak of dengue fever in Sri Lanka has killed nearly 300 people, with the number of cases rising rapidly. Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health reports that the number of dengue infections has climbed above 103,000 since the start …
Islanders in the Philippines have stayed in their homes even after an earthquake caused subsidence and floods, according to a study on Monday that questions how far global warming will trigger mass migration as sea levels rise. Ice is thawing …
The U.S. government says the HIV epidemic is “coming under control” in Swaziland, the country with the world’s highest prevalence of the virus. The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) said Monday that new infections among adults in …