The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service informed some hunters last month that it would allow the import of six elephant trophies into the United States from Zimbabwe. The African elephant carcasses will be the first allowed into the country in five years. The decision reverses an agencywide hold on processing elephant trophy import permits that […]

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Thursday said it would uphold a Trump-era decision and not impose limits in drinking water of perchlorate, a contaminant that has been linked to brain damage in infants. The announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency shocked public health advocates who had denounced the Trump administration in 2020 for opting […]

Adriana Hoffmann, a botanist who roamed Chile deciphering its flora and who as a scientist, activist, author and policymaker tirelessly sought to protect her country’s vast forests from big-business exploitation, died on March 20 at her home in Santiago, the capital. She was 82. She had been struggling with health problems for the last several […]

Mammals are the brainiacs of the animal world. The brain of the sperm whale is the largest on Earth, at a hefty 20 pounds, while your three-pound brain is seven times as large as expected for the average human body. Collectively, mammals have the largest ratio of brain to body size among vertebrates, a fact […]

New research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on adolescents’ mental health during the coronavirus pandemic suggests that for many teenagers who were ordered to stay at home, home was not always a safe place. A nationwide survey of 7,705 high school students conducted in the first half of 2021 built on earlier […]

In yet another twist to the debate over how best to protect children against the coronavirus, researchers reported on Wednesday that Covid vaccines conferred diminished protection against hospitalization among children 12 and older during the latest Omicron surge. Vaccine effectiveness against hospitalization held steady in children aged 5 to 11 years, however, and among adolescents […]

In the silty red soil of Gansu Province in China, a small owl has lain nestled for about 6 million years, since an era known as the Late Miocene. The fossilized bird’s talons are outstretched, one of its wings is spread wide and its sharp beak is turned back over its shoulder. You might imagine […]

Mark Vande Hei, a NASA astronaut, returned to Earth on Wednesday with two Russian counterparts, landing in Kazakhstan after he spent 355 days in space. Mr. Vande Hei and his Russian crewmates, Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, flew home together in a Russian spacecraft, guided by Russian flight controllers. After touching down on a grassy […]

As the United States entered its third year of the pandemic, fewer Americans are reporting that they have been wearing masks in recent months, according to a poll released on Tuesday by The Associated Press and NORC. About 44 percent of Americans reported this month that they usually wore a mask outside their home, down […]

On a windy day in Wichita, Kan., in 2005, No. 492 made its escape. The workers at Sedgwick County Zoo had forgotten to clip the African flamingo’s wings, a painless bit of maintenance that keeps the beloved birds from flying away into the dangerous world outside. The zoo was unable to retrieve the bird before […]