Algeria virus cases hit daily record

Algeria's health ministry said Friday it recorded 240 new COVID-19 cases the day before, the country's highest daily tally since the pandemic began and three weeks after easing a lockdown.

US 737 MAX test flight could be as soon as next week: sources

US regulators are getting close to undertaking a test flight of Boeing's grounded 737 MAX and could schedule the key step for as soon as next week, two sources said Friday.

Texas, Florida slow reopening as virus cases surge

Texas and Florida closed bars and imposed other measures on Friday to combat a surge in coronavirus cases that has put the brakes on reopening the economies of two of the largest US states.

Facebook ramps up efforts to curb 'hateful content' in ads

Facebook said Friday it would ban a "wider category of hateful content" in ads as the embattled social media giant moved to respond to widening protests over its handling of inflammatory posts.

Ancient Maya reservoirs contained toxic pollution: study

Reservoirs in the heart of an ancient Maya city were so polluted with mercury and algae that the water likely was undrinkable.

St. Jude Cloud portal expands access to treasure trove of pediatric solid tumor data

An innovative, interactive cloud-based data portal debuted this week that lets academic researchers mine the world's largest and most comprehensive collection of scientific resources for studying pediatric solid tumors and their related biology. The Childhood Solid Tumor Network (CSTN) data portal on St. Jude Cloud was created to improve access to the detailed data available through the network, stimulating the research and development of novel, lifesaving therapies.

Agricultural fires in central Africa light up in Suomi NPP satellite image

Fires have spread across the majority of the landscape in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in this NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP satellite image using the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument from June 25, 2020. Fires of this number are not uncommon at this time of year in Africa. During the agricultural season of clearing field and planting new ones, farmers set fire to the remains of old crop fields to rid them of the leftover grasses and scrub. This action also helps return nutrients to the soil to ensure a good crop during the next planting season.

Suomi NPP satellite analyzes Saharan dust aerosol blanket

Dust storms from Africa's Saharan Desert traveling across the Atlantic Ocean are nothing new, but the current dust storm has been quite expansive and NASA satellites have provided a look at the massive June plume. NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite showed the blanket of dust had moved over the Gulf of Mexico and extended into Central America and over part of the eastern Pacific Ocean.

1/3 of parents in 3 states may not send children to school because of COVID-19

Kindergartners in face masks. Closed playground structures. Random COVID-19 testing.

More evidence of causal link between air pollution and early death

Strengthening U.S. air quality standards for fine particulate pollution to be in compliance with current World Health Association (WHO) guidelines could save more than 140,000 lives over the course of a decade, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Simple oral health steps help improve elite athletes' performance

Elite athletes who adopted simple oral health measures, such as using high fluoride toothpaste and cleaning between their teeth, reported significantly reduced negative effects on performance related to poor oral health, finds a study led by UCL.

Drug with new approach on impeding DNA repair shows promise in first clinical trial

In its first randomized clinical trial, a drug that targets a protein needed by cancer cells to maintain their dogged growth and division has shown considerable promise in combination with chemotherapy in patients with a common form of ovarian cancer, investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report.

Human eggs prefer some men's sperm over others, research shows

Human eggs use chemical signals to attract sperm. New research from Stockholm University and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust shows that eggs use these chemical signals to choose sperm. Different women's eggs attract different men's sperm—and not necessarily their partner's.

Simple way of 'listening' to chicks could dramatically improve welfare

A simple and low-cost method of 'listening' to chicks may allow welfare issues to be picked up at the earliest possible opportunity, according to new research.

Widespread facemask use could shrink the 'R' number and prevent a second COVID-19 wave: study

Population-wide use of facemasks keeps the coronavirus 'reproduction number' under 1.0, and prevents further waves of the virus when combined with lockdowns, a modelling study from the universities of Cambridge and Greenwich suggests.

Using AI to unlock clues to the origins of the stars and planets

An artificial intelligence (AI) system analyzing data from the Gaia space telescope has identified more than 2,000 large protostars, young stars that are still forming and could hold clues to the origin of the stars in our Milky Way.