BEIJING A Chinese scholar persecuted during the Cultural Revolution for smuggling a rare collection of mushrooms out of China before World War II was honored Saturday when the collection was returned more than 70 years later.
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Voice of the Mid-Columbia | Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Wash. |
BEIJING A Chinese scholar persecuted during the Cultural Revolution for smuggling a rare collection of mushrooms out of China before World War II was honored Saturday when the collection was returned more than 70 years later.
LOS ANGELES A Seattle team has collected a $900,000 prize in a NASA-backed competition to develop the concept of an elevator to space - an idea spurred by science fiction novels.
BARCELONA, Spain After two years of tough U.N. climate talks often pitting the world's rich against the poor, negotiators said Friday a new global agreement now rides on industrial nations pledging profound emissions cuts next month in Copenhagen.
LONDON In Britain, there are no long lines of people seeking swine flu vaccine. Doctor's offices aren't swamped with desperate calls. And there are no cries of injustice that the vaccine is going to wealthy corporations or healthy people who don't really need it.
UPDATES with most recent information; graphic shows the weekly number of swine flu vaccine shipments since Oct. 14; includes state-by-state breakdown for most recent week
ATLANTA Only about a third of adults who have tried to get a swine flu vaccine have been able to get it, according to a new national poll released Friday.
WASHINGTON French scientists mixed gene therapy and bone marrow transplants in two boys to seemingly halt a brain disease that can kill by adolescence. The surprise ingredient: They disabled the HIV virus so it couldn't cause AIDS, and then used it to carry in the healthy new gene.
DENVER Airborne nitrogen pollution from vehicle exhaust and farm fertilizer is turning algae in the alpine lakes of Rocky Mountain National Park into junk food for fish, a study says.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico Lower-than-feared sea temperatures this summer gave a break to fragile coral reefs across the Caribbean and the central Gulf of Mexico that were damaged in recent years, scientists said Thursday.
This April 16, 2009 file photo, shows a sign at the Citigroup Center in New York. Some of New York City's largest employers - including Citigroup - have started receiving doses of the much-in-demand swine flu vaccine for their at-risk employees. The swine flu vaccine has been in short supply nationwide because of manufacturing delays, resulting in long lines at clinics and patients being turned away at doctor's offices. The government has recommended that the limited supply go first to high-risk groups: children and young people through age 24, people caring for infants under 6 months, pregnant women and health care workers. Citigroup has received 1,200 doses, health officials said.
NEW YORK Some of New York's biggest companies, including Wall Street giants Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, received doses of swine flu vaccine for at-risk employees, drawing criticism that the hard-to-find vaccine is going first to the privileged.
LONDON The World Health Organization's flu chief said the swine flu virus has now become the predominant flu strain worldwide.
In this photo taken Tuesday April 14, 2009 a pedestrian passes an AIDS eductaion billboard in Johannesburg. The global recession and pressure to divert funds to other health crises are hurting the fight against AIDS, a medical group warned Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, with one health worker saying he feared a return to the days when the AIDS virus was a death sentence in Africa.
JOHANNESBURG The global recession and pressure to divert funds to other health crises are hurting the fight against AIDS, a medical group warned Thursday, with one health worker saying he feared a return to the days when the AIDS virus was a death sentence in Africa.
LONDON Britain is using genetic tests on some African asylum seekers in an effort to catch those who are lying about their nationality, drawing criticism from scientists and provoking outrage from rights groups.
CHICAGO Advice about soft drinks and health from one of the nation's largest doctors groups will soon be brought to you by Coke.
NEW YORK It seemed like a great idea - doing bypass surgery while the heart is still beating, sparing patients the complications that can come from going on a heart-lung machine. Now the first big test of this method has produced a surprise: Bypass has fewer problems and is more successful done the old way.
WASHINGTON The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Wednesday that pigs in a commercial herd in Indiana have tested positive for swine flu, making it the first time the virus has been found in such hogs.
DES MOINES, Iowa A 13-year-old Iowa cat has been infected with swine flu, veterinary and federal officials said Wednesday, and it is believed to be the first case of the H1N1 virus in a feline.
In this Oct. 23, 2009, photo, Dr. James Wang, right, meets with a patient in his office in Springfield, Mass. After he was sued for allegedly failing to quickly diagnose an appendicitis, Dr. Wang began practice "defensive medicine" -- ordering extra tests, scans, consultations and even hospitalizations to inoculate himself against future lawsuits.
BOSTON Dr. James Wang says he tries to tell his patients when extra medical procedures aren't necessary. If they insist, though, he will do it - not so much to protect their health as his own practice.
WASHINGTON Last year pharmaceutical companies spent more than $4 billion urging patients like you to "ask your doctor" about their drugs. But if you want a prescription that won't empty your wallet, while still keeping you well, you might start asking your doctor about drugs you don't see on TV.
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. A robot powered by a ground-based laser beam climbed a long cable dangling from a helicopter on Wednesday to qualify for prize money in a $2 million competition to test the potential reality of the science fiction concept of space elevators.
Men may protect more than their hearts if they keep cholesterol in line: Their chances of getting aggressive prostate cancer may be lower, new research suggests.
ATLANTA Premature births, often due to poor care of low-income pregnant women, are the main reason the U.S. infant mortality rate is higher than in most European countries, a government report said Tuesday.
GENEVA China has seen a tenfold increase in syphilis cases over the past decade, as migrant workers made enough money in the country's economic boom to hire more prostitutes, a senior Chinese health official was quoted as saying Tuesday.
LVIV, Ukraine Russia and Slovakia tightened their borders with Ukraine on Tuesday as the World Health Organization began investigating a suspected swine flu outbreak.
FILE - This undated file photo provided Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009 by IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature, shows a Varanus mabitang. The monitor lizard is one of the species that could soon disappear in the wild, IUCN said Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009. Switzerland-based IUCN surveyed a total of 47,677 animals and plants for this year's "Red List" of endangered species and determined that 17,291 of them are threatened with extinction.
GENEVA A rare Panamanian tree frog, a rodent from Madagascar and two lizards found only in the Philippines are among over 17,000 species threatened with extinction, a leading environmental group said Tuesday.
SIAYA, Kenya A mother watched with dread as a nurse inserted a tube in her baby's head. Blood streamed into the anemic 4-month-old who already has malaria, the mosquito-borne disease that kills a million African children every year.
CHICAGO Researchers studying antibiotics in pregnancy have found a surprising link between common drugs used to treat urinary infections and birth defects. Reassuringly, the most-used antibiotics in early pregnancy - penicillins - appear to be the safest.
CHICAGO Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher, researchers say.
Two world renowned man-eating Tsavo lions are seen stuffed and on display at Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History Monday, Nov. 2, 2009. Scientists have determined that the two lions probably ate about 35 Kenyans over a nine month period in 1898 and not the 135 they've long been credited with devouring. Their killing spree inspired the 1996 movie "The Ghost and the Darkness."
WASHINGTON The nightly attacks by two man-eating lions terrified railway workers and brought construction to a halt in one of east Africa's most notorious onslaughts more than a hundred years ago. But the death toll, scientists now say, wasn't as high as previously thought.
WASHINGTON The snows of Kilimanjaro may soon be gone. The African mountain's white peak - made famous by writer Ernest Hemingway - is rapidly melting, researchers report.
WASHINGTON A single dose of the swine flu vaccine works well for almost all pregnant women, but young children will still need two doses for best results, federal health officials said Monday.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in an occasional Associated Press series on their use and potential risks.
WASHINGTON Nurses were training women in rural Mexico to examine their breasts for cancer when one raised her hand to object. If she lost her breast, Harvard public health specialist Felicia Knaul recalls the woman saying, "My man would leave me" - and with him, the family's income.
KIEV, Ukraine Urging its citizens not to panic, Ukraine on Monday closed the nation's schools for a week to avoid the spread of swine flu and suggested that nightclubs, cinemas and food markets in the west also shut down.
CHICAGO An international group of scientists has decoded the DNA of the domestic pig, research that may one day prove useful in finding new treatments for both pigs and people, and perhaps aid in efforts for a new swine flu vaccine for pigs.
WASHINGTON Independent health advisers begin monitoring safety of the swine flu vaccine on Monday, an extra step the government promised in this year's unprecedented program to watch for possible side effects.
LONDON To fight pneumonia, the world's top killer of children, United Nations officials say they need $39 billion (euro26.35 billion) over the next six years.
This May 6, 2009 photo shows medical student Jimmy Wu at a clinic in Oak Creek, Wis. Wu spent a summer in Beijing with a university faculty member observing traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture and hopes to include these in a family medicine practice someday. The government has spent more than $22 million to help medical and nursing schools start teaching about alternative medicine but some critics say the lesson plans are biased toward unproven remedies.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Ten years and $2.5 billion in research have found no cures from alternative medicine. Yet these mostly unproven treatments are now mainstream and used by more than a third of all Americans. This is one in an occasional Associated Press series on their use and potential risks.
WASHINGTON A senior adviser to President Barack Obama says the government will catch up to the demand for swine flu vaccine within a week.
Fishermen steer their boat in Havana, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly condemned the 47-year U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, an annual ritual that serves to highlight near unanimous global opposition to America's hard-line policy toward the communist island, but which has done little to change Washington's stance, even with a new administration.
HAVANA Fidel Castro has found something to sneeze at in Washington's decision to ease visits by Cuban-Americans to his island: He says more Americans mean more swine flu.
BEIJING Qian Xuesen, a rocket scientist known as the father of China's space technology program, died Saturday in Beijing, the official Xinhua News Agency said. He was 98.
A new study raises fresh safety concerns about widely used anemia medicines, finding that the drug Aranesp nearly doubled the risk of stroke in people with diabetes and chronic kidney problems who are not yet sick enough to need dialysis.
LONDON Hundreds of people on any given day will die, develop the paralyzing Guillain-Barre syndrome or have spontaneous abortions, and that doesn't necessarily mean that their swine flu vaccination shot was to blame, a new study says.
Infant Jack Hemphill cries as he is held by his father Chris and his mother Inna, center, reacts after getting a swine flu shot from nurse kim Hill, right, at a flu shot clinic held on a parking lot in North Little Rock, Ark., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009.
ATLANTA Swine flu has caused at least 19 more children's deaths - the largest one-week increase since the pandemic started in April, health officials said Friday.
FILE - In this March 10, 2009 file photo, Bernard Madoff exits Manhattan federal court in New York. A reader-submitted question about selling and distributing Madoff's assets to those who have proof of being involved in his scam is being answered as part of an Associated Press Q&A column called "Ask AP."
Purposely polluting the upper atmosphere? Reflecting sunlight with giant space mirrors?
GENEVA A single dose of swine flu vaccine is enough to immunize adults and children over 10 against the pandemic strain, the World Health Organization said Friday.
Hundreds of people wait for swine flu vaccination shot in the City of Industry, Calif., Oct 26, 2009. Before Los Angeles County health officials stepped up screening at their flu clinics some people who aren't at high risk for swine flu complications got the much-in-demand vaccine. Sometimes they were healthy adults or senior citizens instead of kids, pregnant women and people with health problems.
LOS ANGELES It was bound to happen: Some people who aren't at high risk for swine flu complications got the much-in-demand vaccine.
LONDON Dutch scientists made a controversial suggestion Friday that children might be better off skipping the seasonal flu vaccine this year - a proposal flatly rejected by other health experts.
RENO, Nev. A fight broke out Thursday at a Reno, Nev., clinic giving shots for swine flu when someone reportedly tried to cut in line.
A cone of moisture surrounds part of the Ares I-X rocket during lift off Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009, on a sub-orbital test flight from the Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39-B in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Two of three parachutes malfunctioned in the test flight of a prototype moon rocket earlier this week, causing major damage to the booster, NASA said Friday.
FILE - In this Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009 file photo, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, with daughters Malia, left, and Sasha, right, return to the White House in Washington from Camp David. With dad a world leader, Malia and Sasha Obama surely could have been first in line when vaccinations began for swine flu. The White House says, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009, they weren't. But that hasn't stopped complaints online and elsewhere that President Obama's daughters got preferential treatment by scoring hard-to-get vaccinations.
With Dad a world leader and Nobel Prize winner, Malia and Sasha Obama surely could have been first in line when vaccinations began for swine flu. They weren't, the White House says. But that hasn't stopped complaints that President Barack Obama's daughters got preferential treatment.
