Science, Disasters & accidents, Policy & regulation, Health
574 storiesTrump signs order allowing tax-free red-dyed diesel on highways
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday temporarily allowing off-road red-dyed diesel to be used for highway driving and deferring the federal excise tax on that fuel through the end of 2026 without interest or penalties.…
Pennsylvania measles cases pass 1,000, largest state outbreak in decades
Pennsylvania has reported 1,004 measles cases in 2026, the state Department of Health said Monday, including at least 198 hospitalizations and five deaths. State health officials say it is the largest outbreak in any U.S. state in more than…
Nobel medicine prize awarded to three scientists for optogenetics
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for discoveries concerning light-sensitive ion channels and optogenetics, the Nobel Committee announced in Stockholm. The three sh…
Trump says he has call scheduled with Putin over suspected plague death in Siberia
President Trump said Tuesday he has a call scheduled with Vladimir Putin about the suspected pneumonic plague case in Siberia, after saying Monday the US was willing to help Russia. The case follows the death of Darya Shipilova, 28, a worke…
Russia says woman at plague institute died of unknown pneumonia, not plague
A woman in her 20s who worked at a plague control research institute in Irkutsk, eastern Siberia, fell ill in late September and died on October 2. Russian public health authorities said on October 4 that the cause was “pneumonia of unknown…
Trump says US ready to help Russia after pneumonia case in Irkutsk region
US President Donald Trump said Washington could support Russia after a case of pneumonia of unknown etiology was detected in the Irkutsk region. Russia's Rospotrebnadzor said the sanitary situation in Irkutsk and Shelekhov is stable, and th…
Nobel Chemistry Prize goes to France's Henri Kagan and Japan's Soai Kenzo
Sweden's Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Oct 7 that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded jointly to Henri Kagan of France and Soai Kenzo of Japan for discovering non-linear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric org…
Russia quarantines hospital as lab worker’s death puts nearly 200 under observation
A female employee of the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East died last week of pneumonia of unknown cause, Russian authorities said, and a hospital in the town of Shelekhov was placed under quarantine. Officia…
Nuri rocket completes fifth launch, placing satellites in orbit
South Korea’s Nuri rocket lifted off at 12:25 p.m. local time on Oct 7 from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, carrying 15 satellites, the most in its history, and placed the five main ultra-small cluster satellites in their target orbit. Ne…
Tropical Storm Isaias forms off Mexico, forecast to hit US Gulf Coast as hurricane
Tropical Storm Isaias formed early Wednesday in warm waters off eastern Mexico with maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, and forecasters expect it to strengthen into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season before reaching the U.S. Gulf Coa…
Russian anti-plague lab technician dies of unknown pneumonia; nearly 200 monitored
A 28-year-old laboratory technician at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East in Shelekhov, Russia, died of “pneumonia of unknown etiology,” according to the public health agency Rospotrebnadzor. The hospital…
Nobel chemistry prize goes to Japan's Kenzō Soai and France's Henri Kagan
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Kenzō Soai, 76, an emeritus professor at Tokyo University of Science, and Henri Kagan of France, for the discovery of nonlinear effects and autocatalysis in asymmetric organic synthesis. Soai…
Bermuda mother and son identified in air ambulance crash off Nantucket
Bermuda police identified Marilyn Lavonne Bean, 66, and her son Sergio Wayne Lottimore, 41, both Bermudian nationals, as the two passengers on a Gulfstream G100 air ambulance that went missing off Nantucket, Massachusetts, around 1 a.m. Sat…
Defense minister: arts, sports military service exemption to be cut and abolished
South Korea's defense minister said on Oct 7 that the goal is to gradually reduce the arts and sports military service exemption and ultimately abolish it, after controversy over remarks by Asian Games football gold medallists about the exe…
Russian anti-plague lab researcher dies; US and EU say they are monitoring
A 28-year-old female researcher at the Irkutsk anti-plague research institute in Shelekhov, Russia, died after being diagnosed with pneumonia of unknown cause, the state agency Rospotrebnadzor said. About 200 people who may have had contact…
WHO says risk low as US presses Russia for transparency on plague lab death
The U.S. State Department is monitoring reports of a fatal case of suspected pneumonic plague in Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio has publicly called on Moscow to be more transparent about the death of a 28-year-ol…
Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai win 2026 Nobel Prize in chemistry
Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the 2026 Nobel Prize in chemistry, announced Wednesday at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, for work on molecules that exist as mirror images of each other. Kagan showed in the 1980s that …
WHO says no plague case in Irkutsk after lab worker's death; experts question Russia's response
A researcher at a plague research institute in Irkutsk, Siberia, died last week after developing pneumonia, and local reports said nearly 200 contacts were placed under medical observation. Russian authorities told the World Health Organiza…
Kazakhstan considers blocking social media accounts of children under 16
Kazakhstan's government has prepared amendments restricting online platforms for users under 16, and Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov said in a reply to a parliamentary inquiry that temporarily blocking social media accounts of children under…
South Korea unveils 1,000 trillion won green transition plan to 2035
South Korea announced a “Korean-style Green Transition” (K-GX) strategy on Oct 7, pledging about 1,000 trillion won over ten years to 2035 — 200 trillion won in fiscal support and more than 790 trillion won in climate finance through five p…