Louisiana is among the worst-performing states in maternal and infant health outcomes. So, New Orleans is trying to catch health issues early — and get families off to an easier start — by adding home health visits during the crucial first months of life.
A division of the U.S. Agency for International Development was reborn Thursday as an independent nonprofit, allowing its international work to continue in a new form. This reincarnation of USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures as the nonprofit DIV Fund is thanks to $48 million raised from two private donors.
The editors of "The Nation" magazine are in the process of formally nominating the city of Minneapolis and its people for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. With their resistance to violent authoritarianism, the people of Minneapolis have renewed the spirit of Dr. King’s call for “the positive affirmation of peace.”
In a 2025 mini baby boom reported by the Ministry of Statistics, childbirths and marriages are up, and divorces are down in the world’s least fertile country. It’s believed that economic assistance for childcare has helped incentivize couples desiring children but who were wary of the economic burden in the high-cost country.
It's official: New York City is leading the world away from fossil fuels, being the first large U.S. city to adopt a comprehensive, city-wide mandate requiring most new construction to avoid fossil fuels and rely entirely on electric systems.
The world’s first global treaty to protect ocean life in international waters enters into force on 17 January 2026, bringing into effect legally-binding rules for the sustainable use and management of marine resources in the high seas.
A flat-headed cat in Thailand, a rare Javan leopard, a colossal squid filmed in its deep-sea home. Once in a while, an animal shows up where it’s least expected, including places from where it was thought to have gone extinct. Here's seven hopeful wildlife sightings that researchers celebrated In 2025.
A group of Buddhist monks is persevering in their walking trek across much of the U.S. to promote peace, even after two of its members were injured when a truck hit their escort vehicle, highlighting Buddhism’s long tradition of activism for peace.
Record numbers of sightings of one of the world’s most intelligent invertebrates over the summer have led the Wildlife Trusts to declare 2025 “the year of the octopus” in its annual review of Britain’s seas.
After a 137-year struggle, the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has finally received full federal recognition from the U.S. government. Members of the Native American tribe shed tears as it reached the historic milestone.
North America's 'largest wildlife overpass' is finally complete, thanks to the Colorado Department of Transportation. The six-lane highway is a crucial crossing point for countless elk, pronghorn, mule deer, mountain lions, and black bears, and is expected to reduce wildlife-vehicle crashes by 90%.
The city of San Francisco filed a lawsuit against some of the nation's top food manufacturers on Tuesday, arguing that ultraprocessed food from the likes of Coca-Cola and Nestle are responsible for a public health crisis.
Fed up of waiting for the city to tackle traffic fatalities, Angelenos are taking street safety into their own hands — one bucket of paint at a time — as people are painting crosswalks across L.A. to protect pedestrians.
It’s 42% of Colombia’s territory. It’s 7% of the total Amazon rainforest. And it’s now free from future oil and mineral extraction as Colombia bans all new oil and mining projects in its Amazon — an area the size of Sweden.
These rare whales had never been seen alive. Then a team in Mexico sighted two, proving to the scientists onboard that they were seeing a species that had never before been seen in the wild: a ginkgo-toothed beaked whale.
For a company that makes half the world’s zippers, new ideas have big impacts. YKK's innovative new tapeless zipper saves tons of fabric scraps while creating a better fit on your clothes.
At the WSJ Innovator Awards where Billie Eilish was honored with the Music Innovator Award, during her acceptance speech she called on the world's wealthiest people in attendance to donate part of their fortune to those in need, like her recent $11.5 million donation towards climate justice and environmental work.
Private nonprofits and celebrities continue to show up in support of those impacted by the government shutdown. Furloughed federal workers eat for free at Bon Jovi's 'Pay It Forward' restaurant, as an estimated 1.4 million federal workers enter a fourth week either furloughed or working without pay.
Once hammered by overhunting and habitat loss, sea turtles have persevered and are rebounding worldwide with new conservation efforts such as nest and habitat protection, says 2025 NOAA study.
170 years ago, the US Army massacred a Lakota village. Their plundered belongings are now back in Nebraska due to a remarkable partnership and serious negotiations with the nation’s largest museum.
Hamas on Monday released the last 20 living hostages from Gaza as part of a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. In exchange, Israel was expected to release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners later on Monday.
A landmark UN treaty to safeguard marine biodiversity on the high seas has now met the required 60 ratifications for entry into force, clearing the way for it to take effect in January 2026.
Mexico’s jaguar population is climbing, but the country’s biggest cat isn’t out of the woods yet. A four-month census conducted last year has concluded there are 5,326 wild jaguars throughout the country — a 33% jump from 2010, when the species was labeled endangered (as it still is).
Dan Satterfeld drew on his wealth of TV news experience to tell his audience that they already had a powerful weapon at their disposal. "The best way to complain that will have the biggest impact?...Trust me. I worked in TV for 45 years. Nothing you do will have a greater impact. Nothing."
'One and done' dose of LSD keeps anxiety at bay, says the results of a rigorous new study published in JAMA, which finds a single dose of LSD can ease anxiety and depression for months, paving the way for bigger, more rigorous studies supported by pharmaceutical companies.
The one change that worked: I abandoned my cynicism – and joined Europe’s biggest gay choir. It was a testament to the power of being seen – and heard – for who you really are.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has validated Kenya as having eliminated human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) or "sleeping sickness" as a public health problem, making it the tenth country to reach this important milestone.
It’s hot on Florida reefs and not just the water, as rare coral sex — a once-a-year phenomenon when Florida’s reef-building coral colonies simultaneously release tiny bundles of eggs and sperm — is celebrated as a hopeful sign.
Protesters stretching across an 8-mile span linked hands and formed a human chain creating a symbol of solidarity against the Trump administration Saturday afternoon in central Ohio. Organized by Indivisible Central Ohio, the group wanted people to know they’re not alone.
Joy and relief as lotus flowers bloom again in Kashmiri lake after three decades. Although lotus stems had not been visible in Lake Wular for years, the roots had probably remained dormant – buried under layers of silt. As the silt was removed, the plants started re-emerging.
In Arkansas, a new medical school has just opened that aims to train a new generation of doctors on preventative medicine and whole-health principles. It was dreamed of and financed by arguably the world’s wealthiest woman—a Walmart heiress.
Renewable energy sources, such as solar power and battery storage, have helped keep power on in New England, even during peak demand on the hottest day of summer. Based on Acadia Center’s findings, as much as 22% of power usage in New England on June 24, 2025 came from behind-the-meter solar.
Today, Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay is home to the highest concentration of bald eagles in the contiguous United States (but not the entirety of the U.S. — that honor belongs to Alaska, which hosts nearly half of the world’s 70,000 bald eagles). According to regional experts, this momentous milestone has been a long time coming.
Reacting to growing concerns that spending too much time online can be harmful, recent research has revealed children are taking control of their own social media and smartphone use rather than relying on parents to enforce limits. The number of 12- to 15-year-olds who take breaks from smartphones, computers and iPads rose by 18% to 40% since 2022.
In a creative use of big data, a survey has found that of the 3,119 US counties, 1,836 experienced growth and expansion of tree cover, including metro areas. This means that in the last two decades, tree cover has expanded in 60% of American counties, and the US has seen net forest growth.
When you outlaw or discourage the sale of plastic bags, fewer of them end up as litter on beaches. That’s the intuitive finding of a paper published Thursday in the journal Science, which involved an analysis of policies to restrict plastic bag use across the United States.
A group of scientists from the SETI Institute and the University of California at Davis have determined humpback whales create bubble rings to get our attention. But what are they trying to tell us?
A cure for HIV could be a step closer after researchers found a new way to force the virus out of hiding inside human cells. Now researchers from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, have demonstrated a way to make the virus visible, paving the way to fully clear it from the body.
Less than 60 years ago, interracial marriage was illegal in parts of the U.S. The landmark Loving v. Virginia case on June 12, 1967, set the precedent for interracial couples to be together without repercussions. NPR readers share their stories here of love and adversity in honor of Loving Day.
From the West African nation of Benin comes the ultimate story in intercultural exchange, whereby a young man inspired by Jackie Chan films took up kung fu and persisted to run the largest Chinese martial arts club in his country.
After just three days of intentional silence, the brain begins to physically and functionally rewire itself. A growing body of neuroscience shows that silence can spark changes in the brain comparable to months of meditation, cognitive training, or rigorous exercise.
Antarctica's ice sheet has grown for the first time in decades with an astonishing rebound. Four major glaciers have reversed their previous pattern of accelerated mass loss from 2011 to 2020 and instead showed significant mass gain during the 2021 to 2023 period.
In a first-ever call, members of Indigenous peoples and coastal communities pushed for a seat at the table of the high seas biodiversity treaty (Agreement on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction - BBNJ) as they convened at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues held in April, 2025 in New York City.
For seven years now, Pennsylvania Grade 9 English teacher Kristina Ulmer has been running a "$20 Kindness Challenge" with her class, giving each student $20, and asking them to do something kind with it. And every year, the teens in her class bring her to tears with their creativity, empathy and generosity.
On Tuesday, May 6, 2025 at 2 p.m., Quaker activists Bill Holcombe and Lewis Randa will be arraigned at Natick Framingham District Court for “disturbing the peace” after participating in peaceful, nonviolent civil disobedience on Inauguration Day, which coincided with the Martin Luther King Day of Service.
A man living with hand tremors for 30 years received an ultrasonic beam treatment at Delray Medical center in Florida, and is cured with what Dr. Lloyd Zucker calls his “magic trick." There are 79 centers in the country where this procedure is done and fully covered by Medicare.
New research published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical Analysis reveals how the most colorful, anthocyanin-rich fruits and vegetables could help defend your body against toxic microplastic exposure, especially offering protection to the reproductive system from microplastic damage.
Indore, a lesser known city of India ranks the cleanest for 8 years in a row following an all-hands-on-deck approach to improve and maintain hygiene standards. One corporate executive remarked, ”It feels as though you aren’t in India.”
The West Ada School District made national headlines recently when administrators ordered a school teacher to remove signs containing welcoming messages from her classroom. Community members quickly responded, ensuring the signs’ messages would be seen far beyond a single classroom.
Ireland announced on Wednesday a donation of 15 million euros ($16.3 million) to Brazil's Amazon Fund, which aims to stop deforestation and preserve the world's largest tropical rainforest. The donation is Ireland's first to the fund, raising the list of donors to eight countries.
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