https://www.voaafrica.com/z/1462 Science in a Minute gives you informative, entertaining, and easy to understand news stories from the various fields of science, health, and technology in just sixty seconds. https://www.voaafrica.com/Content/responsive/VOA/en-US-AFK/img/logo.png https://www.voaafrica.com/z/1462 en 2026 - VOA 60 Thu, 14 May 2026 15:45:24 +0000 Pangea CMS – VOA A new study published in the journal Nature suggests that biodiversity loss, which is the decrease in the variety of living organisms, may be a main driver of infectious diseases across the world, followed by non-native species, climate change, and chemical pollution. Professor Jason Rohr, Chair of the Department of Ecology and Public Health at the University of Notre Dame is one of the authors of the study. Speaking with VOA’s Rick Pantaleo, he explained why those in charge of leading... https://www.voaafrica.com/a/study-biodiversity-loss-and-climate-change-are-the-biggest-drivers-of-infectious-disease/7724749.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/study-biodiversity-loss-and-climate-change-are-the-biggest-drivers-of-infectious-disease/7724749.html Wed, 31 Jul 2024 18:06:55 +0000 Science in a MinuteScience and Environment Videoswebdesk@voanews.com (Rick Pantaleo) Recent news of Catherine, the Princess of Wales, who is 42, being diagnosed with cancer has brought global attention to the rising rate of early onset cancer among young adults. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-accelerated-aging-may-increase-the-risk-of-early-onset-cancers-in-young-people/7564693.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-accelerated-aging-may-increase-the-risk-of-early-onset-cancers-in-young-people/7564693.html Wed, 10 Apr 2024 17:56:11 +0000 Science in a Minute According to NASA, a two-star or binary star system some 3,000 light years from Earth will between now and September provide amateur stargazers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness a rare massive explosive cosmic event. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute---once-in-a-lifetime-explosive-star-event/7562988.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute---once-in-a-lifetime-explosive-star-event/7562988.html Tue, 09 Apr 2024 17:02:34 +0000 Science in a Minute One of Earth’s coldest climate periods is said to have taken place about 700 million years ago when our planet was nearly frozen solid like a giant snowball. Researchers from the University of Sydney say they think they have cracked the mystery of snowball Earth. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-mystery-of-snowball-earth-may-have-been-cracked/7484592.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-mystery-of-snowball-earth-may-have-been-cracked/7484592.html Mon, 12 Feb 2024 20:29:59 +0000 Science in a Minute Scientists at CERN, in Switzerland, say they’re on track with plans to build the Future Circular Collider, a new generation particle collider that will dwarf the Large Hadron Collider, currently the world’s biggest atom smasher. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-cern-new-and-bigger-atom-smasher-on-the-way/7472670.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-cern-new-and-bigger-atom-smasher-on-the-way/7472670.html Tue, 06 Feb 2024 03:00:00 +0000 Science in a Minutewebdesk@voanews.com (Rick Pantaleo) NASA is targeting the early morning of Tuesday, February 6th to launch their Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem or PACE mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-nasa-s-pace-mission/7470961.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-nasa-s-pace-mission/7470961.html Mon, 05 Feb 2024 03:00:00 +0000 Science in a Minutewebdesk@voanews.com (Rick Pantaleo) According to a new study published in the Planetary Science Journal, the Earth’s moon is shrinking and it’s causing landslides, moonquakes, and instability in the lunar South Pole. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-the-shrinking-wrinkled-moon/7464458.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-the-shrinking-wrinkled-moon/7464458.html Wed, 31 Jan 2024 03:00:00 +0000 Science in a Minutewebdesk@voanews.com (Rick Pantaleo) Researchers say a rhinoceros was impregnated through embryo transfer in the first successful use of a technique they say might later make it possible to save the nearly extinct northern white rhino subspecies. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-new-technique-could-save-nearly-extinct-northern-white-rhino/7458057.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-new-technique-could-save-nearly-extinct-northern-white-rhino/7458057.html Fri, 26 Jan 2024 03:00:00 +0000 Science in a Minute Archaeologists and ecologists working at the UK Universities of Sheffield and Oxford have something that may help, they have created the World's largest database of weeds. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-largest-database-of-weeds/7456405.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-largest-database-of-weeds/7456405.html Thu, 25 Jan 2024 03:00:00 +0000 Science in a Minute NASA reports that their astromaterials team at the Johnson Space Center in Houston has finished taking apart the OSIRIS-REx sampler head revealing the rest of the asteroid Bennu sample it gathered. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/7454763.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/7454763.html Wed, 24 Jan 2024 03:08:15 +0000 Science in a Minute Researchers, led by the University of Alaska, Fairbanks were able to couple the journey of a 14,000-year-old woolly mammoth with the first known human communities in Alaska. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-first-humans-in-alaska-settled-close-to-wooly-mammoths/7446562.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-first-humans-in-alaska-settled-close-to-wooly-mammoths/7446562.html Fri, 19 Jan 2024 03:00:00 +0000 Science in a Minutewebdesk@voanews.com (Rick Pantaleo) An international team of scientists, led by the University of Cambridge, has discovered the oldest black hole that has ever been observed until now. The black hole dates back to the beginning of the universe, only 400 million years after the big bang, some 13.8 billion years ago. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-the-discovery-of-the-oldest-observed-black-hole/7444895.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-the-discovery-of-the-oldest-observed-black-hole/7444895.html Thu, 18 Jan 2024 03:00:00 +0000 Science in a Minutewebdesk@voanews.com (Rick Pantaleo) NASA is planning to send several scientific investigations to the International Space Station when it launches Northrop Grumman’s 20th commercial resupply services mission, in late January. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-nasa-to-send-new-science-investigations-to-iss/7443335.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-nasa-to-send-new-science-investigations-to-iss/7443335.html Wed, 17 Jan 2024 03:04:05 +0000 Science in a Minute Pittsburgh based Astrobotic Technology says that their Peregrine lunar lander is on its way back to Earth from near the moon. Company officials expect the mission to end Thursday when the lander will enter and burn up in Earth’s atmosphere. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-failed-lunar-lander-to-burn-up-in-earth-s-atmosphere/7441692.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-failed-lunar-lander-to-burn-up-in-earth-s-atmosphere/7441692.html Tue, 16 Jan 2024 03:00:27 +0000 Science in a Minute The Space Telescope Science Institute reports that scientists using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope found the source of a Fast Radio Burst that was detected in June 2022. The FRB was located in a collection of galaxies that were part of the universe when it was only 5 billion years old. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-scientists-find-most-distant-source-of-a-fast-radio-burst/7435282.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-scientists-find-most-distant-source-of-a-fast-radio-burst/7435282.html Thu, 11 Jan 2024 02:54:45 +0000 Science in a Minute Researchers from the U.S. and Cameroon, writing in a study published by the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, suggests that adding small quantities of liquid soap to some types of mosquito pesticides, known as neonicotinoids, can make them 10 times more effective. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-soap-could-make-mosquito-pesticides-more-effective/7361724.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-soap-could-make-mosquito-pesticides-more-effective/7361724.html Sun, 19 Nov 2023 23:49:55 +0000 Science in a Minute The European Space Agency’s Integral Space Telescope has detected a huge Gamma Ray Burst that produced a significant disturbance in Earth’s ionosphere, which is located between 48 to 965 km above sea level. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute---esa-space-telescope-detects-huge-gamma-ray-burst/7358797.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute---esa-space-telescope-detects-huge-gamma-ray-burst/7358797.html Fri, 17 Nov 2023 00:18:25 +0000 Science in a Minute In a joint project between NASA and the German Aerospace Center, scientists, for the first time, have detected a thin layer of atomic oxygen stuck between two other layers of the Venusian atmosphere on the day side of the planet. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-oxygen-in-venus-atmosphere-found/7348886.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-oxygen-in-venus-atmosphere-found/7348886.html Thu, 09 Nov 2023 21:20:44 +0000 Science in a Minute A new study suggests ultrafine micrometric silica dust from crushed rock ejected by the Chicxulub impact probably contributed to atmospheric and climate conditions that led to food shortages that starved plant-eating animals causing the extinction of many animal species, including the dinosaurs. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-dust-from-chicxulub-impact-probably-played-role-in-the-dinosaur-demise/7334945.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-dust-from-chicxulub-impact-probably-played-role-in-the-dinosaur-demise/7334945.html Tue, 31 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000 Science in a Minute The James Webb Space Telescope has captured new high-resolution images of one of the most dazzling objects in the cosmos called the Crab Nebula. https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-webb-telescope-captures-dazzling-images-of-the-crab-nebula/7333375.html https://www.voaafrica.com/a/science-in-a-minute-webb-telescope-captures-dazzling-images-of-the-crab-nebula/7333375.html Mon, 30 Oct 2023 20:00:13 +0000 Science in a Minute