Nell Greenfieldboyce

An unusual government moratorium aimed at controversial research with high-risk viruses has halted important public health research, scientists told an advisory committee to the federal government on Wednesday.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy said Friday that the federal government will, for now, not fund any ...

Here's a question about the fine line between a prudent response and worrisome overkill: Is the sight of a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter hovering over a cruise ship to pick up a blood sample (which is to be tested for Ebola) a sight that should inspire feelings of reassurance, or ...

The federal government will temporarily stop funding any new studies that could make three high-risk infectious diseases even more dangerous. The government is asking all scientists involved in this research now to voluntarily halt their current studies.

The unusual move comes after a long controversy over experiments with mutant forms ...

Infectious disease specialists say Ebola can't spread through the air, but many Americans remain deeply skeptical. The history of past outbreaks suggests airborne transmission isn't a threat.

President Obama has canceled travel plans. Head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thomas Frieden appears before a congressional panel to answer questions on U.S. Ebola preparedness.

Prehistoric cave paintings of animals and human hands in Indonesia are as ancient as similar paintings found in Western Europe, according to a new study that suggests humans may have carried this art tradition with them when they migrated out of Africa.

"Until now, we've always believed that cave painting ...

Diagnosing and treating Ebola isn't so hard, health workers say; hospitals across the U.S. should be ready. But initial symptoms, such as fever and headache, can look the same as other illnesses.

The World Health Organization is enthusiastic about "convalescent serum," which comes from the blood of people who have survived Ebola. But it's unclear how well it could work.

Any research institution that receives federal funding will soon have to screen certain kinds of scientific experiments to see if the work could potentially be misused to endanger the public.

The new policy will take effect next year, and it's the latest effort by the U. S. government to come ...

Currently, Ebola is known to spread only through contact with body fluids. Some people have worried that Ebola could start spreading through the air. But scientists say that's not likely.

The World Health Organization is holding a special meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss how to fast-track the development of experimental therapies and vaccines to combat the Ebola outbreak.

One of the reasons Ebola is so terrifying is that there's no vaccine and no cure. But the World Health Organization hopes to change that, with plans to quickly test experimental products during this outbreak.

By November, two promising vaccines will have been tested on people to see if they're ...

The World Health Organization says the official number of Ebola cases and deaths may "vastly underestimate" the scale of the outbreak. So how bad is it really?

As the Ebola outbreak rages in West Africa, it is also unfolding — in a virtual sense — inside the computers of scientists trying to predict how far the outbreak will spread and when it will end.

The debate about whether it's OK to engineer and study microbes that could prompt a human pandemic has reignited. Each side now has a website and its own list of Nobelists and superstar supporters.

A panel convened by the World Health Organization has approved the use of experimental drugs and vaccines to combat the Ebola outbreak, so long as certain conditions are met.

A panel of experts convened by the World Health Organization has unanimously endorsed the idea of offering unproven vaccines or treatments to help combat the unprecedented Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

This outbreak is unusual not just because it has spread to four countries and involves so many people, says ...

It's been tough to identify the problems that only turn up after medicines are on the market. An experimental project is now combing through data to get earlier, more accurate warnings.

A team of volunteer space cowboys may have to say goodbye to ISEE-3 and to their dream of reviving for a final mission the creaky, 36-year-old hardware. Failed tests Wednesday suggest a fuel problem.

A gung-ho group of space enthusiasts has started the process of putting a vintage NASA spacecraft on a new flight path, so that this venerable piece of hardware will be able to do useful science once again.

The old spacecraft, called ISEE-3, launched back in August 1978. Its original ...