The Librarian of Congress wants to upgrade its technology to make the eclectic mix of materials from books and photos to sheet music and baseball cards – available to people around the world. Carla Hayden became the new director of the world’s largest library five months ago, becoming the first woman and the first African-American to hold the job. VOA’s Deborah Block tells us more about the professional librarian and her plans to improve the prestigious national library in Washington, D.C. … From: MeNeedIt

U.S. companies led by tech firms Yahoo, Apple and Microsoft have criticized the Trump administration’s decision to revoke Obama administration guidance that allowed transgender public school students to use the bathroom of their choice. Their statements evoked the opposition expressed by many businesses last year when North Carolina passed a law forcing transgenders to use public restrooms matching their gender assigned at birth. The resulting boycotts have cost North Carolina more than $560 million in economic activity, according to the online magazine Facing South. Role for business Companies lacked the …

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has predicted that Zimbabwe will be the country hardest hit by the invasion of armyworms in southern Africa. Farmers are already taking serious losses. The Gokwe and Zhombe areas in Zimbabwe’s Midlands province are among the most affected by an invasion of the fall armyworms. Armyworms are a type of moth capable of destroying entire crops in a matter of weeks.  It is the first time the insect has hit southern Africa, and seven countries confirmed an outbreak of the fall armyworm, which …

The U.S. was declared measles-free 15 years ago, thanks to the development of a reliable vaccine against that virus, but many American doctors now are worried that could change, because so many parents are opposed to having their children inoculated against disease. VOA’s Carol Pearson has more. … From: MeNeedIt

Leprosy, despite its horrible reputation, is a very curable disease. But there are still more than 200,000 cases reported every year, most of them in India, Indonesia, Brazil, and parts of Africa. To fully understand the disease, doctors and archaeologists are examining the skeletons of people who had the disease hundreds of years ago. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports. … From: MeNeedIt

Unmanned aerial vehicles, better known as drones, have become a staple of everyday life. As more take to the air, the issue of how to avoid collisions between drones and aircraft, and other drones, is becoming a serious problem. As VOA’s George Putic reports, scientists are working on solutions. … From: MeNeedIt

President Donald Trump on Thursday spoke favorably about a potentially export-boosting border adjustment tax being pushed by Republicans in the U.S. Congress, but did not specifically endorse it. Trump, who has lashed out at U.S. companies who have moved operations to countries like Mexico, has previously sent mixed signals on the proposal at the heart of a Republican plan to overhaul the tax code for the first time in more than 30 years. “It could lead to a lot more jobs in the United States,” Trump told Reuters in an …

A small study in 16 people with severe anorexia has found that implanting stimulation electrodes into the brains of patients could ease their anxiety and help them gain weight. Researchers found that in extreme cases of the eating disorder, the technique, known as deep brain stimulation (DBS), swiftly helped many of those studied reduce symptoms of either anxiety or depression, and improved their quality of life. A few months later, the improved psychological symptoms began to lead to changes in weight, the researchers said, with the average body mass index …