A new vaccine against rotavirus, a diarrheal disease that kills about 600 children a day, has been shown to have almost 67 percent efficacy in preventing the illness. “This efficacy of about 70 percent is higher than any other vaccine in similar settings,” said Dr. Emmanuel Baron, director of Epicentre, the research arm of Doctors Without Borders, which conducted the trial. A clinical trial of 3,500 infants in the African country of Niger showed the efficacy of the new vaccine, known as BRV-PV, to be 66.7 percent. Thirty-one cases of …

We’re unlocking the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending March 25, 2017. The hit list continues to be in a generous mood, bestowing upon us another new song. It happens in fifth place where Ri-Ri is a chart-buster all around. Number 5: Rihanna “Love On The Brain” Rihanna jumps a slot this week, as “Love On The Brain” becomes her 22nd Top Five hit. Beyond that, it’s her 30th Top 10 single, and her 40th Top 20 hit. All these …

A message of resilience posted online in the wake of the London terrorist attack Wednesday was read in Parliament, it was mentioned on the BBC, and it went viral online. Unfortunately, the hand written message, which appeared in a photo of a whiteboard commonly seen in the London Underground, was a hoax. The message read: “All terrorists are politely reminded that THIS IS LONDON and whatever you do to us, we will drink tea and jolly well carry on. Thank you.” One member of Parliament read the message to Prime …

On Tuesday, the rusty patched bumblebee became the first wild bee in the continental United States to be placed on the U.S. endangered species list. Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports, scientists hope the designation will help safeguard one of the small insects that play a big role in American agriculture and the environment. … From: MeNeedIt

Grumbling Venezuelans were lining up for scarce gasoline across the OPEC nation on Wednesday, due to mounting oil industry woes in the country with the world’s largest crude reserves. Venezuela, which also has the world’s cheapest gasoline, has wrestled with intermittent gasoline shortages in recent months, especially in the central coastal area. Long lines were reported in capital Caracas, which is unusual, and the eastern city of Puerto Ordaz on Wednesday. Dozens of cars could be seen snaking into streets and some service stations were shuttered. “I can’t find 95 …

Dozens of German companies including Siemens attended meetings in Bolivia this week to discuss building a coast-to-coast railway through Brazil, Bolivia and Peru that could speed up the export of corn and soybeans to Asia, German and Bolivian officials said on Wednesday. The massive, $10-billion project would involve building a 3,700-kilometer (2,299 miles) rail line across the continent, linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, through mountains and jungles. “This is the project of the century,” said Germany’s State Secretary of German Transport, Building and Urban Development Rainer Bomba. Representatives from …

Google Maps users will soon be able to broadcast their movements to friends and family — the latest test of how much privacy people are willing to sacrifice in an era of rampant sharing. The location-monitoring feature will begin rolling out Wednesday in an update to the Google Maps mobile app, which is already installed on most of the world’s smartphones. It will also be available on personal computers. Google believes the new tool will be a more convenient way for people to let someone know where they are without …

Rising rates of superbug tuberculosis (TB) are threatening to derail decades of progress against the contagious disease, experts said Thursday, and new drugs powerful enough to treat them are few and far between. TB kills more people each year than any other infectious disease, including HIV and AIDS. In 2015 alone, it is estimated to have killed 1.8 million people, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). While some new antibiotics with the potential to treat some drug-resistant strains are becoming available for the first time, experts who conducted a …

Tyrannosaurus rex and his buddies could be on the move as a new study proposes a massive shake-up of the dinosaur family tree. Scientists who took a deeper look at dinosaur fossils suggest a different evolutionary history for dinosaurs, moving theropods such as T. rex to a new branch of the family tree and hinting at an earlier and more northern origin for dinosaurs. The revised dinosaur tree makes more sense than the old one, initially designed more than a century ago based on hip shape, said Matt Baron, a …