Zoology
FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2021, file photo, Marion Koopmans, right, and Peter Ben Embarek of a World Health Organization team arrive for a joint press conference at the end of their mission to investigate the origins of the coronavirus pandemic in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province. A joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that transmission from bats to humans through another animal is the most likely scenario and that a lab leak is “extremely unlikely," according to a draft copy obtained by The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan, File)
WHO report: COVID likely 1st jumped into humans from animals

By Jamey Keaten And Ken Moritsugu Mar. 29, 2021 01:13 AM EDT

Security personnel watch a checkpoint into the cordoned off area where a World Health Organization team is staying at a hotel in central China's Hubei province on Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021. The WHO team is investigating the origins of the coronavirus pandemic in the province. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
WHO team in Wuhan says discussions open, meetings frank

By Emily Wang Fujiyama Feb. 04, 2021 02:28 AM EST

A researcher for Brazil's state-run Fiocruz Institute holds a bat captured in the Atlantic Forest, at Pedra Branca state park, near Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. Researchers at the institute collect and study viruses present in wild animals — including bats, which many scientists believe were linked to the outbreak of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Scientists focus on bats for clues to prevent next pandemic

By Christina Larson, Aniruddha Ghosal And Marcelo Silva De Sousa Dec. 14, 2020 01:11 AM EST

Researchers from Brazil's state-run Fiocruz Institute shine a light on a bat they captured in the Atlantic Forest during a nighttime outing in Pedra Branca state park, near Rio de Janeiro, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020. The outing was part of a project to collect and study viruses present in wild animals — including bats, which many scientists believe were linked to the outbreak of COVID-19. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)
Scientists focus on bats for clues to prevent next pandemic

By Christina Larson, Aniruddha Ghosal And Marcelo Silva De Sousa Dec. 14, 2020 01:09 AM EST

This 2016 photo provided by Tanisha Williams shows her in Cape Town, South Africa. Williams, a botanist at Bucknell University, knows exactly which plants she's looking for. But after being questioned by strangers in public parks, Williams, who is Black, has started carrying her field guides with her. “I've been quizzed by random strangers,” she said. “Now I bring my wildflower books and botanical field guides, trying to look like a scientist. It’s for other people. I wouldn’t otherwise lug these books.” (Beatrix D. Fields/Tanisha Williams via AP)
Black scientists call out racism in the field and counter it

By Christina Larson Sep. 13, 2020 09:03 AM EDT

AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin;
Can mosquitoes spread the coronavirus?

By The Associated Press Aug. 25, 2020 03:02 AM EDT

A Mumbai Municipal Corp. worker fumigates a street in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, June 10, 2020. While 2019 was the worst year on record for global dengue cases, experts fear an even bigger surge is possible because their efforts to combat it were hampered by restrictions imposed during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Dengue prevention efforts stifled by coronavirus pandemic

By Victoria Milko And Aniruddha Ghosal Jul. 12, 2020 12:54 AM EDT

FILE - This April 7, 2020 file photo shows barbed wire in front of the Cook County Jail and the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in Chicago. On Friday, May 8, 2020, The Associated Press reported on stories circulating online incorrectly asserting that there is plenty of room in Chicago’s jail after the city’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who threatened to arrest people for violating stay-at-home orders, released rapists from it. The mayor doesn’t have the power to release detainees or inmates from jail or prison, including the Cook County Jail in Chicago, which is run by county officials. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, signed an order in April allowing furloughs for elderly inmates because of COVID-19. Since then, the state’s prison population has declined by about 1,300 inmates. (Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week

By Beatrice Dupuy, Arijeta Lajka And Amanda Seitz May. 08, 2020 05:08 PM EDT

UN: Live animal markets shouldn't be closed despite virus

May. 08, 2020 08:07 AM EDT
LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization said Friday that although a market in the Chinese city of Wuhan selling live animals likely played a significant...

AM-Prep: Cooler Copy

May. 05, 2020 03:05 AM EDT
BIG, SCARY HORNETS MAKE THEIR WAY INTO U.S. SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The world's largest hornet, a 2-inch killer dubbed the "Murder Hornet"...

Bird-watching soars amid COVID-19 as Americans head outdoors

By Gillian Flaccus May. 02, 2020 11:14 AM EDT
Conner Brown, a 25-year-old law student at Stanford University, spent the early days of the pandemic following his brother as he spotted and collected...