On July 24, Nigeria marked one full year without a single new case of locally acquired polio, the crippling and sometimes fatal disease

On July 24, Nigeria marked one full year without a single new case of locally acquired polio, the crippling and sometimes fatal disease. It is the last country in Africa to stop transmission of wild polio

In April, the astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson accepted the National Academy of Science’s most prestigious award.Inspired by the short and eloquent Gettysburg Address, Dr. Tyson makes his case in just 272 words

William C. Campbell of the United States and Satoshi ?mura of Japan were honored for work that led to the drug Ivermectin, which is super effective at treating a wide range of diseases caused by parasitic worms. Tu Youyou of China was honored for developing Artemisinin, which is the centerpiece of treatments that have made malaria entirely treatable and save more than 100,000 lives every year

This past June, the company that created the SAT helped the Khan Academy launch a free online learning portal for any student who wants help getting ready for the SAT or PSAT

Mobile banking is one of the best tools for helping people lift themselves out of poverty. Kenya is a good example. Today 75 percent of adults there have accounts with a bank or mobile-money provider, up from only 42 percent in 2011. Other countries that are making huge strides include Brazil, Rwanda, Tanzania, Bangladesh, and India

Rubella, also known as German measles, leads to death or severe birth defects when women get the disease during pregnancy. In April, health officials declared the Americas the first region in the world to be free of endemic rubella, thanks to a massive, 15-year effort to vaccinate men, women, and children everywhere in the hemisphere