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On Tuesday, President Barack Obama called for the quick development of tests, vaccines and treatments for battling the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus. The virus has been associated with birth defects. It is expected that the virus may spread to the United States in hotter months.

While citing the latest study, the US health officials are estimating that the virus may reach areas where 60% of the US population lives. They have decided to increase their efforts to study the relation between Zika virus infections and birth defects. Top health and national security officials briefed Obama on the potential spread of the virus on Tuesday.

Smoking kills -- the phrase holds true for all people, but if you have breast cancer then it kills you even earlier than supposed. To make the statement even more believable, a study published online in the Journal of Clinical Oncology states that if women suffering from breast cancer continue to smoke after diagnosis, they die early than those quitting smoking.

The study was done on more than 20,000 white women between the age of 20 and 79, all diagnosed with breast cancer between 1988 and 2008. The researchers, after six years to diagnosis, contacted more than 4,500 of the women to know about their smoking status.

American government panel has recommended medical health care to cure depression through screening. In past, America has suffered huge financial losses due to depression. Screening as a treatment can aid in reducing or stopping symptoms of depression from coming back. Screening would be used to cure adults, especially pregnant and postpartum women.

This new recommendation is an update to similar recommendation issued in 2009 that targeted adults for depression screening. The suggestion was found published in Journal of the American Medical Association. The panel says people screened should be given accurate diagnosis, effective treatment and appropriate follow-up.

A new highly-backed Kickstarter project launched by Japan’s Hoshinchu has created a buzz over the Internet. The project, Air Bonsai, not only offers a chance to create your own floating tree, but also inspires levitation.

Hoshinchu launched Air Bonsai project on January 21. This tiny tree, also known as ‘little star’, has some repelling magnets that help the plant floating in the air by repelling each other. They push each other and make the tiny tree float in the tree and spin slowly.

Oregon State University's athletic department was busy in a renovation project when it accidentally unearthed some prehistoric bones. As per reports, the 10,000-year-old bones discovered during construction in north end zone of the university’s Reser Stadium in Corvallis belong to a mammoth.

The femurs were uncovered by construction crews when they were working at the site of the Valley Football Center expansion project at the stadium, said Steve Clark, spokesperson of the Oregon State University. Apart from bones of an ancient mammoth, they have found some remains that may belong to other animal species, such as bison and a camel, he added.

An invasive fish in Oregon’s Diamond Lake has agitated fish managers of the state. The discovery of a single tui chub in October last year has let the authorities take a decision to eradicate the fish by stocking tiger trout in the lake.

The invasive fish species was found about a decade after Oregon’s $5.6 million program to eliminate the fish. Greg Huchko of Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) said only one tui chub has been discovered in the Diamond Lake and officials hope it was the only fish of this species. It next one or two years, it will be a non-issue, he added.

As per a plan of the ODFW, Diamond Lake will have approximately 25,000 tiger trout in spring this year. The effort will be followed by the officials looking for unwanted fish species during summer.