Fast-Moving California Wildfires Boosted by Climate Change

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August 24, 2020

Dear Reader,   Yesterday, firefighters battled nearly two dozen wildfires in California after a week of raging blazes have burnt more than 1 million acres. Experts say the fast-moving flames show how climate change is affecting America’s most populous state. Read our lead story to learn more. Next up, college students are heading back to school. As with the uncoordinated and chaotic national response to COVID-19, higher education has no clear guidance or set of standards to adhere to from the federal government or anywhere else. Meanwhile, another health crisis among young people in the U.S. could be getting worse: suicide. Mental health professionals worry that the social isolation, financial hardships and anxiety related to the coronavirus pandemic might worsen suicide trends.

Sunya Bhutta, Senior Editor, Audience Engagement @sunyaaa

Climate Fast-Moving California Wildfires Boosted by Climate Change Nearly two dozen large blazes have burnt more than 1 million acres of the state By Anne C. Mulkern,E&E News

Public Health College Coronavirus Testing Plans Are All Over the Map With no clear guidance from the federal government, schools are pursuing a mix of online and in-person classes By Michael McAuliff,Sebastián Martínez Valdivia,Christine Herman,Stephanie O'Neill,Kaiser Health News

Evolution How Birds Evolved Their Incredible Diversity An analysis of 391 skulls shows that birds evolved surprisingly slowly, compared with their dinosaur forerunners By Kate Wong

Computing Democratized Information Is Transforming Society Innovations are blurring the lines between consumers and producers, amateurs and professionals, and laypeople and experts By Naomi Oreskes,Erik M. Conway

Evolution Buried Skeletons Reveal Tsunami Threat in East Africa Newly analyzed remains depict the scope of a devastating event By Christian Fogerty

Mental Health Another Tragic Epidemic: Suicide Suicide rates have been rising for two decades in the U.S. Will the pandemic make things worse? By Claudia Wallis

Conservation How We Can Use the CITES Wildlife Trade Agreement to Help Prevent Pandemics At the moment, we can’t—so let’s adapt it By Bruce J. Weissgold,Peter Knights,Susan Lieberman,Russell Mittermeier

Policy & Ethics The False Logic behind Science Denial Those who argue that COVID-19 isn’t a real threat are mirroring bogus attacks on global warming and evolution By Naomi Oreskes

Behavior & Society Penis Size Has Nothing to Do with Masculinity Mocking men who tote big guns or drive fast cars as “compensating” for their presumably inadequate endowment is sexist and toxic By Emily Willingham

FROM THE STORE Black Holes: Going to Extremes   Once dismissed as a mathematical curiosity, black holes are so strange they almost defy belief. Since their existence was confirmed, research into the nature of black holes has opened up new vistas in physics, and in this eBook, we examine some of the most fascinating discoveries about black hole formation and behavior, the new and evolving research in gravitational wave astronomy, theoretical possibilities such as wormholes and much more.

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FROM THE ARCHIVE The Hidden Toll of Wildfires A huge aerial campaign seeks to understand the effects of biomass smoke on human health By Kyle Dickman | March 2020

QUOTE OF THE DAY "It just seems so terrifyingly familiar. This is now the third major fire in four years. We are battle-weary." Susan Gorin, a Sonoma County supervisor

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