Severe wildfires across the American West may already be altering the future of forests there.
The big picture: Fires are catalyzing changes in forests already under pressure from climate change. Scientists are trying to determine how forests are responding and whether they can be rebuilt to withstand future fires and combat climate change.
Despite concerns over antimicrobial resistance flourishing during the pandemic as doctors use all their tools to help patients fight COVID-19, early indications are that their efforts may not be causing a large increase, a CDC official tells Axios.
Why it matters: AMR is a growing problem, as the misuse or overuse of antibiotics creates resistant pathogens that cause more than 2.8 million infections and 35,000 deaths annually in the U.S.
NASA is asking private companies to help the space agency collect dirt and rocks from the Moon, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine announced today.
Why it matters: The solicitation is part of NASA's push to commercialize space and make the agency a buyer of services in space instead of a sole provider.
A 1-year-old boy is among at least seven people to have died in wildfires burning hundreds of thousands of acres in the Northwest U.S. this week, officials in Okanogan County, Washington, confirmed Wednesday.
Driving the news: Powerful winds are fueling scores of fires as thousands of people remain under evacuation orders in California, Washington state and Oregon.
Wildlife populations have plummeted 68% in less than half a century and the "catastrophic" decline shows no sign of slowing down, a major conservation report published Wednesday warns.
Driving the news: The World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) "Living Planet Report 2020" that monitored 4,392 species of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians from 1970 to 2016 points to one underlying cause for the populations decline and deterioration of nature: humanity.
San Francisco's skies were thick with smoke from ongoing wildfires on Wednesday, largely blocking the sun from view amid hazardous air quality across the Bay Area.
The big picture: Roughly 14,000 firefighters are battling 28 major wildfires across California. There have been eight fatalities from wildfires this year and over 2.5 million acres have burned across the state, per Cal Fire.
Pilots wearing night-vision goggles landed helicopters in California's burning Sierra National Forest to save 164 people trapped by flames and were working to rescue 17 others, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said during a news conference Tuesday.
What's happening: Firefighters are battling more than two dozen major blazes, as PG&E cut power to 170,000 customers in a safety shutdown.
The Western U.S. is being hit by wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres along the Pacific Coast, while Colorado has seen records for both hot and cold temperatures within three days.
Driving the news: California fighters are battling more than two dozen major fires, as PG&E cut power to 170,000 customers in a safety shutdown. In Oregon, thousands were forced to evacuate as several large wildfires ravage the state. In Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee (D) tweeted that 330,000 acres had burned in the state in a single day — "more than 12 of the last 18 entire fire seasons."
