More than 8,200 wildfires have burned "well over 4 million acres" in California this year, killing 31 people and destroying 8,450-plus structures, Cal Fire said Sunday.
Why it matters: Cal Fire confirmed on Sept. 7 that nearly 2.2 million acres had burned, surpassing the previous record set in 2018. The amount of land charred now is bigger in size than Connecticut and more than double that which burned in 2018, when 1,975,086 acres were razed.
A new paper makes the case that the social returns of investing in innovation are enormous.
Why it matters: Things seem not great, to say the least, but humans have faced far worse material challenges for most of our existence. That changed largely thanks to the innovations brought about by science, which is why we need to ensure they keep coming.
