Elsa strengthened into the first hurricane of the Atlantic season on Friday, threatening parts of the Caribbean as a Category 1 storm.
Why it matters: Elsa is the earliest fifth-named storm on record. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted an above-average storm season in the Atlantic this year.
Deadly heat waves. An epic drought. More than a million acres in the West gone up in smoke before the end of June. And the earliest fifth-named Atlantic tropical storm on record.
A record-shattering heat wave has triggered a spate of massive wildfires across British Columbia and the U.S. West, with one blaze roaring through parts of Lytton, Canada, on Wednesday night. The fire occurred just a day after the town set a national high temperature record of 121°F.
Why it matters: The unprecedented heat is leading to other deadly threats as residents hastily evacuate areas in the path of quickly-advancing flames, including deteriorating air quality.
The gene editing system CRISPR-Cas9 can be injected into the blood and directed to the liver to treat patients with a rare condition, according to a recent study.
Why it matters: The ability to edit genes directly in a patient's body expands the list of possible diseases and conditions researchers can try to target with CRISPR-based therapies.
Large numbers of COVID-19 hospitalizations and more immunocompromised people in general are fueling a global spread of a different threatening microbe: invasive fungi.
Why it matters: These infections cause more than 1.6 million deaths worldwide every year, and the microorganisms responsible for them are starting to evade the small supply of antifungal drugs.
A newfound white dwarf star 130 light-years away is the most massive and smallest ever discovered, according to a new study.
Why it matters: The star — thought to be the result of two white dwarfs smacking into one another and merging — can act as a laboratory for astronomers to learn more about how extreme objects in the universe evolve.
Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos has invited Wally Funk — one of the women aviators who passed the Mercury astronaut tests in the 1960s — to join him and two others on the company's first crewed trip to the edge of space.
Why it matters: Funk's turn as an astronaut is years in the making, after the Mercury 13 — a group of women who mastered the same tests as NASA astronauts in the 1960s as part of a private initiative — were passed over by NASA.
Authorities in Canada, Oregon and Washington are investigating hundreds of deaths likely caused by the Pacific Northwest's worst heat wave on record, AP reports.
