Axios

The East Coast's ancient rocks allowed the Friday morning earthquake to rattle an estimated 42 million people in several states, giving it a much wider reach than its West Coast cousins, geologists said.

Why it matters: If an earthquake of the same magnitude happened on the West Coast, it's likely that it wouldn't have been felt as far away, because seismic waves in the eastern half of North America behave differently than those out West.

Barring surprising changes, Americans should prepare for a potentially expensive, damaging — and life-threatening — Atlantic hurricane season.

Why it matters: Seasons that feature some of the current elements have been among the busiest on record, but none have seen this potent a mix.

A powerful, deadly storm that's dumped several inches of snow across New England and other parts of the U.S. Northeast disrupted travel and caused widespread outages into Friday morning.

The big picture: Well over a foot of snow has fallen in parts of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Nearly 290,000 customers had no power in Maine alone, with nearly 116,00 in the dark in neighboring N.H. on Friday morning.

Understanding of psychiatric disorders is catching up to a reality all too familiar to the doctors who treat patients: one-size-fits-all treatments for complex conditions like depression or bipolar disorder are coming up short.

Why it matters: As new treatments hit the market, researchers are still trying to understand the underpinnings of the disorders in hopes of tailoring medicines to those patients who will benefit most.

The tropics lost the equivalent of 10 soccer (football) fields of forest per minute last year due to logging, human-set fires and climate change, according to a new report from the World Resources Institute (WRI).

Why it matters: Declines in rainforest deforestation rates in Brazil and Colombia were counteracted by increases in other countries, which set the world further off track from meeting forest loss goals critical to curbing climate change.

The Atlantic hurricane season is likely to be "extremely active," with 23 named storms, 11 hurricanes and 5 major hurricanes, a prominent forecast group said Thursday.

Why it matters: This is the highest number of hurricanes that a team of meteorologists from Colorado State University have issued in the 41 years they have produced such outlooks during April.