Nearly all of the world's oceans are in the midst of "unusual warmth," warns a leading NOAA scientist who notes this has contributed to the extreme heat baking much of the Northern Hemisphere this summer.
Why it matters: "Even small rises in temperature can disrupt marine ecosystems, cause some species to relocate, and increase disease risks," said Stats NZ's Stuart Jones in a statement. "It also contributes to sea-level rise as the warmer water expands."
Two AI systems from Google DeepMind together solved four of the six problems in this year's International Mathematical Olympiad — on par with silver medalists in the annual world math championship for high school students.
Why it matters: The ability to solve a range of math problems in step-by-step proofs is considered a "grand challenge" in machine learning and has been beyond the reach of current state-of-the-art AI systems.
Massive wildfires burning across the unusually hot and dry western U.S. and Canada have led thousands to evacuate, with reports of at least one fire in California and another in Oregon creating their own weather.
The big picture: 78 large fires are burning in the West, per the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). This includes 31 blazes in Oregon and 12 in California, as dangerously hot temperatures continued to roast the West.
