Weather, features and articles | Educational Science

Dec 7, 2017

Did The Wildfire Rabbit 'Rescuer' Doom A Litter of Babies?

A video making the rounds online shows a rabbit dashing through a gap in the flames of the huge Thomas fire in California. A man rushes after the animal and stops at the edge of the fire line, anxiously dancing around and trying to coax the critter out of the...

Aug 7, 2018

Mendocino Wildfire Becomes California's Largest, and It's Still Growing

California is battling its largest wildfire ever recorded, along with 15 other major ones across the state. The Mendocino Complex Fire is actually two separate fires, both of which began burning in late July: the Ranch Fire and the River Fire. They haven't merged yet, but they are close enough...

Aug 8, 2018

California Wildfires Rage in Astronaut Photos from the Space Station

The wildfires raging across California are a sight to behold from 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have taken dramatic new photos of the dangerous and destructive blazes, which are blackening huge swaths of the Golden State and throwing off smoke that billows...

Aug 13, 2018

Photos Show Horrifying Scenes from California Wildfires

Fighting fire (Image credit: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)Wildfires are raging through California, destroying everything in their wake. As of Aug. 9, 2018, the Mendocino Complex Fire, which includes the River Fire and the Ranch Fire, is considered the state's largest wildfire on record, burning through 305,152 acres of land, with just...

Aug 23, 2018

A Whole Lot of the Planet Is on Fire Right Now

A whole lot of planet Earth is burning right now. In the U.S., record-setting wildfires in Western states dominate the headlines. But as a new image released by NASA's Worldview satellite imagery collection reveals, those fires represent just a fraction of the total portion of the planet that's dominated by...

Nov 15, 2018

In Photos: Devastating Wildfires in California

The Camp Fire (Image credit: NASA Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS))In the early morning of Nov. 8, 2018, a wildfire broke out just outside Paradise, California, engulfing the town in black smoke. The town's 30,000 or so residents were quickly evacuated, according to NASA's Earth Observatory....

Nov 21, 2018

Here's How Smoke from California Wildfires Affects the Human Body

As California's Camp Fire continues to burn and the smoke spreads across a large swath of the U.S., experts say that the biggest health danger from the smoke comes from the particulate matter that it contains. Indeed, in terms of harm to human health, the principal exposure from wildfire smoke...

Dec 28, 2018

How Do Wildfires Start?

As the smoke settles from 2018's fires at the close of the year, it serves as a stark reminder of the raging wildfires that have plagued California and the rest of the American West. More than 8.5 million acres (34,600 square kilometers) burned this year, according to the National Interagency...

Aug 27, 2019

Amazon Wildfires Are Horrifying, But They're Not Destroying Earth's Oxygen Supply

Fires in the Amazon rainforest have captured attention worldwide in recent days. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who took office in 2019, pledged in his campaign to reduce environmental protection and increase agricultural development in the Amazon, and he appears to have followed through on that promise. The resurgence of forest...

Nov 1, 2019

California Wildfires Signal the Arrival of a Planetary Fire Age

Another autumn, more fires, more refugees and incinerated homes. For California, flames have become the colors of fall. Free-burning fire is the proximate provocation for the havoc, since its ember storms are engulfing landscapes. But in the hands of humans, combustion is also the deeper cause. Modern societies are burning...

Nov 3, 2019

NASA Tracks Diablo Winds Powering Massive Kincade Wildfire in California

Gusting winds in northern California are helping the spread of the Kincade fire, as shown in a new animation from NASA. Meanwhile, Maxar Technologies captured infrared images the fire using its suite of Earth-observing satellites. The winds, which are known as Diablo winds, have reached speeds as high as 96...

Jan 4, 2020

Australia's Devastating Wildfires Seen from Space

The Worldview tool from NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) shows this scene on Jan. 2, 2020, as wildfires continue in their intensity along the southeastern coast of Australia. (Image credit: NASA EOSDIS)Satellites in space can spot changes to Earth's climate, and they are providing frightening bird's-eye...

Jan 7, 2020

In Photos: Devastating Look at Raging Wildfires in Australia

The wildfires in Australia are at epic proportions, seeming to crackle and billow across the entire continent. Since the fire season began in July, at least 24 people have died due to those blazes, while in New South Wales alone fires have decimated more than 1,300 houses, according to CNN....

Aug 21, 2020

Will California's giant redwoods survive the raging wildfires?

The ancient giants were standing when Jesus was born, and they were still upright when the Normans conquered Britain. But will the majestic redwoods of California's coast survive the lightning-sparked fires raging across the state? One of the biggest conflagrations in the state, the CZU complex fire in San Mateo...

Aug 21, 2020

Why is wildfire smoke so bad for your lungs?

If I dare to give the coronavirus credit for anything, I would say it has made people more conscious of the air they breathe. A friend texted me this week after going for a jog in the foothills near Boise, Idaho, writing: My lungs are burning … explain what's happening!!!...