Global News

[ad_1] Much of the United States has experienced horrible air quality this year due to the Canadian wildfires. It's not only particles from smoke creating pollution, but new research shows there's also an invisible pollution problem causing health concerns: Ozone.   When ozone is up in the atmosphere, it filters out the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays. When it reaches the ground, it's not healthy for humans.   According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ground-level ozone can cause coughing and a sore throat, make it more difficult to breathe deeply, and make the lungs more susceptible to infection.   "It's the things that affect your bronchial lungs and asthma attacks is a key one, particularly in young children." said Dan Jaffe, an environmental chemistry professor at the University of Washington.  Jaffe has been studying ozone pollution for 30 years. He said most of the time it comes from a chemical ...

[ad_1] While many more people across the country are seeing the impact of wildfires and smoke , scientists are turning to the promise of big data, technology and collaboration to keep big fires from spreading.    "If you manage to stop this in the first couple of hours it's a lot easier to stop," said Dr. Ilkay Altintas, the founder and director of the WIFIRE Lab at University of California San Diego.  Pinpointing a fire quickly improves the chances of containing a blaze. Altintas and her team have developed a platform called Firemap designed to reduce the response time for attacking a wildfire.   The platform analyzes data in new ways, starting with the collection of 911 call data where callers often provide a very general idea about the location of a fire.   To enhance that accuracy, the platform relies on a system of mountaintop cameras called ALERTWildfire, built by the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the Univer...