Wildfires

If you live on an acreage, there's a constant risk that your home may be consumed by a brush fire. That's where the Blaze Barrier comes in, as it forms a flame-activated fire-retardant boundary line around the user's house.

A serendipitous discovery at Stanford revealed the properties of a material that changes form when exposed to flame. The finding holds promise for a spray coating that could protect homes from fire over four times as long as current solutions.

When vineyards are exposed to wildfire smoke, the grapes may absorb compounds which end up detracting from the flavor of the wine. A spray-on coating could help, however, keeping wines from being described as possessing "a hint of burning forest."

Independent analyses by NASA, NOAA, WMO, Copernicus and the UK Met Office have all confirmed that 2023 was officially the hottest year on record. A slew of other records were also broken amidst a string of severe weather events across the globe.

Coming as no surprise to the millions who sweltered through a Northern Hemisphere summer, the season that has just passed was Earth’s hottest since records began in 1880. The steamy baton is expected to now be passed on to the Southern Hemisphere.

It’s well established that any air pollution is hazardous, with it claiming some 6.5 million lives around the world each year. But one type of emission is being increasingly linked to age-related dementia, and it’s also surging due to wildfires.

With wildfires currently blazing through Greece, Italy and North America, the race is on to develop better responses to potential outbreaks. And as fires increase in size and frequency, AI is shaping up as our best hope in preventing catastrophes.