The likelihood of hot, dry, windy autumn weather that can set the stage for severe fires in California and western Oregon has increased 40% due to human-caused climate change, new computer models show.

As many as 2.6 million Americans—equivalent to 1 per cent of all US adults —prescribed opioids are also taking various other sedatives, including benzodiazepines plus another type of sedative drug, estimates research published online in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine. This type of polypharmacy could be dangerous, warn the researchers, who call for further research into the safety of this approach.

Firearms have overtaken car crashes as the main cause of premature deaths due to trauma in the US since 2017, finds research published online in the journal Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open. In 2018 men made up more than 85% of premature firearm deaths, with firearm suicides highest in older white men, and firearm homicides highest in young black men.