A new study attributes 24,100 all-cause deaths per year to wildfire smoke-related PM_2.5 exposure in the contiguous U.S. from 2006 to 2020. The strength of this association varied seasonally and demographically. Min Zhang and colleagues found that these effects appear to be more pronounced in rural areas, during cooler periods across seasons, and in younger communities. “Our findings point to the need for targeted interventions to reduce the long-term mortality burden of wildfire smoke PM_2.5,” they write. Wildfire smoke is a major source of PM_2.5, increasing mortality risk from respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease, and neurological disease in chronically exposed populations. Here, Zhang et al. examine the effects of wildfire smoke PM_2.5 exposure on deaths of all causes, analyzing annual mortality rate data from 3,068 counties in the contiguous U.S. from 2006 to 2020. They specifically investigated records on circulatory, respiratory, neurological, endocrine, nutritional, and metabolic diseases; mental and behavioral disorders; and neoplasms. Then, they linked these data with satellite-obtained wildfire smoke PM_2.5 data, using robust statistical analyses to filter out confounding factors. The findings connected wildfire smoke PM_2.5 exposure with increased death rates for all diseases (exempting mortality rates for transport accidents and falls, which served as negative controls). The team calculated that wildfire smoke PM_2.5 caused an additional 24,100 all-cause deaths per year, with the effects varying seasonally and demographically. They also broke this finding down to quantify the outcome of changes in PM_2.5 concentration per microgram per cubic meter of wildfire smoke PM_2.5. Doing so tied each 0.1 microgram per cubic meter annual increase to approximately 5,594 all-cause deaths per year. “Despite the increasing wildfires driven by the rapidly changing climate, the shift in U.S. climate policy starting in 2025 is halting federal climate action and jeopardizing global mitigation efforts, posing a critical and underappreciated risk to climate progress,” the authors write.

For reporters following trends in PM_2.5-related mortality, a 2026 Science Advances study found decreased exposure to PM_2.5 pollutants across the U.S. hasn’t lowered heart disease mortality for all racial groups and regions equally: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adx2075

Electrocatalysis sits at the heart of clean hydrogen production, fuel cells, and carbon dioxide conversion, yet progress toward scalable, high-performance catalysts has remained frustratingly slow. A growing body of research now suggests that artificial intelligence (AI) may be key to breaking this bottleneck—but only if it is used wisely. By reviewing three decades of AI applications in electrocatalysis, researchers reveal how the field has shifted from isolated data analysis toward end-to-end, data-driven discovery. The work highlights a critical turning point: AI is no longer just accelerating experiments, but beginning to reshape how electrocatalysts are designed, evaluated, and understood at a fundamental level.

Governments, industry representatives and international organizations representing over 70 countries at the International Submarine Cable Resilience Summit 2026 reaffirmed today the need to strengthen support for the subsea cables at the heart of global digital communications.

A new survey from Orlando Health reveals only about one in ten (9%) Americans would schedule an appointment with a cardiologist as soon as possible if they were to experience classic heart failure symptoms, such as unusual fatigue, shortness of breath, unexplained weight gain, bloating, or an irregular heartbeat. Meanwhile, half of Americans would not even call their primary care doctor to schedule a new, non-urgent appointment.

Australian researchers have uncovered a crucial new mechanism that helps explain how the heart’s major blood vessels form during early development, and how disruptions to this process can lead to serious congenital heart defects.