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Top headlines
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Dragon Bravo seems a fitting name for the megafire that has been breathing smoke into the Grand Canyon for over a month now. Most wildfires are named for their location, and this was the second in recent years near a North Rim summit called The Dragon.
While it hasn’t threatened any towns, Dragon Bravo has been a lesson in how fragile water supplies can be.
Faith Kearns, a water researcher with Arizona State University’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory, describes the challenges firefighters have faced as the megafire damaged water lines and triggered a toxic chemical release at a water treatment plant.
Scientists are discovering that problems like these only scratch the surface when it comes to the harm fires can do to public water systems and the compounding crisis they can create for firefighters.
“The Dragon Bravo Fire isn’t just a wildfire story, it’s also a water story, and it signals a larger, emerging challenge across the West,” Kearns writes.
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Stacy Morford
Senior Environment, Climate and Energy Editor
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Tourists watch smoke from the Dragon Bravo wildfire float through the Grand Canyon.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Faith Kearns, Arizona State University
Water systems are vulnerable to melting plastic components, toxic contamination and failures that can leave firefighters without flowing water.
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Education
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Jennifer L. Steele, American University
As AI automates technical work, students and educators need to emphasize social skills and a high degree of self-awareness.
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Economy + Business
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Prachi Gala, Kennesaw State University
More and more universities are bringing in corporate-style marketing chiefs. New research shows what they’re gaining – and where the returns fall flat.
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Louis Tay, Purdue University
Workers who get time off to relax, learn new skills or connect meaningfully with their friends and relatives have more energy, are in better moods and can do their jobs better.
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Ethics + Religion
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Samira Mehta, University of Colorado Boulder
Griswold v. Connecticut, decided in 1965, set the precedent for several other landmark cases about sex and privacy.
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Health + Medicine
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Anna Kirkland, University of Michigan
The 40-year-old ‘vaccine court’ relies on scientific evidence to determine whether a person experienced harm from a routine vaccination.
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Joshua Kellogg, Penn State
With little evidence or regulatory oversight, some mushroom products claim to improve cognitive function while posing a risk of serious side effects, including seizures and cardiovascular risk.
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Politics + Society
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Mitra Naseh, Washington University in St. Louis
Afghans who have lost US work permits and protections from deportation fear persecution by the Taliban if they return to Afghanistan.
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Laura Madokoro, Carleton University
The Sanctuary Movement emerged amid a restrictive US asylum process and as the Reagan administration refused to acknowledge the extent of human rights violations in the region.
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Science + Technology
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Jessica M. Theodor, University of Calgary; Kenshu Shimada, DePaul University; Kristi Curry Rogers, Macalester College; Stuart Sumida, California State University, San Bernardino
Dinosaur fossils are sold for millions to private collectors. These fossils are scientific evidence, and need to be accessible for research and public education.
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