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AI model accurately predicts the spread of wildfires in real time

USC researchers are developing a computational model that combines satellite data and physics-based simulations to forecast a wildfire’s path, intensity, and growth rate. If you’ve ever been evacuated from your home during a wildfire, you’ll be aware of the terrifying unpredictability of the situation. From your location on the ground—rapidly gathering a few vital belongings and attempting to identify the best route to safety—there’s no way of knowing how fast a fire is growing or which direction it’s likely to take.

That was the experience of Assad Oberai, Hughes Professor of aerospace and mechanical engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. He was evacuated from his home during the Eaton Fire in January 2025—one of the most destructive wildfires in Southern California history, burning for 24 days before full containment and leaving more than 9,400 structures destroyed and over 1,000 damaged.

“Due to changing climate, we’re seeing more of these extremely intense fires—those that burn very fast and very bright,” he reflected. “We have the data at our fingertips. It all comes down to how we put it to use.”

NASA Plans to Test Fire on The Moon Ahead of Future Missions

There’s one particular challenge facing the crewed missions of the near future that scares mission planners more than almost any other: fire.

A new paper from researchers at NASA’s Glenn Research Center and Johnson Space Center and Case Western Reserve University details a planned mission to test the flammability of materials on the Moon’s surface – where they expect flame to act much differently than it does here on Earth.

On Earth, gravity causes hot gases to rise, drawing fresh, cool oxygen to the base of the flame. In some cases where the material is marginally flammable, this can result in a phenomenon called “blowoff”, which actually extinguishes the fire.

Atomic Clocks Could Reveal The Hidden Quantum Nature of Time Itself

Although there are many variables in life, there’s one metric by which our existence is strictly measured: time.

We think of it as rigid, smooth, and unidirectional – the arrow of time flies straight and true, and all we can do is go where it leads.

But what if time is a little more loosey-goosey than our experience of it suggests? What if it harbors a hidden quantum nature?

Up to 4% of People Can Hear Colors or Taste Words. Here’s Why

Have you ever tasted a word, or seen colors while listening to music?

If you have, you may be among the 1% to 4% of people who have a fascinating trait known as synaesthesia.

Synaesthesia is a neurological phenomenon where the activation of one sense, such as hearing, triggers the activation of another, usually unrelated sense, such as sight. This means people with synaesthesia often experience additional sensations compared to the rest of us.

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