From wildfires and hurricanes to drought and rainstorms, atmospheric scientist Ruby Leung explores the climatic underpinnings of extreme weather in this episode. Learn how wildfires in the U.S. are changing, what we can expect in tomorrow’s hurricanes, and what Ruby does when she isn’t modeling human-Earth system interactions.

Host Nick Hennen sits down with Pacific Northwest National Lab’s Ryan McClure. Ryan is involved in a NASA-funded project with PNNL to blast soil laden with bacteria to the International Space Station.

The bacteria-infused soil is from Prosser, Wash. Researchers like McClure and Janet Jansson, a laboratory fellow at PNNL and the leader of the study, will look at what the bacteria do in a microgravity environment to learn more about how soil microbial communities function in space. That’s the intelligence scientists need to grow food in space or on another celestial body.

If you’d like to follow the mission’s progress and launch, you can do so here: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/launch/spacex.html or https://www.nasa.gov/spacex.

When wildfire season creates toxic air in your community, the creeping smoke can make its way into your home, creating hazards that aren’t always easy to detect. This penetration of smoke can lead to high concentrations of tiny particles indoors when nearby wildfires are extreme. Exposure to this kind of air has been linked to unfortunate health results.

A PNNL research team, made up of Chrissi Antonopoulos, a Senior Analyst focusing on the advancement of energy- and carbon-neutral buildings, and Sam Rosenberg, a Data Research Scientist focusing on residential energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and building codes, studied this phenomenon. Together, they huddled inside and examined the air quality inside a nearly 100-year-old 2,600 square foot single-family dwelling in Portland, Oregon as wildfires raged nearby, creating toxic smoke throughout the city. Using low-cost sensors deployed in a new DOE Building America field study, they discovered some clear benefits in air quality from using portable air cleaners during this high smoke event.

Tune in as host Nick Hennen learns more from special guest, Chrissi Antonopoulos on this episode of SciVIBE.