Australian firefighters are warning about an impending “mega blaze” as efforts to tackle over 100 bushfires have backfired spectacularly, while the country prepares for its possible hottest day on record. At least 20 houses have been razed and over 400,000 hectares burned as fire crews battle over 100 fires in New South Wales. Residents are bracing for even more extreme temperatures this... 

The “lungs” of our planet consist of about 3 trillion trees, and 20% of them are in the territory of Russia. That is a record-breaking figure (640 billion), which is double the number of trees in Canada, that ranked second. Thomas Crowther, a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies analyzed with his colleagues satellite images of tree populations...