ADHD… As An Adult?

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ADHD—not just for kids!

Consider the following:

  • If a kid has consistent problems paying attention, it’s easy and common to say “Aha, ADHD!”
  • If a young adult has consistent problems paying attention, it’s easy and common to say “Aha, a disinterested ne’er-do-well!”
  • If an older adult has consistent problems paying attention, it’s easy and common to say “Aha, a senior moment!”

Yet, if we recognize that ADHD is fundamentally a brain difference in children (and we do; there are physiological characteristics that we can test), and we can recognize that as people get older our brains typically have less neuroplasticity (ability to change) than when we are younger rather than less, then… Surely, there are just as many adults with ADHD as kids!

After all, that rather goes with the linear nature of time and the progressive nature of getting older.

So why do kids get diagnoses so much more often than adults?

Parents—and schools—can find children’s ADHD challenging, and it’s their problem, so they look for an explanation, and ADHD isn’t too difficult to find as a diagnosis.

Meanwhile, adults with ADHD have usually developed coping mechanisms, have learned to mask and/or compensate for their symptoms, and we expect adults to manage their own problems, so nobody’s rushing to find an explanation on their behalf.

Additionally, the stigma of neurodivergence—especially something popularly associated with children—isn’t something that many adults will want for themselves.

But, if you have an ADHD brain, then recognizing that (even if just privately to yourself) can open the door to much better management of your symptoms… and your life.

So what does ADHD look like in adults?

ADHD involves a spread of symptoms, and not everyone will have them all, or have them in the same magnitude. However, very commonly most noticeable traits include:

  • Lack of focus (ease of distraction)
    • Conversely: high focus (on the wrong things)
      • To illustrate: someone with ADHD might set out to quickly tidy the sock drawer, and end up Marie Kondo-ing their entire wardrobe… when they were supposed to doing something else
  • Poor time management (especially: tendency to procrastinate)
  • Forgetfulness (of various kinds—for example, forgetting information, and forgetting to do things)

Want To Take A Quick Test? Click Here ← this one is reputable, and free. No sign in required; the test is right there.

Wait, where’s the hyperactivity in this Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?

It’s often not there. ADHD is simply badly-named. This stems from how a lot of mental health issues are considered by society in terms of how much they affect (and are observable by) other people. Since ADHD was originally noticed in children (in fact being originally called “Hyperkinetic Reaction of Childhood”), it ended up being something like:

“Oh, your brain has an inconvenient relationship with dopamine and you are driven to try to correct that by shifting attention from boring things to stimulating things? You might have trouble-sitting-still disorder”

Hmm, this sounds like me (or my loved one); what to do now at the age of __?

Some things to consider:

  • If you don’t want medication (there are pros and cons, beyond the scope of today’s article), you might consider an official diagnosis not worth pursuing. That’s fine if so, because…
  • More important than whether or not you meet certain diagnostic criteria, is whether or not the strategies recommended for it might help you.
  • Whether or not you talk to other people about it is entirely up to you. Maybe it’s a stigma you’d rather avoid… Or maybe it’ll help those around you to better understand and support you.
    • Either way, you might want to learn more about ADHD in adults. Today’s article was about recognizing it—we’ll write more about managing it another time!

In the meantime… We recommended a great book about this a couple of weeks ago; you might want to check it out:

Click here to see our review of “The Silent Struggle: Taking Charge of ADHD in Adults”!

Note: the review is at the bottom of that page. You’ll need to scroll past the video (which is also about ADHD) without getting distracted by it and forgetting you were there to see about the book. So:

  1. Click the above link
  2. Scroll straight to the review!

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  • Are Fruit & Vegetable Extract Supplements Worth It?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    At 10almonds we are always extolling the virtues of fruits and vegetables, but how much do those benefits still exist when we’re looking at a fruit and vegetable extract supplement?

    We examined one aspect of this previously, here;

    Mediterranean Diet… In A Pill?

    This looked at getting the anti-inflammatory benefits of the Mediterranean diet, in supplement form, by providing extracts of 16 key plant extracts—which also provides an excellent shopping list, by the way, if you just want to skip the supplements and buy those plants; if nine top scientists (anti-aging specialists, neurobiologists, pharmacologists, and at least one professor of applied statistics) came to the conclusion that to get the absolute most bang-for-buck possible, those are the plants to get the phytochemicals from, then we’re not going to ignore that!

    And yes, the short answer was “it does very significantly improve anti-inflammatory markers”, by the way.

    But when it comes to benefits from polyphenols, anti-inflammatory powers are very much “low-hanging fruit”, so to speak. It’s the “fork found in kitchen” level of shocking revelation. It’s what polyphenols are best at (tied with antioxidant powers, which directly mediate their anti-inflammatory powers).

    So, what about something more challenging, like brain benefits?

    Underrated Brain Boosters

    A European research team (Dr. Begoña Cerdá et al.) looked at the effects of polyphenol-rich nutraceuticals (plant extracts) on cognitive function and neuroprotection biomarkers.

    It was a randomized, crossover, double-blind, sex-stratified, placebo-controlled clinical trial that had people take the supplement or a placebo for 16 weeks, have a 4-week washout phase (to minimize leftover effects contaminating the data) and then switching groups (still blinded to the placebo control) for 16 weeks.

    They tested cognitive function and neuroprotection biomarkers in various ways before and after each of the testing phases (so, four testing sessions in total per person: before and after the supplement + before and after the placebo).

    The results:

    ❝The results suggested that participants who consumed the polyphenol-rich nutraceutical demonstrated significant improvements in cognitive performance compared to the placebo group.

    The Stroop Test scores indicated enhanced attention and inhibitory control, while RIST results suggested improvements in logical reasoning and memory. The Trail Making Test also revealed increased cognitive flexibility, highlighting the supplement’s potential to boost overall mental agility.

    Furthermore, the ELISA results showed a notable increase in BDNF and CREB levels among participants who took the active supplement. BDNF is a protein that is essential for neuronal growth and survival, and its levels were significantly elevated, reinforcing its role in synaptic plasticity and long-term memory formation.

    Additionally, CREB, a transcription factor involved in learning processes, also showed increased levels, supporting its function in cognitive enhancement.

    Importantly, the correlation between improved test scores and higher biomarker levels suggested that polyphenols may directly influence brain function rather than merely offering general health benefits.

    While the study focused on healthy adults, the findings also raised questions about whether similar interventions could benefit populations at risk for cognitive decline, including older adults and individuals with neurodegenerative conditions.❞

    Key to abbreviations:

    • RIST = Reynolds Intellectual Screening Test
    • ELISA = Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assays
    • BDNF = Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
    • CREB = cAMP-Response Element Binding Protein
    • cAMP = Cyclic Adenosine MonoPhosphate

    Source: Daily fruit and vegetable extracts may boost brain power ← we quoted a pop-sci article for the above summary, for easier readability while still having the critical conclusions in one place

    For those who do want to dive into the actual data and a lot more detail about the study methodology (which is well worth reading if you have the time, as it’s very good), here is the actual study:

    Impact of Polyphenol-Rich Nutraceuticals on Cognitive Function and Neuroprotective Biomarkers: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial

    If nothing else, be aware that the usual benchmark for statistical significance is p < 0.05, whereas the results in this study ranged from p < 0.01 to p < 0.001, in other words, ranging from 5x more significant than is required to be called “significant”, to 50x more significant than is required to be called “significant”.

    In fewer words: impressively significant

    In lay terms: the scientists are about as sure as scientists ever get about anything, that this supplement produces significant results

    What was the supplement they tested?

    Good news! It was…

    1. a commercially available supplement (JuicePlus), which is convenient, because it means we (and you, dear reader) can get it if we so choose
    2. not paid for by JuicePlus or anyone associated with them (indeed, the funding declaration on the study is “This research received no external funding”), so not subject to any conflict of interest that might introduce bias into the study

    As for why they chose that one:

    ❝A unique aspect of the polyphenol-rich nutraceutical evaluated in this study lies in its composition, which integrates a blend of fruit, vegetable, and berry juice powders.

    This product, Juice Plus+ Premium®, contains over 119 distinct polyphenolic compounds, including flavanols, anthocyanins, and flavones, as demonstrated in prior compositional analyses.

    Compared to other polyphenol-based interventions, this nutraceutical stands out due to its comprehensive formulation, combining a wide range of bioactive compounds with complementary antioxidant and neuroprotective effects.

    These characteristics ensure a more diverse interaction with neurobiological pathways, including those related to oxidative stress mitigation, synaptic plasticity, and cognitive function❞

    Source: Ibid. (it’s in the introduction)

    Want to try some?

    We don’t sell it, but for your convenience, here’s where to get JuicePlus supplements Amazon 😎

    Enjoy!

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  • Terminal lucidity: why do loved ones with dementia sometimes ‘come back’ before death?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Dementia is often described as “the long goodbye”. Although the person is still alive, dementia slowly and irreversibly chips away at their memories and the qualities that make someone “them”.

    Dementia eventually takes away the person’s ability to communicate, eat and drink on their own, understand where they are, and recognise family members.

    Since as early as the 19th century, stories from loved ones, caregivers and health-care workers have described some people with dementia suddenly becoming lucid. They have described the person engaging in meaningful conversation, sharing memories that were assumed to have been lost, making jokes, and even requesting meals.

    It is estimated 43% of people who experience this brief lucidity die within 24 hours, and 84% within a week.

    Why does this happen?

    Terminal lucidity or paradoxical lucidity?

    In 2009, researchers Michael Nahm and Bruce Greyson coined the term “terminal lucidity”, since these lucid episodes often occurred shortly before death.

    But not all lucid episodes indicate death is imminent. One study found many people with advanced dementia will show brief glimmers of their old selves more than six months before death.

    Lucidity has also been reported in other conditions that affect the brain or thinking skills, such as meningitis, schizophrenia, and in people with brain tumours or who have sustained a brain injury.

    Moments of lucidity that do not necessarily indicate death are sometimes called paradoxical lucidity. It is considered paradoxical as it defies the expected course of neurodegenerative diseases such as dementia.

    But it’s important to note these episodes of lucidity are temporary and sadly do not represent a reversal of neurodegenerative disease.

    Man in hospital bed
    Sadly, these episodes of lucidity are only temporary. Pexels/Kampus Production

    Why does terminal lucidity happen?

    Scientists have struggled to explain why terminal lucidity happens. Some episodes of lucidity have been reported to occur in the presence of loved ones. Others have reported that music can sometimes improve lucidity. But many episodes of lucidity do not have a distinct trigger.

    A research team from New York University speculated that changes in brain activity before death may cause terminal lucidity. But this doesn’t fully explain why people suddenly recover abilities that were assumed to be lost.

    Paradoxical and terminal lucidity are also very difficult to study. Not everyone with advanced dementia will experience episodes of lucidity before death. Lucid episodes are also unpredictable and typically occur without a particular trigger.

    And as terminal lucidity can be a joyous time for those who witness the episode, it would be unethical for scientists to use that time to conduct their research. At the time of death, it’s also difficult for scientists to interview caregivers about any lucid moments that may have occurred.

    Explanations for terminal lucidity extend beyond science. These moments of mental clarity may be a way for the dying person to say final goodbyes, gain closure before death, and reconnect with family and friends. Some believe episodes of terminal lucidity are representative of the person connecting with an afterlife.

    Why is it important to know about terminal lucidity?

    People can have a variety of reactions to seeing terminal lucidity in a person with advanced dementia. While some will experience it as being peaceful and bittersweet, others may find it deeply confusing and upsetting. There may also be an urge to modify care plans and request lifesaving measures for the dying person.

    Being aware of terminal lucidity can help loved ones understand it is part of the dying process, acknowledge the person with dementia will not recover, and allow them to make the most of the time they have with the lucid person.

    For those who witness it, terminal lucidity can be a final, precious opportunity to reconnect with the person that existed before dementia took hold and the “long goodbye” began.

    Yen Ying Lim, Associate Professor, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University and Diny Thomson, PhD (Clinical Neuropsychology) Candidate and Provisional Psychologist, Monash University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • What’s the difference between a heart attack and cardiac arrest? One’s about plumbing, the other wiring

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    In July 2023, rising US basketball star Bronny James collapsed on the court during practice and was sent to hospital. The 18-year-old athlete, son of famous LA Lakers’ veteran LeBron James, had experienced a cardiac arrest.

    Many media outlets incorrectly referred to the event as a “heart attack” or used the terms interchangeably.

    A cardiac arrest and a heart attack are distinct yet overlapping concepts associated with the heart.

    With some background in how the heart works, we can see how they differ and how they’re related.

    Explode/Shutterstock

    Understanding the heart

    The heart is a muscle that contracts to work as a pump. When it contracts it pushes blood – containing oxygen and nutrients – to all the tissues of our body.

    For the heart muscle to work effectively as a pump, it needs to be fed its own blood supply, delivered by the coronary arteries. If these arteries are blocked, the heart muscle doesn’t get the blood it needs.

    This can cause the heart muscle to become injured or die, and results in the heart not pumping properly.

    Heart attack or cardiac arrest?

    Simply put, a heart attack, technically known as a myocardial infarction, describes injury to, or death of, the heart muscle.

    A cardiac arrest, sometimes called a sudden cardiac arrest, is when the heart stops beating, or put another way, stops working as an effective pump.

    In other words, both relate to the heart not working as it should, but for different reasons. As we’ll see later, one can lead to the other.

    Why do they happen? Who’s at risk?

    Heart attacks typically result from blockages in the coronary arteries. Sometimes this is called coronary artery disease, but in Australia, we tend to refer to it as ischaemic heart disease.

    The underlying cause in about 75% of people is a process called atherosclerosis. This is where fatty and fibrous tissue build up in the walls of the coronary arteries, forming a plaque. The plaque can block the blood vessel or, in some instances, lead to the formation of a blood clot.

    Atherosclerosis is a long-term, stealthy process, with a number of risk factors that can sneak up on anyone. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, diet, diabetes, stress, and your genes have all been implicated in this plaque-building process.

    Other causes of heart attacks include spasms of the coronary arteries (causing them to constrict), chest trauma, or anything else that reduces blood flow to the heart muscle.

    Regardless of the cause, blocking or reducing the flow of blood through these pipes can result in the heart muscle not receiving enough oxygen and nutrients. So cells in the heart muscle can be injured or die.

    Heart attack vs cardiac arrest
    Here’s a simple way to remember the difference. Author provided

    But a cardiac arrest is the result of heartbeat irregularities, making it harder for the heart to pump blood effectively around the body. These heartbeat irregularities are generally due to electrical malfunctions in the heart. There are four distinct types:

    • ventricular tachycardia: a rapid and abnormal heart rhythm in which the heartbeat is more than 100 beats per minute (normal adult, resting heart rate is generally 60-90 beats per minute). This fast heart rate prevents the heart from filling with blood and thus pumping adequately
    • ventricular fibrillation: instead of regular beats, the heart quivers or “fibrillates”, resembling a bag of worms, resulting in an irregular heartbeat greater than 300 beats per minute
    • pulseless electrical activity: arises when the heart muscle fails to generate sufficient pumping force after electrical stimulation, resulting in no pulse
    • asystole: the classic flat-line heart rhythm you see in movies, indicating no electrical activity in the heart.
    Aystole heart rhythm showing no electrical activity
    Remember this flat-line rhythm from the movies? It’s asystole, when there’s no electrical activity in the heart. Kateryna Kon/Shutterstock

    Cardiac arrest can arise from numerous underlying conditions, both heart-related and not, such as drowning, trauma, asphyxia, electrical shock and drug overdose. James’ cardiac arrest was attributed to a congenital heart defect, a heart condition he was born with.

    But among the many causes of a cardiac arrest, ischaemic heart disease, such as a heart attack, stands out as the most common cause, accounting for 70% of all cases.

    So how can a heart attack cause a cardiac arrest? You’ll remember that during a heart attack, heart muscle can be damaged or parts of it may die. This damaged or dead tissue can disrupt the heart’s ability to conduct electrical signals, increasing the risk of developing arrhythmias, possibly causing a cardiac arrest.

    So while a heart attack is a common cause of cardiac arrest, a cardiac arrest generally does not cause a heart attack.

    What do they look like?

    Because a cardiac arrest results in the sudden loss of effective heart pumping, the most common signs and symptoms are a sudden loss of consciousness, absence of pulse or heartbeat, stopping of breathing, and pale or blue-tinged skin.

    But the common signs and symptoms of a heart attack include chest pain or discomfort, which can show up in other regions of the body such as the arms, back, neck, jaw, or stomach. Also frequent are shortness of breath, nausea, light-headedness, looking pale, and sweating.

    What’s the take-home message?

    While both heart attack and cardiac arrest are disorders related to the heart, they differ in their mechanisms and outcomes.

    A heart attack is like a blockage in the plumbing supplying water to a house. But a cardiac arrest is like an electrical malfunction in the house’s wiring.

    Despite their different nature both conditions can have severe consequences and require immediate medical attention.

    Michael Todorovic, Associate Professor of Medicine, Bond University and Matthew Barton, Senior lecturer, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • The Dark Side Of Memory (And How To Make Your Life Better)
  • The Food For Life Cookbook – by Dr. Tim Spector

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    We’ve previously reviewed Dr. Spector’s “Food For Life”, and while that was more of an “explanatory science” book, this one takes that science (reiterating it more briefly this time, by way of introduction) and makes a cookbook of it.

    The nutritional emphasis in these recipes is on two things: maximizing fiber, and maximizing plant diversity. The recipes are not all vegan or even vegetarian, but they are plant-centric, and if the reader is vegetarian/vegan, then substitutions are easy to make.

    The recipes themselves are simple without being boring, and are easy to follow, with full-page photos to accompany them. The science parts are very clear, accessible, and pop-science in style.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to incorporate more fiber and more plants into your diet without it being a burden, this book is great for that.

    Click here to check out the Food For Life Cookbook, and get cooking for life!

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  • Blind Spots – by Dr. Marty Makary

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    From the time the US recommended not giving peanuts to infants for the first three years of life “in order to avoid peanut allergies” (whereupon non-exposure to peanuts early in life led to, instead, an increase in peanut allergies and anaphylactic incidents), to the time the US recommended not taking HRT on the strength of the claim that “HRT causes breast cancer” (whereupon the reduced popularity of HRT led to, instead, an increase in breast cancer incidence and mortality), to many other such incidents of very bad public advice being given on the strength of a single badly-misrepresented study (for each respective thing), Dr. Makary puts the spotlight on what went wrong.

    This is important, because this is not just a book of outrage, exclaiming “how could this happen?!”, but rather instead, is a book of inquisition, asking “how did this happen?”, in such a way that we the reader can spot similar patterns going forwards.

    Oftentimes, this is a simple matter of having a basic understanding of statistics, and checking sources to see if the dataset really supports what the headlines are claiming—and indeed, whether sometimes it suggests rather the opposite.

    The style is a little on the sensationalist side, but it’s well-supported with sound arguments, good science, and clear mathematics.

    Bottom line: if you’d like to improve your scientific literacy, this book is an excellent illustrative guide.

    Click here to check out Blind Spots, and eliminate yours!

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  • Wildfires ignite infection risks, by weakening the body’s immune defences and spreading bugs in smoke

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Over the past several days, the world has watched on in shock as wildfires have devastated large parts of Los Angeles.

    Beyond the obvious destruction – to landscapes, homes, businesses and more – fires at this scale have far-reaching effects on communities. A number of these concern human health.

    We know fire can harm directly, causing injuries and death. Tragically, the death toll in LA is now at least 24.

    But wildfires, or bushfires, can also have indirect consequences for human health. In particular, they can promote the incidence and spread of a range of infections.

    Effects on the immune system

    Most people appreciate that fires can cause burns and smoke inhalation, both of which can be life-threatening in their own right.

    What’s perhaps less well known is that both burns and smoke inhalation can cause acute and chronic changes in the immune system. This can leave those affected vulnerable to infections at the time of the injury, and for years to come.

    Burns induce profound changes in the immune system. Some parts go into overdrive, becoming too reactive and leading to hyper-inflammation. In the immediate aftermath of serious burns, this can contribute to sepsis and organ failure.

    Other parts of the immune system appear to be suppressed. Our ability to recognise and fight off bugs can be compromised after sustaining burns. Research shows people who have experienced serious burns have an increased risk of influenza, pneumonia and other types of respiratory infections for at least the first five years after injury compared to people who haven’t experienced burns.

    Wildfire smoke is a complex mixture containing particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, ozone, toxic gases, and microbes. When people inhale smoke during wildfires, each of these elements can play a role in increasing inflammation in the airways, which can lead to increased susceptibility to respiratory infections and asthma.

    Research published after Australia’s Black Summer of 2019–20 found a higher risk of COVID infections in areas of New South Wales where bushfires had occurred weeks earlier.

    We need more research to understand the magnitude of these increased risks, how long they persist after exposure, and the mechanisms. But these effects are thought to be due to sustained changes to the immune response.

    Microbes travel in smoky air

    Another opportunity for infection arises from the fire-induced movement of microbes from niches they usually occupy in soils and plants in natural areas, into densely populated urban areas.

    Recent evidence from forest fires in Utah shows microbes, such as bacteria and fungal spores, can be transported in smoke. These microbes are associated with particles from the source, such as burned vegetation and soil.

    There are thousands of different species of microbes in smoke, many of which are not common in background, non-smoky air.

    Only a small number of studies on this have been published so far, but researchers have shown the majority of microbes in smoke are still alive and remain alive in smoke long enough to colonise the places where they eventually land.

    How far specific microbes can be transported remains an open question, but fungi associated with smoke particles have been detected hundreds of miles downwind from wildfires, even weeks after the fire.

    So does this cause human infections?

    A subset of these airborne microbes are known to cause infections in humans.

    Scientists are probing records of human fungal infections in relation to wildfire smoke exposure. In particular, they’re looking at soil-borne infectious agents such as the fungi Coccidioides immitis and Coccidioides posadasii which thrive in dry soils that can be picked up in dust and smoke plumes.

    These fungi cause valley fever, a lung infection with symptoms that can resemble the flu, across arid western parts of the United States.

    A study of wildland firefighters in California showed high rates of valley fever infections, which spurred occupational health warnings including recommended use of respirators when in endemic regions.

    A California-based study of the wider population showed a 20% increase in hospital admissions for valley fever following any amount of exposure to wildfire smoke.

    However, another found only limited evidence of excess cases after smoke exposure in wildfire-adjacent populations in California’s San Joaquin Valley.

    These contrasting results show more research is needed to evaluate the infectious potential of wildfire smoke from this and other fungal and bacterial causes.

    Staying safe

    Much remains to be learned about the links between wildfires and infections, and the multiple pathways by which wildfires can increase the risk of certain infections.

    There’s also a risk people gathering together after a disaster like this, such as in potentially overcrowded shelters, can increase the transmission of infections. We’ve seen this happen after previous natural disasters.

    Despite the gaps in our knowledge, public health responses to wildfires should encompass infection prevention (such as through the provision of effective masks) and surveillance to enable early detection and effective management of any outbreaks.

    Christine Carson, Senior Research Fellow, School of Medicine, The University of Western Australia and Leda Kobziar, Professor of Wildland Fire Science, University of Idaho

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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