KWSO News for Tue., Aug. 2, 2022

Updates on the Central Oregon fires, Firefighters made great progress yesterday on existing wildfires across central Oregon. Scattered thunderstorms with abundant lightning were moving across the area bringing new starts and resources have responded to roughly 40 incidents across Central Oregon. Firefighters held the Fly Creek fire at 280 acres and increased the containment to 25%. Dozer lines have been constructed, control lines held yesterday afternoon despite being tested by 15 mph winds and air support dropped retardant late afternoon. The Level 3 evacuation notice for the Perry South and Monty Campgrounds and the Level 2 evacuation notice for the Three Rivers area both remain in place. Last night, Firefighters responded to seven smoke reports located north and northeast of the Oregon Badlands Wilderness area near the intersection of George Millican Rd. and Reservoir Rd. For the latest information you can visit CentralOregonFire.org

California’s largest wildfire has claimed at least two lives. JPR’s Noah Camuso reports the McKinney Fire continues to burn near the Oregon-California border. “Two people were found dead on Sunday morning in a vehicle that burned in the McKinney Fire. The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said the bodies were found in a vehicle west of the community of Klamath River off of Highway 96. No additional information will be released until the bodies are identified, and notifications are sent to their next-of-kin. The McKinney Fire is burning in Siskiyou County west of I-5. The fire had grown to over 55,000 acres as of Monday morning. Approximately 2,000 people remain evacuated. Officials say that the fire was not caused by a weekend lightning storm. An investigation is underway into how the fire did start. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for much of Southern Oregon and far Northern California. Abundant lightning on dry vegetation is expected for the region through Tuesday night.”

Artificial Intelligence could soon be helping scientists design vaccines. Researchers at the University of Washington gave an A.I. software thousands of proteins… complex molecules that make the body work at a cellular level. The software is given a partial protein with certain attributes and it finishes the design. Dr. Joe Watson is one of the lead researchers. He says the method is akin to auto-generated stories that make constant adjustments until it sounds real. “we have a pretty good idea about what the rest of the protein or what the rest of the sentence should be. We know this is about a dog in the park, for example, but every now and again, the network kind of surprises you and gives you something which I never could have dreamt up for a protein that looks so different to anything I would have thought of. And I would say that that is quite beautiful” The A.I. was able to design proteins that could be viable candidates for viral vaccines and antigens that attack cancer cells.

KWSO Weather for Central Oregon:

• Mostly Sunny and Hot Today with a high near 98 degrees
• Tonight, Mostly Clear with a low around 61
• Sunny and hot tomorrow with a high near 100 degrees

For those who prefer to listen to KWSO News, Press Play Below: