Welcome to Science Quickly, a scientific American podcast series.

I'm Andrea Thompson, Science Editor for Earth and Environment.

Today, we're talking fire and smoke.

Here's what you need to know about the wildfire smoke blanketing the Eastern US right now.

And even if you're not living downwind at the moment, we've got a lot of news you can

use on smoke, air quality, and how to protect your health.

I've pulled together a bunch of local experts, my very smart scientific American colleagues,

hashtag Smoke Nerds.

By the way, we've got our expert recommendations for sites and apps you should use to check

the air quality and weather wildfire smoke is in your forecast.

So make sure to listen all the way to the end.

Megan Bartels is a news reporter here.

Lauren Young is Associate Health Editor.

Tanya Lewis is our Senior Health Editor for News.

Hey, all.

Hey.

So where should we start?

I think the obvious place to start is where is the smoke coming from?

I'll take this one.

The smoke is coming from Canada, in particular for the current event, mainly wildfires in Quebec.

But Canada has had a terrible wildfire season across the whole country.

There have been more than 400 fires to fire this year, and they've burned more than 9 million acres.

...