The Wild

Brazil's Amazonas state recorded 1,679 fires in the first two weeks of October, up 253% from the same period last year, according to the country's Amazon surveillance system, Reuters reports. At least 36 municipalities declared emergencies, outdoor events in Manaus were cancelled, and public schools there closed on Wednesday. Environment Minister João Paulo Capobianco, who flew over the area, said fires do not start on their own in the Amazon biome and blamed deliberate action, possibly to clear forest. Scientists point to an El Niño forecast to be among the strongest on record, and to climate change, for rains that have been slow to arrive.

Flox Intelligence, founded by Sara Nozkova after 13 years in transportation and autonomous vehicles, sells pole-mounted devices that detect animals and respond with species-specific signals that vary so animals don't habituate, plus software for clients and regulators. About 150 devices are live in North America, Europe and Australia at airfields, rail and road corridors, parks and substations, and train maker Alstom is an OEM partner. The article cites FAA estimates of $272 million a year in US aviation wildlife-strike costs and SNCF figures of more than 8,000 French trains affected by animals annually.

Colossal Biosciences announced GenoMorph, an AI platform that combines 3D skull measurements, comparative genomics and developmental data to predict which genes could be edited when ancient DNA is scarce. The company is using it for its dodo project, where it has one genome to work with versus about 100 for the woolly mammoth. CEO Ben Lamm said the model was trained on developmental data from chickens, quail, ducks and pigeons and skull data from more than 70 bird species, and took more than a year to build.