In some places, people collect honey from wild bees. This is common in many parts of the world, especially South Asia. Honey hunting is a local tradition in southern India but it is not an undemanding job. The bees in southern India can grow up to the size of the smallest adult human finger. And these giant honey bees build their hives (蜂窝) on the sides of mountains!

It takes many years for a honey hunter to learn to collect honey from these hives. From a young age the honey hunter learns everything about bees. He practices climbing hundreds of meters above the ground. Before the honey season, the honey hunter prepares for many days.

When the day of the honey hunt season arrives, the honey hunter goes to the edge of the mountain early in the morning. He climbs down with a rope and lights some dry branches (树枝) on fire. The smoke makes the bees leave the hive. With the bees flying around the honey hunter, he uses a long sharp stick to gently get pieces of the wax (蜜蜡) filled with honey. He then takes them back to the village in a box made of bamboo.

Usually the hunter takes some honey and leaves some of the hive on the mountainside. He does not take the part of the hive with the baby bees in it since he does not want to destroy the home of the bees. When the honey hunter returns, the village celebrates!

“They have been hunting honey in this way for more than 2,000 years. Honey was and still is an important part of their diet, cooking and medicine,” Simone Gie from the organization Slow Food International, said.

Climate change has increased average temperatures by1degree Celsius over the past century, making heat waves like this one more frequent and intense than those from any other point in recorded history. As the heat soars, so does the death toll. A worldwide study published last month in the journal Nature Climate Change found global warming was responsible for 37% of heat-related deaths between 1991 and 2018. As temperatures tick ever higher, that figure may well rise.

“There’s still a lot we don’t know about heatstroke and who’s most likely to be affected by it,” Kenney said.“That’s because we can’t morally study it in humans in the laboratory. A lot of what we know comes from studies on animal models, like mice and rats, or from examinations of people who have died of heat stroke.”

We are also learning more, about how to avoid overheating. A 2019 study by University of Sydney researcher Ollie Jay found that electric fans cooled body temperatures and reduced cardiovascular (心血管的) strain in hot, humid weather. But in dry heat, fans actually increase body temperature—meaning access to air conditioning is crucial.

But the most likely assurance against dying of extreme heat is preventing the rise of global   temperatures. Last year tied 2016 for the hottest ever recorded worldwide. Despite a brief drop in planet-heating emissions as the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered factories and idled cars, we’re on track to see global temperatures increase this century by about 3 degrees Celsius. Changing that trend requires rapidly and greatly reducing fossil fuel use and finding ways to remove more carbon from the atmosphere than we release. Efforts so far have not been enough. Global oil demand, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries predicted last month, will jump by 5 million barrels per day in the second half of 2022 compared with the first six months.

Lightning(闪电) strikes more than eight million times a day worldwide. That’s about 93 times per second. What a phenomenon!

How hot is a lightning bolt? About 50, 000°F-five times hotter than the surface of the sun. Yes, it really can rain frogs, fish, and other decidedly odd things. It’s a rare meteorological(气象学的) event, but scientists say strong winds from a tornado or from a storm can be powerful enough to drive animals and objects high into the air, and they have to comedown eventually.

It is a bad idea to take a shower during a thunderstorm. If lightning hits your house, it can travel through your plumbing(管道设备) and shock anyone who comes into contact with water flowing through it. People have been shocked or killed while bathing, washing dishes and clothes. This is also why indoor pools often close during storms. Rubber tires are not what protect you from lightning when you’re in your car. You’re protected because when lightning hits a car, it travels around the outside of the metal structure to get to the ground. Just be careful not to touch any metal areas inside.

Lightning can strike the same place twice—and it often does, especially objects that are tall, pointy, and separated. The Empire State Building, for example, is hit almost 100 times a year, according to the CDC.

You can be struck by lightning even when it’s no training. About 10 percent of lightning strikes take place when there’s no rainfall. In the 1980s, NASA flew one airplane through 1.496 thunderstorms. It was struck by lightning more than 700 times. Today, a commercial airplane will be hit by lightning about once a year on average, typically with no ill effects. It has been decades since a U.S. airliner has crashed as a result of a lightning strike.

To deal with such a frequent phenomenon, every day, twice a day, weather trackers, at the same time, launch giant balloons from almost 900 locations worldwide. The balloons measure above ground weather data such as temperature, humidity(湿气), and wind speed, and they provide vital information that meteorologists use to make forecasts and predict lightning.