Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

Yacold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

.jp. That's Y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.J-P. When it comes to a guide for your gut, a scientific American podcast series.

I'm Andrea Thompson, Siams 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 U.S. 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 whether

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 y'all. Hey. Hello. 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 so far this year, and they've burned more than 9 million acres.

Fires have also been bad out west in Alberta and British Columbia, and smoke from those fires swept down over Montana and Colorado in May, causing really poor air quality.

All of these fires were happening because Canada has seen stubborn, hot-dry weather, including record high temperatures in May.

So when there is a spark, for example, in the form of lightning from thunderstorms, fires can really take off.

So we know where it's coming from, but how long can we expect the smoke to last? How is it moving?

Megan, I know you've been reporting on that. Yeah, so it turns out it's really difficult to predict how

...