As ABC News reported, extreme heat is a “basic consequence of climate change,” and its growing frequency and severity in many locations at the same time shows global temperatures rising, said Columbia Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory climate scientist Jason Smerdon.

Effects of climate change prove to be dangerous, especially in Britain where the record for highest temperature was broken last July 19 at 40.2°C (104.4°F). UK infrastructure are not built to withstand these record-breaking temperatures that are usually expected in the UK once every 100 to 300 years.

For example, most UK homes lack air conditioning units for people to cool themselves down. And last July 18, the “high surface temperatures caused a small section to lift” in a UK airport runway causing suspended flights. “It is difficult for people to make the best decisions in these situations, because nothing in their life experience has led them to know what to expect," NPR quoted MET Office chief executive Penny Endersby.

Wildfires, also dangerous effects of climate change, occurred in Spain last Monday which forced railway services to be suspended between Madrid and Galicia. This contributed to the 70,000 hectares (173,000 acres) destroyed in Spain due to fires this year, almost double of last decade’s average. A wildfire had spread to about 11,000 hectares (27,000 acres) in France also last Monday, forcing the evacuation of 32,000 people.

The variant caused 52% of the cases in late June, an increase from 37% last week, according to the World Health Organization. It is already the dominant variant in the United States, causing 65% of the infections.

Like BA.4, BA.5 is also good at evading immune protections provided by either vaccination or prior infection, causing reports of reinfections and making it widespread. “BA.5 has a growth advantage over the other sublineages of Omicron that are circulating,” Reuters quoted WHO’s technical lead on COVID-19 Maria Van Kerkhove on Tuesday.

COVID-19 cases have been increasing for four straight weeks, according to WHO data. And there has been an increase in hospitalizations in some countries. However, the number of deaths are not dramatically increasing. This is due to the protection of vaccines against severe illness and death.

Kerkhove also emphasized that there is no evidence that BA.5 is more dangerous than other Omicron variants. However, the surges can cause pressure on health services and risk more people to long COVID.

NASA announced on the 53rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing last Wednesday that it is aiming to launch its giant moon rocket for a test flight in late August.

The more than month-long lunar test flight will have three mannequins and no astronauts. There are also two other launch dates in early September.

The test flight begins “our Artemis program to go back to the moon,” ABC News quoted NASA head of exploration systems development Jim Free. The new lunar program is named “Artemis” after the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology.

The 30-story Space Launch System rocket and attached Orion capsule at Kennedy Space Center just underwent repairs after technical problems like fuel leaks showed up from last month’s countdown test.

NASA officials assured that the problems have been resolved and the testing is almost complete. However, the launch dates still depend on Florida weather and other issues that might arise. “We are going to be careful,” Free said.