Air quality alerts went into effect in 11 states this week, as wildfire smoke from Canada as well as Central California’s Gifford Fire — which has burned nearly 100,000 acres and is just 15% contained — spread across the United States. As the planet warms, such blazes are burning more intensely, billowing smoke that can travel thousands of miles. In July, a group of Republican members of Congress went so far as to write an official letter of complaint to Canada, arguing that the country’s smoke is making it difficult for Americans to enjoy summer.

But a growing body of research is reinforcing the knowledge that wildfire smoke is much more than an inconvenience — in fact, it’s actually killing far more people than the flames themselves. New research on the fallout of the Palisades and

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