This is Northwest Public Broadcasting's Weekly News now I'm Tracci Dial.

Thanks so much for joining us.

The heat is the big story this week.

The Northwest is just coming out of a heat wave that broke records in some places.

New high temperatures for the day were set all over.

In Washington, the Tri-Cities dealt with 109 degree weather on Tuesday.

Idaho took the lead in Lewiston with a high of 107.

That was also on Tuesday.

Medford, Oregon had the state's highest temperature for the heat wave, the highest one of the region, 112 degrees.

That was last Saturday, July 6th.

Now, the previous record in Oregon for high temps that day was set all the way back in 1922.

That record 104.

All of those numbers pulled from the National Weather Service courtesy of NonStop Locals Sigmund Seroka, so big thanks to him for compiling those records for us.

Of course, high temperatures means high fire danger.

In fact, before you light that campfire, please make sure that you check for burn bans.

There are statewide ones already in effect.

Now we're hearing from lead meteorologist Matthew Dehr with the Washington Department of Natural Resources.

“We need rain to drop these fire danger indices any meaningful amount.” Now, this heat wave has proved deadly.

State health leaders across the Northwest are tracking deaths related to the heat.

Stay tuned for updates and please stay safe.

You can go to NWPB.org to hear from a National Weather Service meteorologist as well, and brush up on some good reminders for staying safe in this heat.

Quick turn here to rats on treadmills.

No, this isn't some sort of cartoon or joke, although check out the website for a fantastic graphic from NWPBs talented design team.

So scientists across the country recently wrapped up a comprehensive study focusing on how exercise affects the body.

So, enter rats and a tiny treadmill.

The rats ran for five days a week for up to eight weeks.

And in rats, scientists found that the males lost more fat than females after endurance training.

At Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, researchers found the male rats kept the fat off, but females showed it returned by the end of the study.

Here is PNNLs Gina Many.

She's a biomedical scientist there and a first author on this study.

“In females, likely, estrogen is driving a lot of these responses that causes them to maintain and recycle fat.” Several studies came out of this research, the main one, published in May in the journal Nature.

More on this study and so much more, is up right now on NWPB.org.

You can also, of course, find us on YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.

I'm Tracci Dial with your NWPB Weekly News Now.

Thanks for joining us.