SCIENCE REPORT

The mountain lion that couldn’t outrun a wildfire

On the morning of Nov. 9, a wildfire broke out in the Santa Monica Mountains.

It was the last day that a mountain lion known as P-74 was seen alive. The Woolsey Fire raged over the next two weeks, scorching over 1,500 buildings and killing three people. Park rangers searched for GPS signals from about a dozen mountain lions tracked there. All were eventually located alive except for P-74, a roughly 1-year-old male and the newest member of the group.

Rangers now confirm that P-74 likely died in the blaze. His GPS collar last sent a signal at 1 p.m. Pacific time Nov. 9.

Park officials searched the seared terrain, including the exact area of P-74’s last known location. But they came up with nothing, leading them to conclude that P-74 was trapped in the fire and his collar destroyed.

Blacks less likely to get heart medicine

African-americans are less likely than white people to get the newest stroke-preventing medicines for atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation, often called A-fib, is an irregular heartbeat that increases the risk for stroke and other heart problems. The standard treatment is blood thinners to prevent blood clots.

A study in JAMA Cardiology included 11,100 whites,

646 blacks and 671 Latino patients diagnosed with A-fib. The authors found that blacks were 25 percent less likely than whites to receive any oral anticoagulant and 37 percent less likely to receive the newer — and in many cases more effective — direct-acting oral anticoagulants.