Land valuation calculations get more complex as the pace and severity of natural disasters intensify.

You'd think living in the path of known natural disasters would deter a person from buying a house there. When it comes to wildfires, however, our memories are hilariously short. The fallout is no laughing matter, though.

Despite the danger depicted in recent news coverage of homes going up in flames, Americans are still flocking to the natural beauty found out in the sticks. A recent study by Shawn McCoy, an economics professor with the University of Nevada Las Vegas and Randy P. Walsh of the University of Pittsburgh points to homeowners somewhat inexplicable propensity to value great views higher than safety.

The risk of wildfires isn’t deterring some home buyers from purchasing in an area, even if the area has been struck by blazes in recent years. Real estate prices in wildfire-prone areas are in line with homes in low-risk areas, even immediately after fires, according to a new study.

The recent string of massive wildfires in the western United States might have made people more hesitant to buy homes in high-risk areas, but a new study has found that this is not the case.

When researchers seek to determine a single or primary cause for a human health problem, they know they're battling uphill. Our environments are complex, multifaceted, and permeated by a seemingly infinite number of factors that could shape us. Rare is the circumstance that is so ideal, at least from a researcher's perspective, that one can sift through the noise and emerge with a definitive root of an issue.