Victorian bushfire survivor, Sam the koala, a global star

SAM became the most famous koala in the world when firefighter David Tree stopped to give him a drink amid the devastation. Pictures of Sam, who turned out to be female, travelled around the globe and featured in major newspapers including The New York Times, London's The Sun and on CNN. The image provided a much-needed picture of hope in a week filled with news of despair. Yesterday Sam was recovering in Mountain Ash Wildlife Shelter.
Victorian bushfire survivor, Sam the koala, a global star

Forensic crews try and identify dead

Forensic crews are trying to identify those who died in the Victorian bushfires, while more than 20 major fires continue to burn.
Forensic crews try and identify dead

I now understand the word 'firestorm'

We were inside the house and the noise outside was incredible. Sparks and embers were bashing up against the roof and the windows, the fence had caught fire, the woodpile against the house caught fire.
Then the windows started exploding — it sounded like a 747 taking off. It was broad daylight but it went dark because there was so much smoke and stuff — it just went dark.
I now understand the word 'firestorm'

People died doing exactly what they were told to do

For all our preparation, it was pure luck that my family survived. (Philip Chubb is associate professor of journalism at Monash University).
People died doing exactly what they were told to do

Victorian fires update

To follow up our post on Sunday, and with the tragedy in Victoria continuing, we've updated our map of the Victorian fires to incorporate the latest available satellite imagery from the Modis Rapid Response project at NASA/GSFC. You can toggle the button "Show Imagery" to see their most recent satellite imagery of some affected parts of Victoria. The small red polygons indicate that a fire is still burning (as at the time indicated beneath the map — 20 hours ago at the time of posting this).
Victorian fires update

Australian bushfires from above

NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image of southeastern Australia today—the smoke from the deadly wildfires there is plainly visible from Aqua's orbit 440 miles (705 kilometers) above Earth.
Australian bushfires from above

Bushfires – We Need your Mobile Phone Chargers

Do you have any spare mobile phone chargers? Bushfire victims need them urgently. Updated with contact information.
Bushfires – We Need your Mobile Phone Chargers

Death toll approaching 200, almost 1,000 homes destroyed

Firefighters are battling 25 bushfires across Victoria, with Premier John Brumby saying he expects the death toll from the disaster to exceed 200 people.
The official toll stands at 173 dead with more than 50 people still missing, thought to be dead, making it the country's worst bushfire disaster.
The blazes have burnt through more than 3,000 square kilometres - entire towns were wiped off the map within 24 hours at the weekend.
Death toll approaching 200, almost 1,000 homes destroyed

Bushfire toll climbs

The death toll in the Victorian bushfires now stands at 131, police have confirmed.
Bushfire toll climbs

Victoria's bushfires | Strathewen destroyed

On Saturday afternoon, there were 200 people living in the rural town, which is north of Melbourne.
By the end of that night, it is believed about 15 per cent of the population - or about 30 people - perished.
Many houses in Strathewen and Arthurs Creek have police tape across their front gates, an ominous sign of what lies inside.
Victoria's bushfires | Strathewen destroyed

Worst bushfires in history - Vision

Vision from some of the worst-hit areas of the Victorian bushfires; Kinglake, Kilmore and Marysville.
Worst bushfires in history

Remove Metadata From JPEG And PNG

Many image formats support so called metadata which are shunks of information stored in the image file itself. This can include the digital camera model used to take the images, time and date the picture was taken or GPS information that tell anyone where the image was taken. Metadata takes up disk space, this can be a few bytes to Kilobytes per image which can accumulate to Megabytes easily.
Remove Metadata From JPEG And PNG

Protein reverses Alzheimer's brain damage

Injections of a natural growth factor into the brains of mice, rats and monkeys offers hope of preventing or reversing the earliest impacts of Alzheimer's disease on memory. The benefits arose even in animals whose brains contained the hallmark plaques that clog up the brains of patients.
Protein reverses Alzheimer's brain damage

Grieving Victoria takes stock as toll hits 108

Across Victoria people are looking to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, as the state attempts to come to terms with the deadliest bushfire disaster in Australian history.
At least 108 people have died in the horrific blazes, which continue to rage throughout the state.
Grieving Victoria takes stock as toll hits 108

At a glance: where bushfires are burning

There are 12 bushfires burning out of control across Victoria and 26 blazes in total. Here is a summary of the major fires of concern.

The biggest fire covers 210,000 hectares and is north of Melbourne. This is the fire responsible for most of the death and destruction; more than 500 homes have been destroyed in the Kinglake area alone.

In total, more than 700 homes have been confirmed destroyed.
At a glance: where bushfires are burning

Bushfire disaster: 'We all grieve with you'

Victoria is reeling from a weekend of ferocious bushfires which have claimed at least 65 lives and razed more than 600 homes across the state.
Bushfire disaster: 'We all grieve with you'

Mapping the Victorian fires

By now, you're undoubtedly aware of the terrible bushfire tragedy that is unfolding in Victoria.

We've today pulled together a Flash Map, containing the latest up-to-date information about fire locations and their status from the Country Fire Authority (CFA). The Flash Map is updated in real-time from the CFA website via an RSS feed. We hope that it's of some use to people who may be affected, to emergency services personnel, and that it takes some load off other websites which are being inundated. The map certainly makes the scale of this disaster immediately apparent.
Mapping the Victorian fires

Bushfire devastates Marysville - Video

The town of Marysville in Victoria has lost all but a few buildings to bushfires. Just look at the carnage.
Bushfire devastates Marysville

"Possibly one building left standing" in Marysville

The Country Fire Authority says there is "possibly one building left standing" in Marysville, as relentless bushfires engulfed the town north of Melbourne.

Greg Esnouf, the CFA's deputy chief fire officer, told ABC Local Radio that Marysville had been all but destroyed by the blazes.

"We're starting to get some reports in now that are very saddening," he told ABC Local 774 in Melbourne.

"This latest report says Marysville possibly one building left standing - that's just shocking.

"Anyone who knows Marysville, it's a beautiful town and that's really sad. "It's very disturbing for the township itself."
'Absolute devastation': Victoria gutted by deadly bushfires

Mark the End of the Day and Finish on Time

One of the things that I struggle with most when I’m working from home is wrapping up and finishing for the day. Quite often, I’ll mean to finish at, say, 6:30 pm, but then another email drops into the old inbox, or I’ll move onto “just one more” task, and before I know it it’s late into the night and I haven’t even started thinking about dinner.
Mark the End of the Day and Finish on Time