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Clouds from Australia's extreme fires can be seen from space

Miriam Kramer, author of Space

Photo: NASA

The sheer size and scale of the fires raging in Australia can perhaps best be seen from space.

The big picture: Australia's extreme fires have been made worse by climate change, which exacerbated the country's hot and dry conditions.

Details: Astronauts on the International Space Station caught sight of smoke from the historic fires raging in Australia earlier this month.

  • The station was orbiting 269 miles above the Tasman Sea when this photo was taken on Jan. 4.
  • This season's bushfires in Australia have been far worse than usual, with severe drought and higher-than-normal heat fueling the flames.

Go deeper... Australia's deadly fires: What you need to know

Go deeper

Caitlin Owens
2 hours ago - Health

Prior coronavirus infections may not protect well against Omicron

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

New data from South Africa suggests the Omicron variant spreads more than twice as quickly as the Delta variant, and that immunity from prior infection doesn't appear to protect a person very well against Omicron variant.

Why it matters: The findings are extremely preliminary, and there are still many open questions about how well vaccines work against the variant. But these initial breadcrumbs of data are helping the world begin to understand what it's up against.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Bryan Walsh, author of Future
3 hours ago - Technology

AI could end foreign-language subtitles

Illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios

AI companies are developing methods to translate and synthesize voices in ads, movies and TV.

Why it matters: The advances in voice synthesis could help fix bad movie dubbing — and they come as international content is becoming increasingly important to studios and streaming platforms as part of the globalization of entertainment.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow
Bryan Walsh, author of Future
Updated 11 hours ago - Technology

A dark view of the future of autonomous weapons

A still from the video "If Human: Kill ( )." Image: Future of Life Institute

A new short film warns of the coming risks posed by the development and proliferation of lethal autonomous weapons.

Why it matters: Drones with the ability to autonomously target and kill without the assistance of a human operator are reportedly already being used on battlefields, and time is running out to craft a global ban of what could be a destabilizing and terrifying new class of weapon.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow