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Bushfires are raging across Victoria after Australia’s southeast has sweltered through a days-long heatwave. The hot weather set the scene for the fires, but now the fires are creating weather of their own.
As bushfire expert Jason Sharples and colleagues explain, intense fires can cause outlandish events such as fire tornadoes and black hail, as well as pyrocumulonimbus clouds: lightning-makers that can start even more fires.
And the smoke drifting thousands of kilometres from these fires contains a toxic mix of particles and chemical gases. While some people are more at risk, it’s bad for everyone’s health – there is no safe level of exposure. Brian Oliver offers some simple tips to stay safe.
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Michael Lucy
Science Editor
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Jason Sharples, UNSW Sydney; Andrew Dowdy, The University of Melbourne; Luke Burgess, The University of Melbourne; Todd Lane, The University of Melbourne
Intense fires can produce storms that make more fire – and they’re becoming more common.
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Brian Oliver, University of Technology Sydney
Should I use my aircon? Do I need an air purifier? Can indoor plants help? And which masks actually work for smoke?
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Best reads this week
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Donald Rothwell, Australian National University
The Trump administration has used US domestic laws to justify capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. It’s a clear case of US exceptionalism.
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Juliette McIntyre, Adelaide University ; Tamsin Phillipa Paige, Deakin University
Should we push for a better UN that doesn’t reward the powerful by making them unaccountable? Absolutely. Should we scrap it altogether? No.
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Sarah McColl-Gausden, The University of Melbourne; Bianca Pickering, The University of Melbourne; Kate Parkins, The University of Melbourne
For residents in southeastern Australia this week, understanding fire safety warnings are essential to stay safe.
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Samuel Cornell, UNSW Sydney; Masaki Shibata, Monash University
To international visitors, red and yellow beach flags may look like a warning.
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David M Watson, Charles Sturt University; Patrick Finnerty, University of Sydney
With feral horses gone, fragile alpine areas are no longer being trampled by hard hooves. But Kosciuszko’s landscapes will take decades to recover.
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TC Weekly podcast
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Justin Bergman, The Conversation
Trump has tried to make the cost of opposing him too high for his critics to bear.
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Justin Bergman, The Conversation
Once a leader compels the military to follow an illegal order, it often leads to soldiers being used to target domestic opponents.
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Our most-read article this week
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Sarah Heathcote, Australian National University
It is hard to see how this can be anything other than a ‘use of force’ under article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter.
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In case you missed this week's big stories
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Ben Jones, Penn State
Police departments have changed their policies regarding use of force over the years to protect life, but ICE and other federal agencies have lagged in this regard.
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Shannon Brincat, University of the Sunshine Coast; Juan Zahir Naranjo Cáceres, University of the Sunshine Coast
So far the response across the continent to both the Greenland threats and the US’ actions in Venezuela, have been feeble and confused.
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Adi Imsirovic, University of Oxford
There are good reasons why Venezuela’s oil has been trading at a discount.
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Amin Saikal, Australian National University; The University of Western Australia; Victoria University
Iran’s leaders are more vulnerable than ever. Yet, they still have many tools of repression at their disposal.
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Rachael Helene Nolan, Western Sydney University; Trent Penman, The University of Melbourne
We know that heatwaves often trigger bushfires. But predicting when and where large fires will break out is getting more difficult with a warming climate.
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Giselle Woodley, Edith Cowan University; Nicola Henry, RMIT University
These images are being shared in an attempt to harass, demean or silence individuals.
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James Laurenceson, University of Technology Sydney
With a trillion-dollar trade surplus, is China’s goal really to make everything ‘better and cheaper’ at home? The reality is not so simple.
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Adrian Beaumont, The University of Melbourne
Two state governments are up for re-election in Australia, while the US midterms offer an opportunity for the Democrats to take control of Congress.
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John Hawkins, University of Canberra
The latest inflation figures are an important piece of the puzzle for the Reserve Bank ahead of its next interest rate decision in February.
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Charlie White, Flinders University; Guido J. Parra, Flinders University
Assessing the health of dolphins and whales is notoriously difficult. But new technology can help.
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Nick Lomb, University of Southern Queensland
In 2026 we will see a total eclipse of the Moon, a blue Moon, a supermoon and the two brightest planets close together in the sky.
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Nothing new here folks
“Trump’s behaviour is the norm for American presidents. His adventurism and imperialism fit well with invasions and meddling like Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bay of Pigs, the Congo (Patrice Lumumba), Panama, and numerous destabilisation and coup-inducing initiatives in Central and South America. The difference is that, since WWII at least, the USA and Europe have stood together. However, with Trump and his short-term 'transactionalism' (no doubt he sees wealth for him, his family, and his mates in Greenland and Venezuela), that era appears to be over. What to do about it? In a law-respecting, interacting world, much would be done. In the world as it is,
nothing much will be done, at least by actors with the capacity to do so. By the time Trump's own people turn against him decisively, or he explodes from hubris like the frog in the fable, he will have done enormous damage, like so many presidents before him.”
Dr Brian Harlech-Jones, NSW
The AI arms race
“We're all being swept along by rampant capitalism in a fierce competition between nation states for resources. Each nation is staking out their sphere of influence using military and technological might. AI is the latest iteration of this destructive paradigm. There is an alternative future - if we demand it”
Aldo Penbrook 
Thanks for reading Warner!
“I have just spent an hour or two reading through your latest edition, and it lifted me from the drear of Christmas, man’s inhumanity and the hot summer. At 86, I’m pretty old, sort of close to the end I guess, but it has suddenly become clear to me why I don’t want to die. There is so much to know about, past, future and present, and it’s all exciting and interesting, and important, and right now I’m fired up like a high school kid.”
Warner Dakin
We'd love to hear from you. You can email us with your thoughts on our stories and each day we'll publish an edited selection.
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