Apparently taken by a member of the Australian Defence Force in Sudan, whether a complete original or a slightly Photoshopped version, this is still a funny and surprisingly accurate map of Australia. What do you think?

From the BBC comes news that Coral growth in Australia's Great Barrier Reef has had it's slowest growth in the past 400 years. Researchers from the Australian Institute of Marine Science studied 328 colonies of corals from 69 locations around Australia, and concluded that global warming and the increasing acidity of seawater are the culprits. To read the article, click here, or click here to read the official press release.

Beautiful Australia video of still photos, set to a haunting didgeridoo music track. Images of Ayers Rock (Uluru), beaches along the Great Barrier Reef, dingo dogs, baby kangaroo (joey!), various bird species, and crocodiles are all edited together to provide a great sense of the natural beauty Down Under.

Here's a really well-shot video while scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. The two animals hogging up all the screen time are a large turtle and an octopus, which are two underwater creatures I'd watch all the time. The camerawork and colors are really crisp, bright and true, and capture some of the reef, corals and schooling fish nicely as well.