• Artificial Intelligence

    A green light for AI traffic control


    Seyedali Mirjalili |  July 22, 2026


    A Queensland council will soon trial Australia’s first traffic light system powered by artificial intelligence raising hard questions about fairness, safety and who gets priority on public roads.


  • Health

    Call the prescribing nurse!


    Marie Gerdtz |  July 22, 2026


    New legislation has been passed to allow specially qualified RNs to prescribe a range of medicines subsidised through the PBS.


  • Artificial Intelligence

    AI sovereign capability


    David Wroe |  July 22, 2026


    We’re unlikely to compete with the US and China on frontier models. But if the world really goes south, we would benefit from having greater capacity to build and train sovereign foundation models, which are general-purpose and adaptable, for vital purposes such as national security and critical infrastructure.


Latest Story

  • Three lessons from the World Cup

    David Rowe     |      July 21, 2026

    Despite a dour final and its fair share of controversy on and off the pitch, the 2026 World Cup has comprehensively underlined the global popular cultural appeal of the beautiful game.

  • Russia’s forever war

    Jack Jarmon     |      July 21, 2026

    Putin’s attempt to restore Russia to superpower status (derzhava) by annexing Ukraine has been shattered, as Ukraine’s stubborn resistance has sapped both Russia’s military and economy, and Putin’s blustering contempt for national and international norms only underscores his own fears and paranoia.

  • Short cuts

    Meena Jha     |      July 21, 2026

    Figures from plagiarism detection software used by Australia’s universities show that over half of students’ assignments used some form of AI and a tenth of assignments were over 80% AI generated.

  • Protecting universities from antisemitism

    Matteo Vergani     |      July 20, 2026

    Evidence suggests offers a range of useful clues about which approaches are most likely to help and where universities should focus their efforts to rid university campuses of rampant antisemitism.

  • Hold the line on terrorism laws

    Justin Bassi     |      July 20, 2026

    Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke is right to reject the removal of religious motivation from Australia’s terrorism laws proposed by the nation’s special envoy to combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, as it rests on a fundamental misunderstanding of what those laws are designed to do.

  • It’s not that difficult guys

    Mareike Riedel     |      July 20, 2026

    Australian universities will have to adopt their own definitions of racism next year but why is it so hard for unis to agree on a definition of ‘antisemitism’?

  • The risks and rewards of recursive self‑improvement

    James McDermott     |      July 19, 2026

    The idea of recursive self-improvement dates back decades but AI models could soon be capable of designing progressively better versions of themselves with untold social and economic consequences.

  • What killed Simonetta Vespucci?

    Paolo Pozzilli     |      July 19, 2026

    Botticelli’s muse Simonetta Vespucci died at just 23 in 1476, and while tuberculosis has long been blamed for her death, analysis of her changing appearance in a succession of paintings suggest another cause may be to blame.

  • Talking with the chatbot about poetry

    Krupa Shandilya     |      July 19, 2026

    Large Language Models have proved remarkably adept at translating language, but human intermediaries are still required to capture the full nuance of literary works.

  • It’s the end of the world as we know it

    Juliana Tappe Ortiz     |      July 18, 2026

    Over the centuries, political leaders have often invoked fears of decline and collapse, and many of today’s tech moguls and political populists also view the world through a lens of civilisational crisis and impending catastrophe.

  • Who were the ‘sea peoples’?

    Open Forum     |      July 18, 2026

    The infamous “Sea Peoples” who ravaged the eastern Mediterranean at the end of the Bronze Age were named by a French Egyptologist at the end of the 19th century but their true origins remain shrouded in mystery.

  • Smoking falls to historic low but challenges remain

    Open Forum     |      July 18, 2026

    The percentage of Australians who smoke has fallen once again, but while the country’s comprehensive tobacco control measures are delivering results, the widespread availability of illegal imports and vapes continues to pose a health hazard.