• Defence and Security

    A mandate for innovation


    Jason Van der Schyff |  July 16, 2025


    Sovereign capability is no longer just a function of industry planning or academic excellence; it is a national security requirement.


  • Neuroscience

    How does consciousness work?


    Timothy Bayne |  July 16, 2025


    Human consciousness remains a puzzle to be solved, and two current theories – global neuronal workspace theory and integrated information theory – are battling it out without a clear result.


  • Defence and Security

    Paying the price of freedom


    Andrew Forrest |  July 16, 2025


    Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should put down his glass and make a formal statement to the Australian Parliament addressing Australia’s place in a changing world and unambiguously asking the Australian public to pay the price required to defend the nation’s basic freedoms.


Latest Story

  • Cracking quantum computing

    Lachlan Gilbert     |      June 30, 2025

    UNSW Sydney quantum engineers, in collaboration with University of Sydney scientists, have developed new technology that effectively reduces the size of the circuits required to run a silicon-based quantum computer.

  • Innovate or die

    Jason Van der Schyff     |      June 29, 2025

    Australia’s long-standing “innovation gap” threatens our national safety as well as economic prosperity.

  • Addressing fuel insecurity

    Raelene Lockhorst     |      June 29, 2025

    Recent global conflicts from the invasion of Ukraine, Houthi attacks on crude oil tankers in the Red Sea and Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz prove that fuel supply is no longer a theoretical risk but an active, accelerating threat.

  • Building green

    Open Forum     |      June 29, 2025

    An international team of scientists, including Australians, has developed a biodegradable material for buildings that could passively reduce internal temperatures by as much as 9.2°C and slash global energy consumption by 20% – without using a single watt of electricity.

  • Whatever happened to wellness?

    Open Forum     |      June 28, 2025

    The Albanese government devoted time and energy in its first term to developing a wellbeing agenda, but the battle against inflation and the new focus on productivity has pushed wellbeing back down its list of priorities.

  • Who can we trust?

    Paul Harrison     |      June 28, 2025

    Brands want consumers to trust them so we give them money without much thought, but as the SPF debacle shows, they need to earn that trust as the profit incentive means their interests are not aligned with the public good.

  • Health education

    Open Forum     |      June 28, 2025

    If Australia is serious about achieving health equity, improving access to quality education must be part of the strategy.

  • Big firms confront climate reporting

    Open Forum     |      June 27, 2025

    New climate reporting rules come into force on July 1 but many companies are not ready for the change.

  • Australia should be Brave1

    Henry Campbell     |      June 27, 2025

    Australian defence innovators are held back by legacy procurement models, limited risk appetite, and policy uncertainty. Ukraine offers an example of how to change that, if we’re bold enough to act.

  • A slip, slop, slap in the face for sunscreen manufacturers

    Katie Miller     |      June 27, 2025

    Recent SPF testing has exposed the lies which sunscreen manufacturers tell their customers about the protection they give, raising concerns over sunscreen labelling, prompting questions about consumer trust, regulation, and how Australians make health-critical decisions.

  • The corporate tax conundrum

    Isaac Gross     |      June 26, 2025

    Would a corporate tax cut boost productivity in Australia by creating a more “dynamic and resilient economy”? The Productivity Commission think so, but the evidence is unclear.

  • The whole truth

    Jeannie Marie Paterson     |      June 26, 2025

    Refined AI models, combined with retrieval or ‘RAG’ systems, have the capacity to summarise, review and analyse documents but courts and legal regulators are warning lawyers not to rely on generative AI without checking their work – and in some instances advised not to use it at all.