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What’s a ‘sleep debt’? Can I ever pay it back? An expert explains

July 14, 2026 (Conversation) Maybe you’re a new parent or someone who lies awake at night. If so, you may have started to worry you’re not getting enough sleep. Sleep wearables don’t help. They can show your “sleep debt”, a running total of how far you’ve fallen behind. But the word “debt” assumes your sleep works like a bank account. It assumes lost hours stack up, carry over, and you must eventually repay them in full. But sleep doesn’t really work this way. And chasing “enough sleep” may not be helping. What is a sleep debt? Two systems control your

An AI lab says chatbots have what may be a key feature of consciousness. Are they right? And what now?

July 14, 2026 (Conversation) When you interact with a large language model (LLM) – one of the systems behind chatbots such as ChatGPT and Claude – it can feel as though you are in contact with another conscious mind. But are you, really? Some prominent scientists, such as Geoff Hinton and Richard Dawkins, claim you are. But most experts remain sceptical, arguing that the impressive cognitive capacities of LLMs occur in the absence of consciousness. Last week researchers at Anthropic, the company behind Claude, waded into this debate with an interesting finding. They claim Claude has a normally invisible set

More than 50% of Australian university assignments used AI. How should unis respond?

July 14, 2026 (Conversation) Last week, the US software company Turnitin revealed 53.6% of Australian tertiary education submissions run through its system used some form of AI in the period from October 2025-April 2026. The company, whose plagiarism-detection technology is widely used in universities, also reported 10% of these submissions contained more than 80% AI-written content. Meanwhile, separate data from AI safety company Anthropic showed Australia now leads in per capita use of its Claude chatbot. Coursework makes up a significant share of that use. Our 2026 analysis found while most Australian universities have introduced generative AI policies, significant gaps

There’s one reason why so many cold and flu tablets don’t actually work

July 14, 2026 (Conversation) You’ve got the sniffles and your nose is running like a tap. The tissues feel like sandpaper. Many Australians reach for cold and flu tablets, expecting them to “clear the sinuses” and get them through a cold. They often promise fast relief. But the evidence is clear: for nasal congestion, these medicines do not work as well as they claim. So why are they still being sold? What’s actually in cold and flu tablets? Most over-the-counter cold and flu tablets contain a mix of ingredients. Some packs contain different tablets for day and night. “Day” products

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