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Family revives 1960s Yellowstone theater for a new era of live entertainment
WEST YELLOWSTONE, Montana — A historic theater space with deep local roots is being brought back to life as a new generation prepares to reopen it this summer. The Yellowstone Westgate Theater, located at 29 Madison Avenue in West Yellowstone, Montana, is scheduled to open June 4 following a full refurbishment. The reopening marks a […]
4 Takeaways From Indiana's CFP National Championship Game Win Over Miami
Fernando Mendoza led the Hoosiers to a win over Miami that closed out an undefeated season and brought an improbable national championship to Indiana.
Sports Reporter Eleonora Incardona Turns the Como–Milan Touchline Into Football’s Hottest Runway
Eleonora Incardona brought full glamour to the pitch on Friday, January 16, when she shared a polished Instagram post from Stadio Sinigaglia in Como while covering Serie A action. The sports presenter and television personality, 35, was photographed reporting from the field during the Como–Milan matchup, appearing confident and camera-ready throughout the shoot. In one […]
A week of projects and a business closing in Brunswick County
Last week brought chilly weather, business closings, project updates and more in Brunswick County.
Nintendo reveals Japan's best-selling digital games for December 2025 - Metroid Prime 4 in top 10 for Switch 2, but absent on Switch 1
Nintendo recently shared new data revealing the best-selling games on the Japanese Switch 2 and Switch eShops for December 2025. December brought along a couple of notable games, including Metroid Prime 4: Beyond – it hits #8 on Nintendo Switch 2, but isn’t in the top 20 on Switch. Metroid hasn’t been a particularly popular franchise in Japan and Beyond...
Ravenscroft School to hold celebration of life service for science teacher
The head of school, Derrick Willard, shared in an email that as the community continues to process the "senseless loss" of Zoe Welsh, the community has been reminded of the bright light she brought to the campus for generations of students.
What Teddy Roosevelt has to do with Trump's moves in Venezuela and Greenland
Presidents James Monroe and Theodore Roosevelt helped shape a policy that rationalizes U.S. intervention in Latin America and elsewhere. But Trump has brought that idea to a whole new level.
US supreme court considers state bans on transgender athletes in school sports
Court to hear oral arguments in two cases brought by trans students challenging laws in West Virginia and Idaho, in major LGBTQ+ rights battle
A conservative Supreme Court tackles the question of trans women in school sports
The first case involves an Idaho student barred by state law from trying out for the track team; the second was brought by a West Virginia middle schooler barred by state law from competing.
MRN BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT: Dragonfly Mobile Detailing
On this week’s Business Spotlight, brought to you by Bank of Springfield…RonKinscherf sits down with Mary Hoffman, the owner of Dragonfly Mobile Detailing.Mary is putting a fresh spin on auto detailing with a business model built aroundconvenience – she brings the shine straight to you. They talk about how the mobileapproach works, what sets Dragonfly...
Toms Shoes founder unveils new project highlighting mental health
The founder of Toms Shoes, Blake Mycoskie, has unveiled a new project aimed at raising awareness around mental health struggles. Inspired by his own battle with depression, Mycoskie launched a bracelet reminding people they are "enough," with proceeds going to mental health charities. NBC News' Chloe Melas sits down with the entrepreneur to discuss the new project and how his own struggles have brought him to where he is today.
Founders Market & Co. is first business to transition to employee ownership through Chip Cargas' nonprofit
In October, the employees of Lancaster-based Founders Market & Co. were brought into a meeting and given sweat equity grants, which promise an amount of ownership shares dependent on how
AEW's MVP Discusses The Importance Of Body Language In Wrestling
MVP brought up a former WWE co-worker while discussing the importance of body language for performers in the pro wrestling industry.
Can the Browns get their coaching search right?: Thursday’s Sports 4 CLE
Check out today's show, brought to you by Tri-C, live at 4 p.m., or watch later on as host Dave Bacon leads discussions on the big issues in Cleveland sports.
Superconductors, an opportunity for science and society
Superconductive technologies have long been central to particle physics, but they have also repeatedly moved beyond the laboratory, most notably with the emergence of magnetic resonance imaging scanners (MRI), demonstrating how breakthroughs in fundamental research can benefit society. Today, as global energy, climate and healthcare pressures grow, the conversation is shifting from “What can science give to society?” to “How can science and industry jointly develop technologies that benefit society while advancing research?” The event “Catalysing Impact – Superconductivity for Global Challenges” held at CERN in December was aimed precisely at answering this question. The workshop brought together leading researchers, industry representatives, investors and policymakers to explore how collaboration on superconducting technologies can advance particle physics while addressing some of the world’s most pressing societal challenges. The event sought to bridge fundamental research with real-world deployment and to accelerate collaborative pathways. Across keynotes, panels and round tables, participants examined both the current technological landscape and the opportunities ahead. Introducing the discussions, Frédérick Bordry, Chief Technology Officer of the Gauss Fusion company and former CERN Director for Accelerator and Technology, noted that “Superconductivity has become the silent engine of discovery science.” While the research community needs more capable and more resilient superconductors for the next generation of experiments, they also have significant potential for societal applications. Beyond their role in collider magnets, high-temperature superconductors (HTS) now promise lossless power transmission, compact fusion magnets, efficient renewable systems and new capabilities in healthcare, transport, computing and quantum technologies - all aligned with SDG-17’s emphasis on partnership-driven innovation. Participants also stressed that major hurdles remain. Global competition is accelerating, and Europe must act quickly to secure technological and economic leadership. Doing so will require coordinated investment and supportive policies, including stronger risk capital investment and mechanisms to bridge the gap between laboratory innovation and industrial deployment. The summit set in motion several concrete follow-up priorities, including aligning R&D roadmaps with societal goals and the UN Sustainable Development Goals; making it easier for public–private consortia to build demonstrators that serve both industry and research needs; and advancing investment pathways that better connect research institutions, governments and the private sector. A series of interviews of key participants is available here: Frédérick Bordry & Milena Roveda Mike Lamont Francesca Ferrazza Peter Schroth Ziad Melhem Pietro Corsaro
In Trump’s words, ‘we’re in the oil business’
This brought to mind the words of Marine Major General Smedley Butler: 'I was a racketeer for capitalism.'
All the Head-Turning Security Tech I Saw at CES 2026
CES brought a crowd of security companies all trying to impress with new cameras, sensors and locks. However, what really caught my attention is...
Character.AI and Google agree to settle lawsuits over teen mental health harms and suicides
Character.AI has agreed to settle multiple lawsuits alleging the artificial intelligence chatbot maker contributed to mental health crises and suicides among young people, including a case brought by Florida mother Megan Garcia.
Tim Walz Was Brought Down by a Scandal Hiding in Plain Sight
The welfare-theft scheme was public in 2024, but Trump and Republicans didn’t realize its potency as a political attack.
You Love Your Ultrawide Gaming Monitor. What About an Ultrawide Gaming Laptop?
Lenovo brought a Legion gaming laptop to CES this year with a rollable OLED display that expands horizontally by six inches.
Dell revives its XPS laptops after a boneheaded rebranding
Dell has finally brought back its XPS brand, along with two new redesigned XPS 14 and 16 models.
LEGO just brought out a smart brick to unlcok new generation of play
Here's everything to know about LEGO's new smart brick, which will first come to its Star Wars series.
Qualcomm’s next-gen Snapdragon X2 laptops are here — and they brought a new friend
Also: a hint about future handhelds.
‘Mind Your Business’: Local Openings, Closings and Updates in October-December 2025
The end of 2025 brought the announcements of some closures, expansions, and new businesses on the horizon across the greater Chapel Hill area.
Samsung brought an absolute beast of a 130-inch Micro RGB TV to CES 2026
Samsung is taking Micro RGB even bigger with its new concept set.
LG brought back the Wallpaper TV for CES and ditched the companion sound bar
The OLED evo W6 from LG makes a glorious return with an even more minimalist design.
Japanese startup Ludens AI brought two very adorable robots to CES 2026
Japanese startup Ludens AI is showing off two extremely adorable robot companions at CES 2026: Cocomo and Inu.
This startup brought WALL-E to life and will also sell you WALL-E’s weird cousin
Disney’s WALL-E vs. the WALL-E at home.
Tulsa’s 2025 entertainment boom puts Oklahoma in the national spotlight
From The Lowdown to major concerts and Broadway tours, Tulsa’s entertainment boom in 2025 brought national attention and economic impact to Oklahoma.
Tulsa’s entertainment boom puts Oklahoma in the national spotlight in 2025
From The Lowdown to major concerts and Broadway tours, Tulsa’s entertainment boom in 2025 brought national attention and economic impact to Oklahoma.
These scientific discoveries brought us joy in 2025
Amidst a tough year for science, glimmers of joy burst through in revelations from the silly to the sublime.
‘I wasn’t allowed to study, but I will make sure no girl in this village hears those same words’
Health worker Naushaba Roonjho’s desire to educate has brought about the biggest local change in decades – and elders are now backing her political ambitions
Cherry Street business owner says changing shopping habits hurt sales in 2025
Magnolia Soap and Bath Company, located on Cherry Street, recently celebrated five years in business, and has grown to three locations. But owner, Scottie Lawrence, says 2025 brought unexpected challenges like slowing sales.
There is as much life left to discover on planet Earth as that which is already known
Around 16,000 new species are described each year, but most animals and plants are listed as threatened as soon as they are brought to light
The 10 biggest political stories of 2025
President Trump’s first year back in office brought a whirlwind of new political news in 2025. There was a major legislative victory for the White House, wins for Democrats in elections and t…
Nuno F.G. Loureiro, award-winning MIT scientist, remembered as a ‘physicist’s physicist’
His promising work at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center brought him and the lab global recognition as well as the hope of cheaper, cleaner, and more plentiful energy.
Photos show the year in politics as Trump brought change to America in 2025
From science to sport: These are the stories that lifted spirits in 2025
Amid conflicts and crises, 2025 also brought reasons for optimism, medical breakthroughs, encouraging signs for the planet and sporting and cultural surprises. As the world heads into 2026, FRANCE 24…
In a tumultuous year, U.S. health policy has been dramatically reshaped under RFK Jr.
President Trump’s second term has brought major changes to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Ren Fest drama tops Houston's hottest entertainment headlines of 2025
Editor's note: This year was a busy one for CultureMap's Entertainment section. A lawsuit brought changes to the Texas Renaissance Festival, country star Post Malone left a life-changing tip, and one of Houston's most respected pitmasters came up a little short on the national stage. Houston’s entertainment news proves the diversity of our city.
In a tumultuous year, US health policy has been dramatically reshaped under RFK Jr.
President Donald Trump’s second term has brought major changes to the Department of Health and Human Services. Health Secretary Robert F.
From gridlock to grief, 2025 brought unrelenting developments in Minnesota politics
The historic split in the Minnesota Legislature opened a year that also saw immense tragedy in state politics.
Trump says he might sue Fed Chair Jerome Powell for ‘gross incompetence’
It isn’t clear what specific claims could be brought against Powell or when.
Having a ball with the Times' best sports stories of 2025
From wrestling to rodeo, with plenty in between, the Arkansas Times' sports coverage brought sports stories and angles you couldn't find anywhere else in 2025. Here are some of the best.
Altadena businesses impacted by Eaton Fire now dealing with storm damage
As the year comes to an end, some businesses in Altadena are facing another setback after a Christmas Eve storm brought heavy rain to Southern California.
What brought all of us joy in 2025
Welcome to The Pulse, The Athletic's daily sports newsletter.
Nebraska's casinos set record for sports betting in November
The state's five racetrack casinos brought in more than $1.5 million in sports betting revenue last month, which was a 25% increase over the previous record set in November 2024.
Media and Entertainment's Biggest Innovations of 2025
Artificial intelligence brought evolution to the entertainment industry in 2025, but that's not all that changed this year.
Entertainment group closes out year with open mic night at Little Jamaica
444Force Entertainment hosted its final event of the year with an open mic night that brought together music, poetry and creative expression at Little Jamaica, a restaurant and lounge that
How a Spanish virus brought Google to Málaga
Spanish entrepreneur Bernardo Quintero, whose company is at the root of Google's Málaga cybersecurity hub, identified the author of the computer virus that influenced his career.
Pixel Camera brings Photo Sphere-esque Panorama mode to Pixel 8
With the Pixel 9, Google introduced a new Panorama mode, and the latest Camera update brought it to the Pixel 8 series.
The Gear That Defined Tech Editor Josh Ross's 2025: AI, Cameras, WorldTour Bikes, and More
It wasn’t just about the fastest bikes or the lightest parts. This year my favorites included items, both bike related and not, that fostered connection, solved real problems, and brought me joy.
The disunity of science is a feature, not a bug
Mathematical models wield miraculous power, but mistaking them for reality has trapped science in a destructive quest for a “Theory of Everything.” Physicist and philosopher Ragner Fjelland argues that this leads to bloated, Frankenstein theories kept alive by clumsy, ad-hoc amendments, which reduce rather than boost science’s power. Fjelland calls for a radical shift in our attitude: we must reorientate towards creating entirely new theories, celebrating rather than lamenting disunity and diversity in science. Science, from the scientific revolution in the seventeenth century to the present day, has more or less developed in a “reductionist” way. The fundamental assumption is that all sciences may be ordered in a hierarchy that can be represented as an upside-down pyramid. At the top we find the human sciences, and at the bottom physics. Strong (or “ontological”) reductionism maintains that all theories at one level can be completely reduced to the lower level, all the way down to theories of atoms and elementary particles, or whatever is “at the bottom.” In the end, all diversity in the world can be unified in one fundamental theory. Hence it is called a final theory, or a Theory of Everything.One of the central figures in developing the idea of a Theory of Everything is the Dutch theoretical physicist Gerard 't Hooft, who received a Nobel Prize in physics in 1999 for his work. He emphasizes the non-empirical status of the theory:There exists no closely resembling alternative theory. This means that any slight change brought about in the rules would make the theory unlikely or inelegant. The theory will be a "package deal": take it, or leave it. This should hold both for the local laws and for the boundary conditions.This endeavor is not new. On the contrary, it goes all the way back to the birth of Western philosophy 2,500 years ago. The Babylonians made regular astronomical observations during a period of 600 years, from 747 BCE until 150 ACE. They developed mathematical techniques to predict astronomical phenomena, but they made no attempts at explaining them. However, the Greeks developed models, both material and theoretical, to explain the observed phenomena.The best example is Plato’s late dialogue Timaeus. Here he introduces a divine craftsman, the Demiurge, who has constructed the universe according to an original plan. Plato seems to have thought that the original plan is what is actually real, while the material world is merely an imperfect realization of it. He therefore does not, in the Timaeus, reconstruct the material universe, but the original plan, which can then be used to explain the material universe.Plato’s aim in producing a theoretical model is to reconstruct the original plan. That is what he carries out in Timaeus—and some modern physicists have embarked on the same project. For example, Einstein’s basic attitude is reflected in the title of Abraham Pais’ biography: “Subtle is the Lord...,” echoing Einstein’s comment, “Subtle is the Lord, but malicious He is not.” In an interview Einstein compared our situation to a child who enters a huge library. The child knows that someone has written the books, but he does not know the languages in which they are written. He suspects that there is a mysterious order, but he does not know what it is.___“We have all been working in what Husserl called the Galilean style; that is, we have all been making abstract mathematical models of the universe to which at least the physicists give a higher degree of reality than they accord the ordinary world of sensation.”Steven Weinberg, Nobel Prize in Physics (1979)___This Platonist view is contrary to a widespread impression of science, symbolized by the picture of the “father” of modern science, Galileo Galilei, with his telescope. According to this impression, Galileo liberated himself from the dominating metaphysics of his day—basically Aristotelian philosophy—and constructed a telescope that he directed towards the sky, showing that Jupiter has four moons. He also performed experiments with bronze balls rolling down inclined planes and found the law of freely falling bodies.However, in other cases Galileo emphasized the unreliability of our senses. It is easy to see why. He defended Copernicus’ heliocentric hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, we are not at rest at the center of the universe, but moving at a tremendous speed through space. Why don’t we observe this motion? Galileo praises Copernicus because “with reason as his guide he resolutely continued to affirm what sensible experience seemed to contradict.” In other places he directly refers to Plato. SUGGESTED VIEWING The quest for a final theory With Michio Kaku Galileo’s Platonism goes back to his early writings. In The Assayer, published as early as 1623, Galileo compared the universe to a grand book that is written in the language of mathematics, and “its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it.” Therefore, things that cannot be described by mathematics—for example, colors, smells and odors—are not real. They are merely subjective.This division into subjective and objective, advocated by Galileo and his younger contemporary René Descartes, is normally associated with a mechanistic world view, which is regarded as the opposite of Platonism. When we reduce something to, for example, molecules and atoms, we move “downwards.” In contrast, the Platonist moves “upwards,” to abstract entities. However, it only shows that when we address fundamental questions, we should be careful in applying everyday spatial metaphors like “up” and “down.”___Nature is complex, and we cannot in general construct mathematical models that adequately describe the world.___The endeavor of finding a Theory of Everything has been heavily criticized. In 2006, the theoretical physicist Lee Smolin published “The Crisis in Fundamental Physics.” He argued that one of the most fundamental principles of science is that we should only regard theories as scientific if we have the possibility to show that they are false by experiments. Although he did not refer to Karl Popper, other critics have referred to Popper and argued that a theory is not scientific if it cannot be falsified (see for example Ellis & Silk 2014).These were not the first physicists to be anti-reductionists. In 1972, the journal Science published an article by the physicist Philip Anderson with the title “More Is Different.” This is the kind of article a scientist would normally write only after he has won a Nobel Prize. However, Anderson won the Nobel Prize for physics five years later, in 1977. The article is amazing, not primarily because it argues in favor of anti-reductionism in general, but because it argues for anti-reductionism within physics itself. Anderson’s conclusion was:At each stage entirely new laws, concepts, and generalizations are necessary, requiring inspiration and creativity to just as great a degree as in the previous one. Psychology is not applied biology, nor is biology applied chemistry.We may say that Plato started the “unity of science movement,” based on Euclidean geometry as the model of all knowledge. A distinguishing mark of geometry is that all possible constructions can be reduced to a few fundamental principles. We have to acknowledge that this approach has limitations. In general, we can easily model technological systems. In addition, we may construct simplified and idealized models that capture important aspects of systems, from various perspectives and for various purposes. But nature is complex, and we cannot in general construct mathematical models that adequately describe the world. In a complex system, each level has its distinct, emergent, properties that are characteristic of this level. Therefore, a complex system should be investigated at different levels and from different perspectives. Instead of exclusively pursuing a scientific ideal based on the unity of science, we should acknowledge the diversity—or even the disunity—of science.
The best reality TV of 2025
Scandals, competitions and breakups are par for the course on reality shows, but this year also brought some tender moments that made for must-see TV.
Central Indiana's Top 10 stories of 2025, from sports to Trump
The year in sports brought unlikely rises and dramatic falls. The year in politics shook Indiana's foundations. Here are the Top 10 stories of 2025.
Christmas card for all those who brought us sports in 2025
l'd like to use a column to say Merry Christmas to a ton of folks and save money on all the nice cards and stamps.
These 5 Oklahoma politics stories were popular in 2025
Each story we brought you in 2025 is important. However, these five are among the most popular of the year and display the rich breadth of what KOSU offers in Oklahoma political news.
Sports brands and AI: A winning combination
Millions of sports fans are being brought ever closer to the live action from their home screens through the power of agentic and generative AI.
The Best Shooter Games Of 2025 According To Metacritic
Locked and loaded for action, shooter games brought the heat to PC and consoles in 2025.
PNW College of Business Alumni Week Strengthens Career Connections and Celebrates Student Confidence
The Purdue Northwest College of Business brought alumni back to classrooms across campus for its annual College of Business Alumni Week, creating opportunities for students to learn directly from business professionals who once sat in their seats.
Trump tests the First Amendment: A timeline
Within weeks of retaking the White House, President Donald Trump boasted that he had “brought free speech back to America.” But since then, he has tested the limits of the First Amendment time and again.
How Eliott Rodriguez brought South Florida's biggest sports moments to local viewers
From championship parades and late-night title celebrations, Eliott Rodriguez has long been a hyperlocal presence at the center of South Florida sports history.
Schmidt Gives Keynote Address for Political Trust Conference
Professor Vivien Ann Schmidt gave the opening keynote address, titled Political Trust and Legitimacy in the Age of Populism, for the Political Trust conference, organized by CEVIPOF at the French Political Science School at Sciences Po in Paris on December 5, 2025. This year’s conference, named Political Trust: A Challenge for Democracies, brought together researchers from…
Analysts share their naughty and nice lists for Texas politics
In honor of the holiday season, Capital Tonight brought on Democratic and Republican analysts to share their naughty and nice lists in Texas politics.
Letters to the Editor: Readers remember Rob Reiner’s contributions to both Hollywood and politics
'Rob Reiner's work has impacted generations of Americans. The characters, dialogue and visuals he brought to life in film and television are woven throughout our culture,' writes an L.A. Times reader.
Refugee and migrant health system review in Lithuania
Lithuania has experienced a substantial increase in the number of refugees and migrants, particularly following the 2021 Belarus border situation and the mass displacement from Ukraine in 2022. By late 2024, over 91,000 Ukrainians had been cumulatively registered in Lithuania, with about 47,000 holding valid temporary protection status. This increase, alongside sizeable communities of Belarusian nationals, Russian citizens and other regular migrants covered under compulsory health insurance contributions, has brought new challenges for Lithuania’s health system, especially related to continuity of care, interpretation support and equitable access across municipalities. This report presents the findings of a joint review of the health system in Lithuania, conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Lithuania, and other partners. The review examines the capacity of Lithuania’s health system to provide services for refugees and migrants. It focuses on the health challenges facing refugees and migrants, the policies and systems in place to address these challenges, and the opportunities to strengthen long-term health system capacity. Furthermore, the report offers practical recommendations for addressing the barriers refugees and migrants face in accessing health services.
This app brought desktop-style versatility to my Android phone
Convenience in a tiny package
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 Gets "Thank You" Update That Makes It Steam Deck Verified
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33's "Thank You" update brought it the Steam Deck Verified badge, so we take a look to see what has been improved.
Friday Night Roundup: High school basketball across the state line
TRI-CITIES, Tenn. (WJHL) – A full slate of Friday night hoops brought tight battles and milestone moments across the region. Science Hill boys’ basketball picked up a hard-fought win at home, edging Jefferson County 56–50 in a defensive battle. Unicoi County boys’ basketball delivered one of the most dominant performances of the evening, rolling past Johnson County 76–43 behind […]
Roseville high school students of all abilities take part in Unified Sports Day
Student athletes from across Roseville took part in an event Friday that brought together those with and without disabilities.
Speculative Meta Analysis of Mega Dimension DLC Megas in Pokémon GO
The Mega Dimension DLC of Pokémon Legends: Z-A is here, and the brand-new addition has fans on the edge of their seats with the revelation of new Mega Evolutions! Legends: Z-A brought a host of new Megas whose stats, when translated, gave us a good idea of how meta-relevant these Mega Evolutions would be in […]
Sharon Osbourne says Ozzy's infidelity didn't faze her until he brought another woman into their home
Sharon Osbourne was both aware of and largely unbothered by the indiscretions of her late husband, Ozzy Osbourne — with one notable exception.
Businesses tout advantages of downtown office locations
Where you go to work matters: As these three organizations found out, moving their offices downtown brought big benefits.
Utah's landmark deal has officially brought private equity to college sports
In today's edition: Utah's landmark deal, Messi wins MVP (again), NFL power rankings, Teddy Bear Toss, A'ja Wilson named TIME's Athlete of the Year, and more.
Culture Council: What Bob Geldof Can Teach Business Owners About Choosing Compassion Over Competition
Just as Geldof brought superstars together for a cause, leaders can promote a sense of compassion over competition to build teams eager to help each other out.
Massive volcanic eruptions may have actually caused the Black Death | BBC Science Focus Magazine
New research suggests that a combination of volcanic activity, cold summers and famine brought the deadly plague to Europe.
What if we brought love into politics?
Civic life is poisoned by hatred for people we don’t know. Maybe we can fill it with the opposite.
Broadway Box Office: ‘Hamilton’ Hits Record $4.9 Million
'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child' also brought in a massive $3.1 million over the lucrative Thanksgiving week.
2025 Health and Human Services Policy Advisors Institute
October 28-29, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) brought together Governors’ health and human services policy advisors representing 28 states and territories in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the annual Health and Human Services Institute. This year’s institute explored the theme “Stretching the Dollar: Strategically Financing Health and Human Services,” including […]
2025 Health and Human Services Policy Advisors Institute
October 28-29, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) brought together Governors’ health and human services policy advisors representing 28 states and territories in Santa Fe, New Mexico, for the annual Health and Human Services Institute. This year’s institute explored the theme “Stretching the Dollar: Strategically Financing Health and Human Services,” including […]
Science must move from materialism to mystery
Theoretical physicist and neuroscientist Àlex Gómez-Marín argues that modern science has become trapped in a framework that mistakes matter for the whole of reality. In this wide-ranging interview, Gómez-Marín challenges the foundations of materialism, defends the scientific study of near-death experiences, and calls for a new type of science grounded in mystery and a renewed sense of the sacred. He suggests that abandoning materialism could open the door to a deeper understanding of consciousness, death, and the purpose of human existence. Simon Custer: You are both a theoretical physicist and a neuroscientist, and you have also been fiercely critical of materialist theories of mind and consciousness. What do you think the ultimate nature of reality is?Àlex Gómez-Marín: I don't know what the ultimate nature of reality is, but what I try to first assess is whether the stories that they [mainstream science] have told us about it are right, or maybe whether there are other alternatives. That's why I've been a fierce critic of materialism. As a scientist, I realized that they had sold us this idea that to be a good scientist you also had to subscribe to many other -isms, like materialism, reductionism, and even secularism. And so first I think one needs to unmount these -isms, and then, as is happening today in consciousness studies, we have a huge landscape where there isn't only one game in town, the idea that matter is the only thing that really exists. But because we are studying the hard problem of consciousness, it may be the case that other views of reality, like idealism, or even dualism, or other theories like dual aspect monism... these are philosophical ideas that now, I think, have room in science to be taken seriously. How does something like materialism relate to dualism or idealism? What is materialism in the first place?Well, materialism is the philosophical position that matter is the only really ‘real’ thing in the universe. And I think that worked kind of well because science started 400 years ago and Galileo made that split, I call it the foundational wound. It was a great business move.He said, let's start doing science on that portion of reality that lends itself more easily to mathematization and measurement. So, for some reason, the solidity of this table or the movement of planets lend themselves very well to this foundational idea of science. But as time went on, 400 years later, we realized that we had forgotten the other side, which is what really matters.What really matters is pain, is love, is feelings, sensation, consciousness, which is very hard to define, but very intimate. We all know what it is. It's that thing that disappears when we go into deep sleep and comes back in the morning. SUGGESTED VIEWING On the edges of knowledge With Michael Shermer, Rupert Sheldrake, Güneş Taylor It's what it is like to be, as Nagel said. It's the feeling of being alive. So, materialism is good to study certain things, but then when it ossifies into this ideology and then is dressed like science, now it's preventing us from understanding these key questions that are really that everybody wants to know.Why are we here? Why do we feel reality? Where do we go when we die? And so we need other ways. We need pluralism. I'm only asking for having more options on the table and taking them seriously. Why does materialism fail to explain consciousness? For example, if you were to lobotomize me, I would not be a functional human being. What do you say to someone who might think that materialism adequately explains the mind?Well, here we could speak about different things. We could talk about physics or about neuroscience. I happen to have training with both.For instance, for neuroscientists, 99% of them, I'm not included in that portion, believe that the brain can only be a productive organ. It's an organ that somehow, somewhere, consciousness emerges. It's like a lamp. And then something happens, magic happens, and then consciousness emerges.That's the position you need to be if you're a materialist because if the only really ‘real’ thing is matter, then you need to say, just give us some more time and money and we'll figure out how mind emerges or is produced from matter. There are many philosophically sophisticated ways of criticizing this.Now there's another option, which is the brain as a permissive organ. This was said by William James more than 100 years ago.Now then the brain wouldn't be like this machine, like for instance, a heat engine whose smoke is consciousness, which is what we would have in the first big model, the productive model. But in the permissive model, the brain would be a kind of a filter. And so the brain would still have a very important role in consciousness, but it wouldn't be a productive role.It would be permissive, much like a filter or much like a prism which would receive light. And - I'm speaking metaphorically - it would receive the light of the mind and then it could reflect it and refract it.Now, with these two big options on the table, I think we can make progress into what I call the edges of consciousness, which are all these experiences, weird experiences that many people have, but we don't talk about enough, like near-death experiences, precognitive dreams, synchronicities. These experiences are very important for humans and they have a place in the permissive hypothesis and they are literally impossible in the productive hypothesis. So that's yet one more reason to explore alternatives to materialism. There may be anecdotal evidence for near-death experiences, but is there robust evidence that would be accepted by the majority of scientists who subscribe to the scientific method?Sure. And the plural of anecdotes, someone said, is data.And there's a lot of data. Actually, this year is the 50th anniversary, half a century, since Dr. Raymond Moody realized that we have two ears and one mouth and started listening to what his patients had to say about their experiences while they were clinically dead.The heart had stopped, breathing had stopped in these patients. These patients would come back and tell him these amazing stories that some people may say are hallucinations, but for the patients were hyper-real, like seeing light at the end of the tunnels, seeing deceased family members waiting for them, feeling bliss.___I would say the evidence suggests that the mind can survive the death of activity of the brain.___And so he and others started taking them seriously and writing their accounts down. And then you can do a science based on that material of experience that people have. Now, on the more objective side, more recently people have started to measure what's going on in the brain when people are clinically dead and brought back. This has opened a proper field of study, which is near-death studies.Evidence is a difficult word, because sometimes people think that when you say evidence, this is just the final proof. Evidence is like in a jury. You bring testimony, you bring pieces of data that point in one direction or another.I would say the evidence suggests that the mind can survive the death of activity of the brain. When brains are broken or shut off, there can still be mind going on. And that's revolutionary.That would entail that when we die, it's not game over, which, by the way, is the thesis of materialism. If consciousness survives, materialism dies. It's game over for materialism if something of us continues after we die. Do you think that there is mental continuity after death?Well, I think so, and I believe so, and I could also say I may have experienced it myself, because four years ago I had a near-death experience. I was in the hospital, I lost a lot of blood, and I saw those beings at the end of the tunnel, three beings, and there was yellow light. I was in a well, I was looking upwards, and I hadn't read about NDEs by then, but when I came back from this experience, I decided I would try to integrate this also in my professional life. Not just my personal life, of course, but my professional life as a physicist and as a neuroscientist. So I may have had the experience of glimpses of what an afterlife would be, and I'm not ashamed to say it in this way, and then one can do science of it, and then one can do philosophy of it.One can think about what -isms we were discussing, what views on reality would allow those experiences to be really ‘real,’ as opposed to, well, poor guy, the brain was kind of broken, it must have been a hallucination. Do you have a view about whether individuality or “the ego” persists after death, or whether we sort of merge into some sort of cosmic consciousness instead?I don't know, but my view would be along those lines you're suggesting. I think we could speak about a kind of universal mind, and then the problem is not how we emerge from matter, but how we fragment from a more holistic consciousness into these individual eddies and then when we die, this kind of dissipates.But I'm not sure. For instance, idealism would promote that view, but then what would survive of us after these eddies just vanish and become again the big Consciousness, I'm not sure what that would be. I don't know for sure, but I would tell you I believe something of us survives.And there are other lines of research, not just near-death experience, that can address this really hard question of survival. For instance, there are children who remember previous lives. This was studied by Ian Stevenson at the University of Virginia for more than 50 years.___Research takes place within a selection mechanism that also sometimes reinforces things that are not very scientific.___It's amazing research. He went all over the world, especially in the East, and collected all these case studies, all these stories. In plural, these were data of kids, very young age, who would describe up to 40 items that then he could go and verify.There was no internet. There was really no way the kid could know. Why would the kid say that when I was living in this other body and I was a woman and that's how my house would look like or that's how I would die, right? Again, there is evidence, not proof, but there's evidence not only that something weird and interesting is happening as we cross the threshold, but also when we come back to this life.Scientists should not be afraid of studying this, but they are because there's stigma. There's usually stigma upon the enigma, and this is so unfortunate. And one of the reasons is because of the ideology of materialism, because those things cannot be possible. What is wrong with the politics of science such that they have generated this stigma?So many things. Science is a human activity to begin with.So it falls prey to all our passions and ego and greed. That's one thing. Science is a job for the good and for the bad.You need to get a salary. You need to get grants. Research takes place within a selection mechanism that also sometimes reinforces things that are not very scientific.And then, we didn't have time to unpack this, but science for many years become entangled, as I was suggesting before, to other -isms, materialism, secularism. So anything that smells like the afterlife, people may think has to do with God, and then they freak out.Anything that suggests that there's something about the mind that may not need a physical material substrate to exist, it smells like non-materialism. So, all these -isms are ideologically blocking that kind of research, and then there are all these sociopolitical constraints as to what should be studied and what shouldn't be studied.I call it the backstage of science. Sometimes we scientists or science communicators seem to speak as if the data is the only thing that matters. We say, well, data and theory.But then there's a third leg of this stool, which is all the politics that goes behind the scenes. And we often don't speak about this, and it's quite vicious and petty, and it's very real. Why is materialism so attractive to most scientists?Well, an easy answer is because we've grown up with it.It's what the educational system promotes, and that's what you hear when you go to university. So it's like growing in a culture. It feels like the air in which you breathe.So it's very hard to begin with to detect, well, maybe there's another alternative. Maybe there are other ways of doing science, other environments in which one could do science. That's one reason.And other reasons maybe are more profound, and I'm not qualified to explain them, but I could say, looking at this 400-year history of science, since it started around 1623 with Galileo's book The Assayer, that science went and coupled with all what's going on in the West.And so the fall of religion, you could say, and science presented us this new alternative that then could be coupled very well with other -isms, and this idea of growth, and then science losing its good twin brother, which was philosophy. There's a whole natural history of science starting as philosophy, kind of emancipating or breaking out from philosophy, and then marrying technology, and then marrying other social systems.From that point of view, materialism is a very convenient idea to propose. There were attempts, like the German idealists tried to do a more romantic science. But no, the idea prevailed, like Francis Bacon said: You should pursue nature through all her corners, he said, and make her spill her secrets.Our attitude towards nature in the science that dominates is very much reflecting how we treat nature in our society, in our culture, like a resource to extract secrets by force and then dominate it. How is materialism related to the notions of growth and progress? What's wrong with having a productive citizenry?This is another very interesting and very difficult question to answer.But there's this recent book coming out by Paul Kingsnorth. In it, he explains this idea of the machine and this idea of progress. And this, again, this conflation of more is better, of we need to go forward always, and convincing us that the way to do that is to continually extract more from nature. But because we don't have the religious context anymore, because God is dead, then what do we have? We have what we can do as humans with our own gadgets.It's kind of the story of the Promethean fire. We will just build anything to make ourselves God.A good example today is transhumanism. Transhumanism is this pseudo-religion dressed in technoscientific language whose goal is very religious. They promise immortality, they promise redemption, they promise transformation of the entire natural world, but it's done by human means through technology. Are you suggesting that we can't have ethics without religion?Well, we should have ethics with or without religion. That's another pruning that has happened in science. We say, forget about aesthetics, although some physicists still think that beautiful means probably true, and forget about politics. We pretend there's no backstage of science, and even let's forget about ethics.___Science needs to be in the service of mankind.___Scientists, when they become more like engineers, they're just thinking how to make things work so that they can go to the moon, go to Mars, make machines that think, but they don't think whether that's a good idea.And also consider metaphysics. Many scientists for a long time pretended, and maybe that comes from the stream of positivisms, that really one doesn't need metaphysics at all, except that materialism is always the metaphysics running the system.You see, it's not just ethics. It's the pruning of all of these, you could say, five main legs of philosophy that just makes a kind of unconscious science, a science that doesn't really know what it's doing. It's doing it very well locally, but it just doesn't know what it's doing globally. Do you think science has to have an ultimate vision and purpose behind it for it to be effective or for it to be meaningful and transformative?Yes, a way I would say that is that science needs to be in the service of mankind. And it hasn't been that. And we can see it through, you know, when we discovered the secrets of the atom, and all of a sudden, the Manhattan Project, and then we create nuclear weapons.And now we're trying to crack how machines may think, and now we're creating this mess, right? So science needs to be in service of mankind, not in service of a few ideas that maybe want to make more money or just dominate upon nature. What about planes, trains, automobiles, and modern medicine? Hasn't science served mankind by helping us develop those technologies?Yes and no. I see where you're going, and it's fair.I came here by plane, and it's a blessing. When I almost died, the surgeons did their job, and they saved my life. But these two forced choices between Luddites and Silicon Valley types, I think, of course, it's a false dichotomy.Progress, in a way, it's good, but we often don't speak about the dark side of the moon. We say the great things that progress has brought, and we don't speak about the disasters, the side effects that it has come with, and the same when we promise new technologies. We tend to think that any technology is great, that email is going to save us so much time because we don't need to write letters and send them anymore.Is that true? I spend so many hours a week writing emails. Let's just say there are great things about it and bad things about it. People like Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, for example, argue that we've made moral progress over time because of the Enlightenment. Do you think that's totally wrong-headed?I think he's emphasizing a side of the moon, and he does that very well, and you can find tons of plots where there's a slope going up and say it's great. But I think he should also tell the not-so-friendly story.But if your ideology is just to resist and continue to explain that the Enlightenment is the best thing ever and reason is the best thing ever… this feels to me like you're worshipping these abstractions.I'm very critical of it and also of these, again, science communicators and scientists that say, Oh, science says, in the name of science, experts say. It's like, come on, let's be careful because we can shoot ourselves in the foot by putting forth to the people an image of science that we know is not really true. Recently there's been a resurgence of spirituality and of people who say that they're spiritual but not religious, especially in the United States. If materialism is going away, what is going to fill that gap? Are we going to return to traditional religion? Do you see that being connected with the rise of the political right?I'm not a fortune teller, so I don't know what's going to happen. But, yeah, we could say we're in this post-materialist age and even post-secular age. One cannot come back to the past, but maybe just to contact with the roots is a good idea.What do I mean by that? I think we need to do a science 2.0, a science that says thank you to Galileo and thank you to materialism, but we need to reinvent even a new kind of scientific method. We need to do so in a culture where we realize humans cannot thrive in a vacuum where there's this idea that the sacred has to be removed.Now, how do we do that without bringing in back all the vices of religion? I don't know. I'm from a Catholic country.Here we are in England, so there are differences and interreligious dialogue has always been a challenge. But I think maybe a way of putting it is: after all these conflicts and branchings I was quickly alluding to, science from philosophy and then also from religion, now there's a time of reconciliation perhaps and maybe debates in the proper sense, like exchange of ideas in service of learning and getting into something higher than both poles. We need science to talk to religious people and it's interesting when people say they're spiritual and not religious.I think this is just a way of saying, no, I don't want to go back, I want to go forward. But at the end of the day, religions have offered us practices and grounding that we now desperately need. Everybody can and should just meditate or pray or do whatever they want, but we're in a crisis and it's time for reconciliation. What do you say to critics that say you are merely projecting our need for meaning onto a fundamentally indifferent universe?Yeah, I know that the typical science communicator says something like this. But we're not projecting. Human beings feed on meaning.It's the other way around. If you're a materialist, because the only thing that there is is matter, all that comes next, free will, consciousness, meaning, this is a kind of illusion that we need to explain.They're just craving for meaning, but there isn't really for them. I would also like to remind my materialist friends that for decades, if not centuries, they've said in the name of science, we know that this and this and this doesn't really exist. I think now they sense they're forced to say, well, actually, we don't know. We've been saying, for instance, that there's nothing after you die, and now probably they need to admit that they don't know the answer.___We need to do a science 2.0, a science that says thank you to Galileo and thank you to materialism, but we need to reinvent even a new kind of scientific method.___So it's a moment to open up possibilities and also to gently but fiercely critique these claims that I think harm society. If you say in the name of science, get on with it, when your father dies, you'll never see him again. Well, what the F do you know about it? You haven't studied the literature, you haven't had any of those experiences, and basically what you're doing is you're just doing marketing on ideology. This needs to stop. Do you think that it's scarier for some people to entertain the thought that there might be life after death, compared to a materialist worldview where you just die, given that there might be consequences for unsavory behaviour?Well, death and dying is scary. It's maybe the ultimate ending. It's a limit on life, and when we're in this conquest mode, we don't like limits.And it also has, there's a shockwave backwards, so I think if you change your notion of what death is or may be, you live differently. It also has consequences, as you're saying, for the future because this is not our only goal here and we come back in whatever form. And again, different religions would say different things. I the East, they are more happy with the idea of reincarnation, and here in the West, there are other preferences. But in any case, it changes how we live, and that's really what matters.It's not about just projecting or imagining what we'll be after, but how we live now and also how we treat those who are dying. So it goes from the individual to the families, to the hospitals.Now in the near-death research I do, this has ramifications at all these levels, all the way to society.But our society is thanatophobic. It has a phobia of death. We don't want to hear about death, and this is another thing we need to put on the table and be willing to talk about it. Do you think that we might get closer to answering ultimate questions like why is there anything at all if we jettison materialism?That’s an excellent question, Simon. Two things: we should stop treating reality, I believe, as a great sudoku, as an enigma, as something that with intelligence, money, and time that we will crack and instead treat reality more like a mystery. And what you do for in front of a mystery is not to be the clever guy in a class and say “I’ll solve you” but more like “I will bow and you will transform me.”I know this sounds a bit like a scientist speaking like a mystic. But I think this reorientation is needed. In the end, we won’t crack the big questions, but they will transform us. If we free ourselves from this prison of materialism, the way we will explore these questions will be freer, more creative, and in service of mankind. Do you think exploring mystery is the reason why we are here?I think we are here because, and this pseudo-theological argument I’m making off the cuff, But the One, the Absolute, if there is such a thing, had everything except limitation. We are that absolute experiencing that contingency. It’s like an act of divine proprioception. It’s a wonderful adventure, it’s just incredible to be alive. Perhaps we have forgotten why we are here and the whole point is to experience the flesh.Let me end by saying this. I criticize materialism harshly. I bang on this dead horse, because I think it’s dead. But matter is a great mystery. So maybe my invitation is as follows: hey materialist friends, come here, let’s work on materialism 2.0! Consciousness is a mystery, but matter is also a mystery. The fact that we can have an intersubjective experience consensus, the fact that we can apply mathematics, that we can measure things... the physical world we take for granted, but it is a great mystery too.Maybe that’s related to your last question: why are we here? Why did spirit decide to incarnate? Being in the flesh may be a great thing if spirit decided to do so.Àlex Gómez-Marín, thank you very much.My pleasure.
Small Business Saturday sends shoppers flocking to stores
WHEELING — Throngs of shoppers spent Saturday making sure at least part of their holiday spending stayed local, as Small Business Saturday brought them out in droves to locally owned stores. Customers lined the sidewalks of Wheeling’s Centre Market, an epicenter of local shops selling everything from clothing to novelties to antiques to artwork. That […]
Shoppers in Wheeling Keep It Local for Small Business Saturday
WHEELING — Throngs of shoppers spent Saturday making sure at least part of their holiday spending stayed local, as Small Business Saturday brought them out in droves to locally owned stores. Customers lined the sidewalks of Wheeling’s Centre Market, an epicenter of local shops selling everything from clothing to novelties to antiques to artwork. That […]
As a twin dad, I try to prioritize alone time with each of my sons. I spent $1000 to take one to his first concert, and it was money well spent.
I didn't expect an Oasis concert with my twin son to mean so much, but that night brought us closer and was worth every cent.