SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " test " 14,330 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Who is Brian Cole, the DC pipe bomb suspect?
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.
Winter high school sports start this week
The winter high school sports season officially begins this week, with contests scheduled in basketball, wrestling and swimming. The winter season runs through late February to early March. Boys basketball For boys basketball, the Crook County Invitational will be held at Crook County High School and Crook County Middle School in Prineville Thursday through Saturday. […]
Where Kansas Basketball Landed in CBS Sports' Rankings After UConn Loss
Kansas suffered its third loss of the season to UConn at home yesterday. How far did the Jayhawks drop in Gary Parrish's latest rankings?
Nigel Farage denies saying anything racist ‘with malice’ as he attacks BBC
Reform UK leader launches tirade against broadcaster in latest effort to address claims of abuse from school contemporaries
Inside the tightest playoff race in NFL history: Five divisions separated by a game or less
The top two teams in the AFC North, AFC South and NFC North all play each other on Sunday, too.
Cowboys vs. Lions: Predictions, picks, best bets for Week 14's Thursday Night Football matchup
CBS Sports NFL expert Will Brinson shares his favorite bets and props for Thursday's contest between Dallas and Detroit
Contest Casts UMW Business Students as ‘Reel’-World Problem-Solvers
Five teams laid out plans to save a cinema giant, but only one could claim top billing. University of Mary Washington seniors Karla Bonilla Lizama and Evelyn Centellas won the Fall 2025 College of Business Case Competition – titled “Reel Choices: The Crossroads of a Movie Studio’s Destiny” – for their ideas, presentation and polish. […]
NFL playoff picture: How Cowboys-Lions impacts NFC seeding and wild-card race
Latest 2025 NFL playoff picture and standings update with which teams are in, out or still alive.
KC nonprofit is committed to strengthening Black-owned businesses, CEO says
“To promote and support Black businesses means that you look for them and you put forth an effort to do that.” Kim Davis, Black chamber CEO.
Cervical cancer screening is about to change as cases rise among young women. Here's what you should know.
New screening guidelines include self-collected tests that could make it easier and more accessible to prevent the main cause of cervical cancer.
Eurovision organisers debate whether Israel should be barred from contest
Jury may vote along with the public if EBU cannot prevent bids that sway the public, as Israel allegedly did last year.
Small businesses lead November job losses as tariff uncertainty weighs on hiring
Small businesses lost 120,000 jobs in November amid heightened economic uncertainty over tariffs and outpaced job gains at larger firms, according to the latest ADP employment report.
iPhone Air's Resale Value Has Dropped Dramatically, Data Shows
The iPhone Air has recorded the steepest early resale value drop of any iPhone model in years, with new data showing that several configurations have lost almost 50% of their value within ten weeks of launch. According to a ten-week analysis published by SellCell, Apple's latest lineup is showing a pronounced split in resale performance between the iPhone 17 models and the iPhone Air. SellCell examined real-time trade-in pricing from more than 40 U.S.
Latest Windows 11 updates may break the OS's most basic bits
: Microsoft warns Start menu, Explorer, and other XAML apps can crash or vanish on managed devices
CofC Launches Fitness, Community Health Testing Program
The College of Charleston's new Fitness and Community Health Testing program will assess fitness outcomes for those seeking to optimize their health.
This Week in Sports Trivia: December 4, 2025
How closely were you following the sports news this week? Find out and test your knowledge by taking The Athletic's weekly quiz.
Team of Penn State Smeal seniors win Business with Integrity Case Competition
Students explored the ethical challenges of the wellness industry in the 2025 Business with Integrity Case Competition. Every fall, the Tarriff Center for Business Ethics and Social Responsibility hosts the competition where students examine the role of ethics in business and put their ethical frameworks to the test.
Apple removed a Night mode photo feature from the iPhone 17 Pro
The latest flagship iPhone has been left in the dark.
You can finally use lock screen widgets on your Pixel phone, here's how
The latest Android 16 QPR2 update added lock screen widgets to Pixel phones — and they're great! Here's how to use them.
UK power grid’s £28bn upgrade approved to drive energy transition
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
We tested Europe’s luxurious new ‘business-class’ sleeper bus between Amsterdam and Zurich
A new overnight bus service in the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland offers comfort and sustainability
Missouri sportsbook promos: Get almost $3,000 in welcome bonuses with Missouri sports betting promo codes
The best Missouri sportsbook promos are available now that sports betting is legal in the state. Get the latest Missouri sports betting promo codes and claim up to $3,000 in bonuses
Beloved Southern restaurant chain closes all locations after 88 years
It's the latest American mom-and-pop restaurant chain to cave under the pressure of rising food costs and cost-cutting diners.
Bears Over Beers: Return To Lambeau, Packers Preview
The latest episode of @bearsoverbeers talks the Chicago Bears upcoming game against the Green Bay Packers and more.
I dropped $7K to complete a JetBlue contest to win status and points
Steven Carroll and his son spend weekends flying JetBlue for a challenge that once sent them from New York to DC to Florida and back all in one day.
Missouri sportsbook promos: Claim almost $3,000 in welcome bonuses with Missouri sports betting promo codes
The best Missouri sportsbook promos are available now that sports betting is legal in the state. Get the latest Missouri sports betting promo codes and claim up to $3,000 in bonuses
Whoopi Goldberg collapses on “The View” table in our honor: 'This is for “Entertainment Weekly”'
Goldberg dedicated the latest in her long line of collapses to EW.
Trump pardons Democrat Henry Cuellar claiming Biden political attack
Trump claims Biden admin targeted Cuellar for his criticism of US border policy in latest pardon.
ASU football bowl projections. SMU, Louisville projected opponents
Who will Arizona State play in a college football bowl game now that the regular season is over? Check out the latest bowl projections.
BetMGM Missouri bonus code CBSSPORTS now live: Claim up to $1,500 in bonus bets if you don't win first bet
Here's how Missouri bettors can use the latest MGM promo code CBSSPORTS after the December 1 launch of Missouri sports betting to get up to $1,500 in bonus bets
Sterile Neutrino Prediction Muddled by Latest Experiments
Two papers challenged the existence of theorized particles called sterile neutrinos that might account for mysteries like the cosmos’s dark matter.
New low-cost iPhone 17 model now rumored to get two design changes
Rumors about Apple’s upcoming iPhone 17e keep coming, with the latest indicating the low-cost model will pack not one, but two design changes.
ACCLAIMED PRESENTER REBECCA LOWE JOINS FOX SPORTS’ BROADCAST TEAM FOR FIFA WORLD CUP 2026™ - Fox Sports Press Pass
LOS ANGELES – FOX Sports, America’s English-language home for the FIFA World Cup 2026™, today announces celebrated host and presenter Rebecca Lowe will join the network’s broadcast team as one of its hosts covering the world’s greatest sporting event next […]
Microsoft warns latest Windows 11 updates might break the Start menu, Taskbar, and other integral UI bits — here's what you need to know
Windows 11 PCs that are targeting enterprise use may experience an issue where system-level UI surfaces and apps such as the Taskbar, Start Menu, and Settings app will fail to load or crash.
San Francisco’s mayor faces test over his key allies: Business execs
Moderate Mayor Daniel Lurie has leaned on personal ties to business execs to revamp the city, but they could be facing a backlash.
Companies cut 32,000 jobs in November, ADP says
Economists had been expecting to see jobs added, not lost. The latest data signals a labor market that could be on unsteady ground.
Why jail access to Pakistan’s Imran Khan has caused a political storm
Jailed former prime minister was finally allowed to meet his sister, Uzma Khanum, on Tuesday, following protests.
Bad Bunny Remains the Reigning King of Spotify
The Puerto Rican megastar's latest project Debí Tirar Más Fotos was also named this year's top streamed album on the platform
Saints Land Heisman Frontrunner in Latest Mock Draft
Will the Saints finally get their franchise QB?
What Tennessee means for the midterms | Latest US politics news from The Economist
The latest news in US politics, with coverage of Donald Trump’s second term.
Protesters pack normally quiet Atrium Health hospital authority meeting
With signs and medical devices, the protesters were pressing Atrium Health to honor affordable housing promises.
East Charlotte businesses report thousands in losses during Border Patrol operation
Some local businesses lost thousands of dollars after federal Border Patrol agents came to the city, they said.
Trump administration latest: Russia dampens hopes for Ukraine peace plan
Thames Water profits surge on higher bills; Prada buys Versace for $1.4bn
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
NFL: How failed drugs test saved Denver Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton from cancer
Alex Singleton feared his NFL career was 'done' following a cancer diagnosis, but having played 23 days after surgery, the Denver Broncos linebacker is aiming for Super Bowl glory.
Health Care Advocates Testify on Lowering Costs
The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee hears testimony from health care advocates on solutions to lower costs for Americans.
President Trump brushes off health inquiry after reports claim ‘fatigue,’ ‘aging’
Fox News senior medical analyst Dr. Marc Siegel says President Donald Trump passes a ‘cognitive test’ every day with his demanding schedule and long press conferences on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’
Trump signs legislation to streamline TSA screenings of breastmilk, formula
As any parent is likely willing to attest, traveling with children, especially infants, can be stressful. A new law aims to relieve some of the burden.
Missouri sportsbook promos: Pocket almost $3,000 in welcome bonuses with Missouri sports betting promo codes
The best Missouri sportsbook promos are available now that sports betting is legal in the state. Get the latest Missouri sports betting promo codes and claim up to $3,000 in bonuses
Kentucky basketball vs. North Carolina: Get live updates, stats from critical game
Get live updates from the Kentucky-North Carolina men’s basketball game Tuesday.
Gov. Gavin Newsom trolls Trump with phony new health update
California Gov. Gavin Newsom shared a bogus medical report in his latest attempt to troll President Donald Trump that labeled him the “healthiest human currently alive” and lavished praise on his...
Google tests merging AI Overviews with AI Mode
Google is testing how to make it easier to move from search to an AI chat in a new global test.
RJ Young's 24-Team College Football Playoff Bracket Entering Week 15
FOX Sports' RJ Young unveils the latest edition of his ultimate 24-team College Football Playoff bracket heading into Week 15.
Amazon is speeding up its delivery with a new ultrafast test that arrives in 30 minutes or less
Amazon says customers in certain markets can get thousands of essentials delivered in under 30 minutes. Walmart is also racing to speed up delivery.
Serena Williams: Tennis great denies comeback despite re-entering drug testing pool
Serena Williams files the necessary paperwork for a return to tennis - but then denies she is returning to the sport.
Samsung just can't stop copying AirPods in latest Galaxy Buds 4 leaks
Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Buds 4 lineup will give the “base” model a makeover too, as new leaks show off the...
Political Points: Tracking North Central Florida politics, campaigns, and governance
WCJB TV20 provides regular updates on the latest news in politics, campaigns, and governance across North Central Florida.
Indiana's redistricting bill advances to a vote in the House with a lone Republican opposed
An overwhelmingly anti-redistricting crowd testified for hours Dec. 2.
Politician Ayachi Hammami latest arrest in Tunisia opposition crackdown
Tunisia opposition says charges are fabricated, as police enforce a five-year prison sentence.
Omarion Hampton injury: Chargers RB likely to return against Eagles
The Chargers could get a boost to their run game against the Eagles with the latest on Omarion Hampton
Android 16’s latest update ushers in a more frequent release schedule
Switching up the release schedule could bring new features to third-party Android phones much faster.
Gemini is getting a ChatGPT-flavored tweak and new Maps features
Experimenting with the latest Google app beta, we managed to get a look at some new Gemini features, including handy Google Maps integration.
Epic Games Store decides "at the last minute" not to distribute Horses
Epic Games Store is the latest online storefront to withdraw support for the provocative indie game, Horses.
Christal Jordan has the latest in entertainment headlines
More news about Kandi Burruss and Todd Tucker's divorce, have come out. And Diddy calls out Netflix and 50 Cent over new documentary.
Live Results: Tennessee 7th Congressional District special election
Less than a month after Democrats scored a string of victories over Republicans in the Nov. 4 general election, the next test at the ballot box for both parties heading into the 2026 midterm season will be Tuesday in a Tennessee special congressional election on usually reliable GOP turf.
Favorite 'Dogs: Back Indiana in Big Ten Title Game, Texans at Chiefs
Will Hill believes the Hoosiers will be hard to handle in Indy and that the surging Texans will give the Chiefs a big test. Here's why he likes these 'dogs.
Emma Heming Willis Says Husband Bruce Willis Is 'Surrounded by Love' As She Gives Health Update
The wife of the action star, who is living with frontotemporal dementia, shared the latest update on his health at an event honoring military caregivers.
College Football Playoff Rankings: Projecting top 25 teams ahead of penultimate reveal
The CFP Selection Committee will reveal its latest batch of top 25 rankings Tuesday night
Green Science Alliance Proposes New 3D "Jungle Gym like" Structure for Solar Power Generation
Dr. Ryohei Mori of Green Science Alliance Co., Ltd. - a company engaged in the research and development of cutting-edge environmental and energy technologies for decarbonization and building a carbon-neutral society—has proposed a new solar power generation system utilizing a 3D "jungle gym" structure, with proof-of-concept testing planned in the near future.
After ICE arrests come health scares for the detained
Families of detained immigrants describe what many studies have found: ICE centers are ill-equipped to care for people with chronic illness, causing more suffering and death
Lehigh Sports Central: Football
On the latest edition of Lehigh Sports Central, hear from Lehigh Football head coach Kevin Cahill and senior LB Tyler Ochojski on defeating rival Lafayette a...
White House defends Pete Hegseth | Latest US politics news from The Economist
The latest news in US politics, with coverage of Donald Trump’s second term.
French Premier’s Budget Push Faces Key Stretch Ahead of Vote
France’s National Assembly is starting a second reading of the 2026 social security budget bill on Tuesday in a crucial test of Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s plan to shepherd contested financial legislation through a divided parliament.
Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 update improves and breaks dark mode
The update was supposed to improve dark mode in Windows 11
Live updates: Public will testify today on Indiana redistricting map
The Indiana House is launching the legislative process for mid-decade redistricting. Follow along for live updates.
Tennessee special election stirs Democratic hopes and Republican fears of an upset
Tennessee’s 7th congressional district is usually an easy win for Republicans. But Tuesday’s special election gives Democrats hope for an upset as they test just how far their recently successful message of affordability can take them.
Why Republicans are sweating Tuesday’s special election in ‘Trump Country’
The surprisingly competitive race in Tennessee’s ruby-red 7th Congressional District is a high-profile test of voters’ attitudes about the president’s agenda.
Premier League news conferences: Slot, Arteta and Maresca speaking
All the latest from Tuesday's Premier League news conferences as Arne Slot, Mikel Arteta and Enzo Maresca speak before a busy midweek fixture list.
AI valuations heighten risk of ‘sharp correction’ in stock markets, Bank of England warns
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as the Bank of England releases its Financial Stability Report
Undefeated Missouri faces tough road test at Notre Dame
Notre Dame will host an ACC/SEC Challenge game for the first time when it clashes with Missouri on Tuesday night.
Behind the scenes of Prenuvo, the health startup providing full-body MRI scans
Prenuvo, a preventive health startup offering full-body MRI scans, has attracted online attention from influencers. NBC News’ Gadi Schwartz tested the scan, interviewed the CEO about the future of healthcare, and spoke with specialists about the treatment's advantages and disadvantages.
S.F. Mayor Lurie takes another political gamble with latest Sunset supervisor pick
Alan Wong, who Lurie swore into office Monday as the Sunset’s new representative on the Board of Supervisors, has for years backed a variety of progressive politicians and policies.
Zac Taylor gives health updates on Tee Higgins, Trey Hendrickson
Zac Taylor provided the latest updates on several key players ahead of the Bengals upcoming game against the Bills
Missouri sportsbook promos: Claim almost $3,000 in bonuses with Missouri sports betting promo codes at launch
The best Missouri sportsbook promos are available now that sports betting is legal in the state. Get the latest Missouri sports betting promo codes and claim up to $3,000 in bonuses
Sports betting is legal in Missouri. These icons, lawmaker were among the first
The three bets signified the rollout of the legal sports gambling industry in Missouri, which won narrow approval from voters.
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Trump admin 're-examining' all Afghans imported after DC shooting
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.
New Jersey Politics Round-Up | The Brian Lehrer Show
Mike Hayes, WNYC/Gothamist reporter, rounds up some of the latest political news in New Jersey.
GUEST COLUMN: What Washington’s elections say about Oregon politics
Elections in various states in November drew national attention and pundits read them closely for longer-term implications, but not in Oregon, where voters who received ballots (this writer did not) had little more than local ballot issues and other mostly low-key contests.
Netanyahu's unusual pardon request sets up political test
Benjamin Netanyahu's request for a pardon to "promote reconciliation" in Israel has sparked huge debate, as the prime minister's long-running corruption trial continues to divide Israeli society.
Live updates: Trump administration news and the latest on Ukraine, Venezuela
President Donald Trump will hold a meeting at the White House this evening about next steps on Venezuela, sources told CNN, as his administration also seeks a peace deal in Ukraine. Follow for live updates.
Bar, commercial and industrial: See 21 latest business, apartment, land sales ($2K to $1.2M)
See a list of property sales in Onondaga County other than residential homes.
League of Legends 2026 S1 Gameplay Changes: Atakhan Removed, New Plates on T2 & T3, Nashor Back at 20
Dive into in-depth analysis and latest updates in the world of League of Legends Esports with Sheep Esports.
New study finds cancer-linked compounds in common foods
Scientists have found that common foods can contain hidden contaminants formed during cooking or through environmental exposure. A new testing method called QuEChERS helps identify these chemicals more quickly and with greater ease. The research showed strong accuracy and high sensitivity across multiple food samples. This streamlined approach could improve food safety checks while reducing chemical waste.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is another mighty brawler from Dotemu
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is the latest beat 'em up from Tribute Games and Dotemu, and it packs a punch thanks to a superpowered tag system.
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.
Rethinking statistical significance
From medicine to economics, significance testing misleads. Estimation offers a clearer way forward.
Donald Trump says he has picked Fed chair nominee | Latest US politics news from The Economist
The latest news in US politics, with coverage of Donald Trump’s second term.
College Football
Find all the latest college football news, live coverage, videos, highlights, stats, predictions, and results right here on NBC Sports.