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This evolutionary biologist fuses art into her science
Victoria Glynn is studying how high temperatures are affecting ocean plankton. She also makes art to help communicate science to the public.
New solar breakthroughs: the unexpected places scientists are finding revolutionary materials - Futura-Sciences
A Closer Look at Chemical Transformations The team’s breakthrough, recently published in the journal Nature Communications, is the scientific equivalent of pausing a movie in slow motion and noticing brand new characters on the screen. Instead of limiting themselves to the finished product of a reaction, the researchers examined every...
The weather and climate science AI revolution isn’t revolutionary
Machine learning has its limits—how is it being used?
Our evolutionary path to parenting—and sharing the load
"The Creatures' Guide to Caring" explores how communal child-rearing allowed animals from wasps to humans to evolve and thrive.
The 12 Most Revolutionary Movies of 1976, a Year of Rebellion
Here 12 most revolutionary movies of 1976, a year when rebels and underdogs reigned at the box office. As America The post The 12 Most Revolutionary Movies of 1976, a Year of Rebellion appeared first ...
Inside SHA’s Revolutionary New Women’s Health Retreat
We visit SHA's clinic in Spain to experience its new female-focused pack, where hormones and longevity are approached as one interconnected system.
Revolutionary Work | From PSG to USA, Revs II sports performance coach Bilal Bejaoui has passion for producing pros
France native has found opportunity to grow in New England
FIRST ON FOX: Trump admin transforms DC hotspot once rocked by George Floyd protests in symbolic reversal
Trump's Department of the Interior transforms D.C.'s Freedom Plaza with a patriotic installation featuring Caesar Rodney and Revolutionary War soldiers.
ASUS Unveils Revolutionary ProArt PCs Powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark at Computex 2026
ASUS unveils the new ProArt P16, P14 laptops and ProArt Mini PC powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark at Computex 2026. Discover 1 petaflop AI performance, 128GB unified memory, Lumina Pro OLED displays, all-day battery life, and local AI agents launching fall 2026.
This Revolutionary Energy Gel Will Transform the Tour de France. It Contains the Last Thing You’d Expect.
A project led by former Ineos scientist achieved what Pogačar and UAE Emirates couldn't and solved one of the oldest puzzles of sports nutrition.
Scientists unlock evolution of gigantism in Scottish island wrens
A new study of British wrens has provided new insights into the inner workings of "island syndromes," according to research led by the University of Birmingham. The paper, published in the Evolutionary ...
Simon Levin elected to Royal Society
Levin, Princeton's James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University, is among the 93 scientists around the world named fellows of the Royal Society.
Scientists discover ancient single-celled ancestors still live on in your blood
Scientists uncovered evidence that human blood cells may trace their origins back to single-celled ancestors that lived 700 million years ago. By rebuilding the evolutionary family tree of blood cells, the team revealed how today’s immune system grew from some of Earth’s earliest life forms.
Why did T. rex have tiny arms? A new study may finally have the answer
An analysis of 85 dinosaur species shows that tiny forearms in meat-eating dinosaurs were the result of an evolutionary trade-off.
I tried GameSir's revolutionary new game controller and it's the most mind-blowing thing I've used in years
It looks like a bit of a Frankenstein, but trust me when I say, this is going to be something spectacular.
Why Do We Prefer One Hand Over the Other? Scientists Have New Clues
New research links right-hand bias with evolutionary brain development and upright walking.
Conservative Politics in Revolutionary Times
Three books make the case for conservatism amid times of revolution and societal upheaval.
There's a hidden 'third eye' buried in your skull – and scientists think they've finally worked out why | BBC Science Focus Magazine
Far from a spiritual metaphor, a new theory is shedding light on the bizarre evolutionary quirks that gave us a hidden third eye
Women in Science: Dr Lauren Snyder - TIB-Blog
The blog series “Women in Science” introduces women from the TIB who give insights into their careers and personal experiences in science. Dr Lauren Snyder studied Ecology and Conservation Biology at Boston University and earned her PhD in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University. Now, she is the co-founder of the TIB Knowledge Loom, an Open Science digital library. In this interview, she talks about why having clear goals is just as important as being open to the unexpected, and why the people you work with play such an important role.
Scientists think they’ve cracked the mystery of human right-handedness
A new study suggests humans became overwhelmingly right-handed because of two major evolutionary shifts: walking on two legs and developing much larger brains. Researchers found that as human ancestors evolved, their right-hand preference steadily intensified — transforming a mild tendency into one of humanity’s most distinctive traits.
Scientists Were Studying Buttefly Wings—and Found a 120 Million-Year-Old Evolutionary Pattern
A genetic “cheat sheet” allows different species to display the same warning patterns.
How Ancient Centipede Ancestors Conquered the Earth
A long-neglected fossil seems to show the evolutionary leap that let the ancestors of today’s many-legged arthropods crawl forth from the seas.
Outstanding Seniors in the College of Science: Veronica Klawender
The College of Science is proud to recognize 12 outstanding seniors who went above and beyond during their time as Wildcats. Veronica Klawender is this semester's recipient from Ecology & Evolutionary Biology!
Communist and socialist groups call for 'revolution' and seizure of property at Minneapolis May Day rally
Minneapolis May Day rally organized for immigrant rights drew communist and socialist groups demanding revolution, rent caps and wealth redistribution.
Why do crabs walk sideways? Scientists trace it back 200 million years
Crabs’ famous sideways walk may trace back to a single evolutionary moment 200 million years ago. Researchers found that most modern crabs inherited this trait from one ancestor—and never looked back. The movement likely gave them an edge, helping them dodge predators with quick, unpredictable bursts. It’s a rare example of a behavior evolving once and then dominating an entire group.
Neanderthals' brains weren't to blame for their demise, new study suggests
Researchers examining the brains of living people found that they differed more substantially than Neanderthals' brains differed from modern humans', calling into question the reason our evolutionary cousins mysteriously disappeared.
The Key to a Healthy Mind
Personal Perspective: Our symbolic environment is changing faster than our evolutionary mechanisms can adapt.
Giant octopuses may have ruled the oceans 100 million years ago
Giant, fearsome octopuses may have once ruled the ancient seas, according to new research that flips the script on their evolutionary past. By uncovering exquisitely preserved fossil jaws hidden inside rock, scientists revealed that early octopuses from the age of dinosaurs weren’t shy, soft-bodied drifters—they were massive apex predators, possibly stretching up to 20 meters long and crushing prey with powerful bites.
Chinese researchers turn desert sand into fertile soil in just 10 months using cyanobacteria
Science News: The researchers at the Shapotou Desert Experimental Research Station in China have developed a revolutionary approach for reversing desertification an.
Leaked: iPhone 18 Pro Production Begins for Apple’s First DSLR-Style Camera Mechanism
Internal Apple leaks confirm iPhone 18 Pro production has begun, featuring a revolutionary variable aperture DSLR-style camera.
Hillsdale College’s First Feature-Length Documentary Revolutionary America Coming to Theatres from Fathom Entertainment May 31 – June 2
Hillsdale College’s First Feature-Length Documentary Revolutionary America Coming to Theatres from Fathom Entertainment May 31 – June 2 -
Anabaena Learns A New Trick - Cyanobacteria Surprise Scientists With Evolutionary Shift
Photosynthetic bacteria helped shape Planet Earth.
Scientists Finally Crack the 100-Million-Year Evolutionary Mystery of Squid and Cuttlefish
Genomic analysis reveals squid and cuttlefish evolved in deep oceans, survived mass extinction in refuges, and later rapidly diversified, following a “long fuse” evolutionary pattern.
Proto-mammals laid eggs, paleontologists finally confirm
Lystrosaurus fills in a major evolutionary gap.
Oppo details most powerful phone camera system ever; compares it to iPhone 17 Pro
Oppo has finally revealed the Oppo Find X9 Ultra’s full, revolutionary camera system. With a massive light intake advantage over older Samsung phones with 10x zoom, and record-breaking 1x and 3x zoom camera, the Find X9 Ultra might just be the best camera phone of 2026 - potentially outclassing the likes of the Xiaomi 17 Ultra, Vivo X300 Ultra, iPhone 17 Pro, and Galaxy S26 Ultra.
How does mitochondrial DNA affect your health? - Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Highlights Salk scientists have created a platform to study mitochondrial DNA mutations that lead or contribute to human disease They generated a library of 155 mitochondrial DNA mutant cells, nearly the human level of mitochondrial DNA mutant diversity The platform and library will accelerate innovation in the mitochondrial disease therapeutic space LA JOLLA—Some of your most important life partners are the mitochondria that power all your cells. You and these little cellular powerhouses are in a 1.5-billion-year-old evolutionary relationship—but mitochondria brought some baggage. Mitochondria brought their own DNA with them when they joined with the bigger, more complex cells so long ago, and today that mitochondrial DNA influences human health.
War Decimated Iran’s Leadership and Pushed Up a New Generation
Since the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, authority has shifted to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. Younger military leaders have come to the fore.
The world’s “oldest octopus” was never an octopus
A famous “oldest octopus” fossil has been exposed as a case of mistaken identity. Advanced imaging revealed hidden teeth showing it was actually related to a nautilus, not an octopus. The confusion came from decay that altered its shape before fossilization. This discovery rewrites part of evolutionary history, pushing the true origin of octopuses much later in time.
'They could spend 4 or 5 hours per day underwater': How humans adapted to the most challenging environments
In the book "Adaptable," evolutionary anthropologist Herman Pontzer explores human biology and development, and how people have evolved to survive everywhere on Earth.
Study of 1,700 languages reveals surprising hidden patterns
A massive new analysis of over 1,700 languages shows that some long-debated “universal” grammar rules are actually real. By using cutting-edge evolutionary methods, researchers found that languages tend to evolve in predictable ways rather than randomly. Key patterns—like word order and grammatical structure—keep reappearing across the globe. The results suggest shared human thinking and communication pressures shape how all languages develop.
Apple's Eddy Cue explains how iTunes shaped its services strategy
Apple's SVP Eddy Cue reflected on the iTunes Store's launch and its revolutionary impact on the music industry and Apple's services on TBPN.
The politics of Judas
What motivated Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus Christ? Money? Revolutionary sentiment? If either, why did Judas bemoan his betrayal? If Judas did have such political motives, then his actions are more
Iran threatens US-owned companies, including Meta and JP Morgan
Iran's Revolutionary Guard on Tuesday threatened US-owned companies with a presence in the Middle East.
Violence May Be "Deeply Rooted In Our Evolutionary Past", But Science Is Revealing The Hidden Complexity Of Aggressive Behavior
Some cultures don't even have a word for war.
Decapodiform evolutionary tree
The researchers employed multiple decapodiformes genomes along with a robust model of evolution and fossil evidence. Their evolutionary tree branches into 4 sections in the Cretaceous period, then sees no further branching until after the K-Pg extinction event, when rapid diversification occurred. Each final line end marks a different species. Of the major orders of decapodiformes, just oegopsida and spirulida remain in the deep ocean habitats of their ancestors.
Iran University of Science and Technology building reduced to rubble by Israeli airstrike
The country's Revolutionary Guard warned that Iran would consider Israeli universities and branches of U.S. universities in the region “legitimate targets” unless offered safety assurances for Iranian universities, state media reported.
Red flare for Trump: 'No Kings' rallies a show of political force
With a Revolutionary-era slogan, the protests had the deepest geographic reach in U.S. history. What does that mean for November's midterms?
Mark Kiszla: Summit’s stadium-shaking debut shatters views on women’s sports
As the stadium shook from a record 63,004 soccer fans stomping their feet, Denver Summit shouted a revolutionary statement to the world. Female sports aren’t just for little girls anymore. “When everybody was stomping their feet, it was like a giant rumble. That was so … intoxicating,” Summit goalkeeper Abby Smith said Saturday, when the […]
Mark Kiszla: When Summit shakes stadium, old biased views of women’s sports crumble
As the stadium shook from a record 63,004 soccer fans stomping their feet, Denver Summit shouted a revolutionary statement to the world. Female sports aren’t just for little girls anymore. “When everybody was stomping their feet, it was like a giant rumble. That was so … intoxicating,” Summit goaltender Abby Smith said Saturday, when the […]
Scientists Discover New “Magic Mushroom” Species That Rewrites Evolutionary History
A familiar “magic mushroom” may not be what it seems.
Robert Trivers, Eccentric Scientist Who Probed Human Nature, Dies at 83
A visionary evolutionary biologist, he drew comparisons to Charles Darwin with his theories on the genetic roots of seemingly detrimental behaviors like self-deception.
Review: Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O. World Stage (Switch 2) - A Great Port Of Sega's Deep Yet Approachable Fighter
REVOlutionary?
There's no such thing as a shark, suggest scientists | BBC Science Focus Magazine
Analysis of shark DNA has thrown a wrench into our understanding of these sharp-toothed predators and their evolutionary history
The Selfish Gene: Still one of the most thrilling evolution books ever
Fifty years ago, Richard Dawkins shared an irresistible scientific metaphor with the world that modernised and democratised evolutionary biology. Half a century on, The Selfish Gene remains powerfully insightful, finds Rowan Hooper
Scientists just discovered bees and hummingbirds are drinking alcohol
Flower nectar often contains small amounts of alcohol, meaning pollinators like hummingbirds are drinking it all day long. Despite consuming human-equivalent amounts, they show no signs of intoxication—suggesting a surprising evolutionary tolerance.
Revolutionary Women: Lady Johnson, Angelica Schuyler and the Politics of Loyalty
State and territory commissions and other partners are hosting events across the nation to commemorate America's 250 anniversary in 2026.
Revolutionary Submarine Mysteriously Disappears Without a Trace – Scientists Are Now Preparing for a Bold Return
A pioneering robotic submarine that explored beneath Antarctica’s glaciers has been lost, but its discoveries are reshaping our understanding of ice melt as a more advanced successor is prepared to continue the mission.
'That's why there's 9 billion of us and not 9 billion of some other primate': Why our ability to adapt is humanity's 'superpower'
Live Science spoke with Herman Pontzer, an evolutionary anthropologist and author of the book "Adaptable," about the science of human diversity.
US National Academy of Sciences awards four Spaniards for explaining how life escaped an evolutionary dead end
After research spanning more than 30 years, Jordi Bascompte, Bartolo Luque, Fernando Ballesteros, and Enrique Muro managed to explain the abrupt change in living beings that allowed the appearance of plants and animals, including humans
Scientists Find First Evidence of "Evolutionary Rescue" In The Wild
Meet the wildflower that evolved its way out of a historic drought.
New Hope Partners With Revolutionary Sports to Offer Programs for Children of All Ages
Company provides coaches, equipment, and curriculum for beginners on up in a variety of sports.
U.S. is in the dark on Mojtaba Khamenei's views on the bomb
Khamenei's deep alliance with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has raised concern that Iran's new leader will depart from his father's long-standing position against building a bomb.
Trump’s revolutionary sense of time is changing politics
The US president doesn’t think in terms of long-term strategy but rather in terms of deadlines
Bizarro salamander ancestor was an evolutionary oddball
Paleontologists say 'Tanyka amnicola' had a jawbone that's a real head-scratcher.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard controls a sprawling business empire that dominates the economy
That empire includes core industrial sectors like oil and transportation as well as banking, telecommunications, agriculture, medicine, and real estate.
\'One Battle After Another\' wins at PGA Awards, setting up awards-season sweep
“One Battle After Another” remains undefeated. Paul Thomas Anderson’s ragtag revolutionary drama took top honors Saturday night at the 37th annual Producers Guild Awards, setting it on course to triumph
Science is political
In my very first biology class here at Case Western Reserve University, we covered a brief history of evolutionary science. During this lecture, we learned about Aristotle and his form of evolutionary thinking, which is a simple ranking of all living organisms. This was dubbed the scala naturae, or the “Great Chain of Being,” and...
Cities May Be ‘Evolutionary Training Grounds’ For Spotted Lanternflies
Living in urban China may have given the insects the traits they needed to thrive in the United States, a new study suggests.
De-Extinction: Can Science Really Bring Species Back to Life?
Extinction has always been treated as the final full stop in evolutionary history. De-extinction is now challenging that assumption.
This Bonobo Just Did Something Scientists Thought Only Humans Could Do
A bonobo demonstrated the ability to track imaginary objects in controlled tests, challenging the belief that imagination is uniquely human and hinting at deep evolutionary roots. In a set of carefully designed experiments modeled on children’s tea parties, researchers at Johns Hopkins University
Snakes keep evolving into cannibals — here's what scientists think is going on
A review of over 500 reports of cannibalistic behavior in snakes finds it's appeared multiple times in different evolutionary lineages, leading researchers to hypothesize it's beneficial for snakes under certain circumstances.
Mating, Marriage, And Monogamy In The Age Of Apps | Science Friday
With so many dating apps—and so many people using them—why are a record number of American adults single? Is marriage as important as it was a generation or two ago? Evolutionary biol...
February 13, 2026
An evolutionary biologist weighs in on mating and dating in the age of apps. Is pair bonding passé? Is single the new married? Plus, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider, or RHIC, has ceased operation. What’s next for particle physics? Add, researchers are homing in on how kids reap long-term health benefits from getting dirty, whether cuddling furry pets or playing with friends.
A flower in Asia bucks the rules of evolution, puzzling scientists
Lipstick vines in Taiwan look different from their red-flowered relatives. When scientists dug into the family tree, they uncovered an evolutionary mystery.
Spotted lanternflies are invading the US. They may have gotten their evolutionary superpowers in China's cities.
The alarming spread of spotted lanternflies across the U.S. has been made possible by cities acting as evolutionary incubators, fine-tuning the insects and enabling them to thrive.
US carrier shoots down Iranian drone and armed boats threaten US tanker as tensions in with Iran escalate
A US aircraft carrier shot down an Iranian drone that “aggressively approached” the ship in the Arabian Sea on Tuesday hours before two gunboats operated by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps approached a US-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to board and seize the ship, according to a US military spokesman.
We’ve got rhythm — but why? What science can explain about dance
Dancing uses overlooked senses and may tie to our deep evolutionary past. Knowing that can only make it more magical.
The World’s Largest Biological Battle Is Being Fought in Space
But this evolutionary “arms race” looks a little different when playing out in microgravity.
This odd vine contradicts long-standing evolutionary theory
‘They don’t follow the classic ideas of how we would have imagined the species evolved.’
Scientists ranked monogamy across mammals and humans stand out
A new study suggests humans belong in an elite “league of monogamy,” ranking closer to beavers and meerkats than to chimpanzees. By comparing full and half siblings across species and human cultures, researchers found that long-term pair bonding is unusually common in our species. Even societies that permit polygamy show far more monogamy than most mammals. This rare evolutionary shift may have played a key role in human social success.
Scientists destroy 99% of cancer cells in the lab using “vibrating molecules” - Futura-Sciences
A groundbreaking advance in the fight against cancer has just been made. Scientists have developed a revolutionary technique that uses vibrating molecules to kill malignant cells. This innovative method showed a remarkable 99 percent success ... Read more
Suds & Science
Ever thought that learning would be more fun with a cold drink in hand? We've got you covered! Suds & Science brings scientists face-to-face with the public at local neighborhood bars for a night of learning, drinking, and community that you won't want to miss! Highlights: - Fun and informative lectures from STEM professionals - Lively discussions between scientists and audiences - Connection with your community in a laid-back environment "Tentacle Tinder: How Cephalopods Decide When to Swipe Right" Cephalopods (the class of mollusks that includes octopuses, squids, cuttlefishes, and nautiluses) are renowned for their complex cognitive abilities and for their remarkable capacities to rapidly alter their body patterns for camouflage and communication. But behind the scenes, things get even stranger. Nearly all cephalopod females mate with multiple males and can store sperm for weeks to months. That means each female carries a tiny archive of potential fathers. So the big question becomes: when everyone is competing for a spot in that archive, how do cephalopod females decide who to mate with, and can they control whose sperm ultimately fertilizes their eggs? About the Speaker Theodora is a PhD student in Marine Biology at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego. Prior to starting at SIO, Theodora researched chronic reproductive pain conditions in New York, created marine science multimedia as a science communication intern at Point Reyes National Seashore, and studied cephalopod neuroethology as a research intern at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology. Theodora currently studies the evolutionary and behavioral dynamics of female choice in cephalopods, with a focus on local California market squid. When she’s not doing research or underwater, Theodora can usually be found listening to or singing classical music. Fleet Science Center on Facebook / Instagram
How two acclaimed US films reveal the failures of leftwing revolutionary politics
It seems apt then that two films concerned with the failures of leftwing revolutionary politics should emerge almost simultaneously with Donald Trump’s resurgence.
Astronomers aim to take ‘revolutionary’ moving image of black hole
Newly appointed Cambridge professor says feat would accelerate scientific knowledge by an order of magnitude
Dolphins and orcas may be evolving to return to life on land, according to scientists - Futura-Sciences
It’s now official: dolphins and orcas have crossed the evolutionary point of no return. Once land dwellers, these marine mammals are forever bound to the sea — and a new study reveals the hidden price ... Read more
'One Battle After Another' dominates SAG's Actor Awards with 7 nominations
“One Battle After Another” dominated nominations to the Actor Awards on Wednesday, with Paul Thomas Anderson’s ragtag revolutionary saga landing a record seven nods in the annual Screen Actors Guild
Hidden in storage, a University of Utah research associate happened upon the only known copy of this ‘revolutionary’ software
It took careful work to recover the UNIX V4 operating system from the 9-track magnetic tape. The software is foundational for most devices used today, including iPhones.
Lego unveils tech-filled 'Smart Bricks' - to play experts' dismay
Lego says its new tech-enabled products are its "most revolutionary innovation" since it launched its mini-figurines in 1978.
Is There a Science to Finding Love?
An evolutionary anthropologist separates fact from fiction on love, attachment, dating apps, pheromones, and why so much modern relationship advice gets human nature wrong.
Zipcar’s business model is an evolutionary dead end
The problem for car clubs is that most of the costs are fixed
Scientists replayed evolution and found a surprise
Environmental change doesn’t affect evolution in a single, predictable way. In large-scale computer simulations, scientists discovered that some fluctuating conditions help populations evolve higher fitness, while others slow or even derail progress. Two populations facing different kinds of change can end up on completely different evolutionary paths. The findings challenge the idea that one population’s response can represent a whole species.
Scientists say evolution works differently than we thought
A major evolutionary theory says most genetic changes don’t really matter, but new evidence suggests that’s not true. Researchers found that helpful mutations happen surprisingly often. The twist is that changing environments prevent these mutations from spreading widely before they become useless or harmful. Evolution, it turns out, is less about reaching perfection and more about endlessly chasing a moving target.
The WNBPA’s proposed development player program would revolutionize women’s basketball
The latest WNBPA CBA proposal includes a revolutionary developmental aspect.
Tiny tracker following monarch butterflies during California migration
When this monarch butterfly hits the sky it won't be traveling alone. In fact, an energetic team of researchers will be following along with a revolutionary technology that's already unlocking secrets that could help the entire species survive.
The best history and politics books of 2025
The revolutionary spirit in politics and architecture; histories of free speech and civil war; plus how the Tories fell apart and Starmer won
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.