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UC Berkeley suspends pro-Palestinian lecturer over political advocacy in classroom
A Berkeley lecturer known for his Gaza hunger strike has been suspended for political advocacy in the classroom — a move Muslim rights advocates say sends a chilling message.
Hegseth tells congressional leaders he is weighing release of boat strike video
Hegseth provided a classified briefing for congressional leaders alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top national security officials.
UConn vs. Florida Prediction, How to Watch Jimmy V Classic, Odds, Channel
Preview the Dec 9 matchup between the UConn Huskies and Florida Gators with how to watch, tv channel info, predictions, odds, over/under, spread, betting lines and more.
Akron RubberDucks sold to emerging sports ownership company
The RubberDucks, the Class AA affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, were acquired by Prospector Baseball Group, LLC. Ken Babby, the previous owner since 2012, recently became CEO of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Skims ventures into live entertainment with shoppable TikTok livestream
The apparel brand co-founded by Kim Kardashian sought to draw inspiration from classic holiday variety shows for a 45-minute shopping experience.
Through Collaboration, 7 Research Teams Aim to Transform Biomedical Science
Collaboration powers scientific discovery. Now 14 accomplished researchers are teaming up to lead such a charge as The Pew Charitable Trusts’ 2025 Innovation Fund investigators. The new class, announced Dec. 9, brings together pairs of leading scientists whose studies span immunology, cancer biology, biophysics, and more. Through their interdisciplinary partnerships, these investigators will explore creative research projects at the forefront of health and medicine.
The business of leading a marching band: SOSA drum majors talk about what they’ve learned on the podium - UT San Antonio Today
Leadership, communication and strategic thinking are are skills learned in class and also on the field, one rehearsal and one show, at a time.
Rage room or yoga class? How to beat anger
Ian Sample hears from science correspondent Nicola Davis, who recently tried out a rage room as a means of channelling her fury, and from Brad Bushman, professor of mass communication and psychology at Ohio State University. Is venting the most effective way to overcome anger, and if not, what is?
See A Show Under The Dome At The JER Science Center This Holiday Season
WALDORF, Md. – The James E. Richmond Science Center is in the festive spirit with a slate of full dome movies playing this month. “Let it Snow,” featuring classics from Frank Sinatra, Chuck Berry, Brenda Lee and others over animation and special effects will be shown 6:30 p.m., Dec. 10, 16 and 17. At 6:30 p.m., […]
British ‘teatime’ is a very complicated business. Sometimes there isn’t even any tea
From “Mary Poppins” to “Downton Abbey,” afternoon tea is a quintessentially British ritual. It’s a tradition that started with a hangry duchess and expanded to hearty evening spreads for working-class tea fans.
Reclassifying professional jobs as non-professional is bad business for Idaho
What this plan will most likely do is decrease the already short supply of nurses, teachers, therapists, and other much needed workers, writes Rebecca Tallent.
Business school professors’ picks
Topical FT articles and suggested classroom questions
After months of bending the Kennedy Center to his will, Trump takes center stage for the annual honors
President Donald Trump took center stage at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday evening to pay tribute to the newest class of honorees, a group of performers and entertainers whose combined work spans music, stage and film.
Top247 CB Ace Alston set to commit live on CBS Sports
Cincinnati (Ohio) Anderson Top247 cornerback Ace Alston is set to announce his college commitment. The 5-11, 175-pounder, who is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 114 overall player in the nation from the class of 2027, will announce his decision live on CBS Sports on Tuesday, Dec. 9, at 10:30 am ET.
USB Video Capture Devices: Wow! They’re All Bad!!
[VWestlife] purchased all kinds of USB video capture devices — many of them from the early 2000s — and put them through their paces in trying to digitize VHS classics like Instant Firep…
A Love Triangle Isn’t The Real Story In ‘Materialists’
The most compelling parts of Celine Song’s new film lie not in a classic love triangle, but in a poignant observation of modern dating culture.
Introducing the 5-star recruits to know in the class of 2026
With the Ducks wrapping up the 2026 recruiting cycle, let's look ahead to elite talent in the 2027 class.
Undocumented immigrants deserve health care — they’ve already paid for it
Last month, one of the kindergarten students I counsel as a social work intern was absent from class for most of the week. This student missed school Tuesday through Friday. On Friday, her teacher …
Dodgers notes: Freddie Freeman, Miguel Rojas, Tim Harkness
Freddie Freeman was born in California but both of his parents were from Ontario, Canada, and the first baseman has played twice for Canada in the World Baseball Classic. So it was only natural that Freeman teamed up with famous Canadian star Ryan Reynolds for charitable purposes, filming an ad raising money for the SickKids […]
Saturday Sports: FIFA World Cup 2026 matchups; MLS finals; NFL; College football
NPR's Eyder Peralta talks to sports reporter Michele Steele about the FIFA World Cup draw, the MLS Cup Final this afternoon, and a classic NFL rivalry matchup this weekend.
QUARLES: When math adds up more in sports than in classroom
Everything went according to planned Thanksgiving week, at least as far as college and pro football games having the results I wanted to see. The right teams — Dallas, and
Chris Henry Jr. commits to Ohio State: 5-star WR picks Buckeyes despite push from Oregon
Ohio State held on to another jewel in its 2026 recruiting class Friday
Boston 25 News
"This acquisition brings together two pioneering entertainment businesses, combining Netflix’s innovation, global reach and best-in-class streaming service with Warner Bros.’ century-long legacy of...
Students channel politics, sexuality through print media exhibition
Printmaking has two components: “contact,” where an artist designs an image on materials, such as wood or stone, and “pressure,” where ink-splayed designs are pressed onto a surface, making the art come alive. Guided by these elements, lecturer Alex Boeschenstein’s advanced print class tasked students with making artwork for a Visual Arts Center exhibit titled...
COLLEGE and computer science among most enrolled 2025 fall course
The most enrolled courses largely consist of computer science offerings, along with other STEM classes and core requirements.
Miami Freedom Park Announces First 125,000 Square Feet of Retail for Entertainment District at the Heart of Transformative New Development
Miami Freedom Park, the under-construction 131-acre hub for world-class sports, entertainment and recreation in the heart of Miami, and home of Major League Soccer’s Inter Miami CF, announced an initial group of experiential businesses coming to its Entertainment District, marking a major milestone of the project’s first phase. The walkable
UW Board of Regents approves UW–Madison proposal to create College of Computing and Artificial Intelligence
The new college will build upon the university’s strengths in computer, data, library and information sciences and statistics.
Signing Day shakes up the sport: Chris Henry Jr. in play, Penn State in trouble
Chris Henry Jr.'s decision now stands to determine the race between USC and Oregon for the No. 1 class, while Penn State's collapse leaves the program facing a years-long rebuild.
His Group Made World-Class Measurements of Atomic Elements
Yuri Ralchenko led one of the oldest teams at the National Institute for Standards and Technology. The fate of some experiments hangs in the air.
Kim Kardashian Launches MasterClass Business Course ‘The Ten Kimmandments’
Kim Kardashian
FAU Inductees of Florida Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine
Three FAU researchers – Randy Blakely, Ph.D., Gregg Fields, Ph.D., and Hari Kalva, Ph.D. – were inducted into the 2025 class of the Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine of Florida.
Strategies to Help Students Embrace Science Instruction (Opinion)
Knowing how to redirect science denial in your classroom is a strong way to start.
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
James Franklin explains Virginia Tech's run on Penn State commits
Penn State's recruiting has sunk to a new low since James Franklin was fired. Now at Virginia Tech, the Hokies' recruiting class is set to be their best in at least 13 years.
Valley elementary school brings science to life with virtual reality
A Valley elementary school is taking classroom lessons into the virtual world. The Prendergast Elementary School District is using the virtual-reality technology with the help of Arizona State University and its partner Dreamscape.
Early Signing Day: Top 10 2026 College Football Recruiting Classes
Which programs landed the best recruiting classes on early signing day? Here's the full top 10.
Committee finalizes 2026-30 classification and district adjustments
One of the two 6A-5A hybrid leagues was left on the cutting room floor.
New UCF Mobile Health Clinic Increases Access to Care
The clinic also serves as real-world classroom for medical, nursing, speech-language pathology and physical therapy students.
Watchdog finds Hegseth risked endangering troops by sharing of sensitive war plans on Signal, sources say
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth risked compromising sensitive military information, which could have endangered American troops and mission objectives, when he used Signal in March of this year to share highly-sensitive attack plans targeting Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to four sources familiar with the contents of a classified Inspector General report that was sent to Congress Tuesday night.
NFL Playoff Projection: Not a classic Ravens-Steelers game, but it could determine a playoff spot
I flew in Air India's posh business-class seat for 15 hours. I didn't want to get off the plane.
My long-haul international flight in Air India's business class had great suite-style seats, storage, and amenities that made the upgrade worth it.
Here are the New Orleans area Class of 2026 football recruits who have signed early
The New Orleans area is set to have plenty of high school football recruits sign early.
Where are top 100 college football recruits going? Signing day updates
College football national signing day is here. Where are the top high school recruits in the 2026 class headed? We will keep you up to date.
America's mayors are right to support small business
Supporting the middle class, shoring up support for the system, and restoring the lifeblood of our cities.
Future Fund spent $20,000 to send CEO’s former executive assistant on business class trip to scope hotels in US
Government also reveals it spent nearly $100,000 sending Annika Wells and two others to the US during the UN General Assembly
Coco Gauff, Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley Lead Forbes 30 Under 30 Sports Class of 2026
From NFL quarterback to tennis star, the 2026 Forbes 30 Under 30 Sports class showcases dominant Black talent and global influence.
27 Science Words That Only People With Above-Average Intelligence Know The Definitions Of
Welcome back to science class. Take a seat.
Nan Yao Named MRS Fellow for Contributions to Materials Science
Nan Yao has been selected for the 2026 class of Materials Research Society Fellows for his distinguished research accomplishments and contributions to the advancement of materials research world-wide.
Full-length Replay: Big East Men's: Temple at Villanova
The Owls (4-3) battle the Wildcats (5-1) in a Big 5 Classic game from Philadelphia.
From Barton to Breakthrough Science
Dr. Taylor Medlock-Lanier, Class of 2020, has spent the last five years in her lab at the University of Georgia surrounded by containers of planarians—tiny flatworms with an extraordinary superpower. Cut one in half, and within a week, it will regrow its missing parts, including its entire brain. She’s been asking these tiny creatures a
Iowa State football recruiting early signing day targets for Cyclones
Dec. 3 is early signing day for college football. Here's a look at which class of 2026 commits can sign early for Iowa State.
Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame Elects Little Rock Volleyball Coach Van Compton
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – One of the most decorated coaches in Little Rock Athletics history is adding another major honor to her résumé. The Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame announced Sunday that Trojan head volleyball coach Van Compton has been elected for induction into the 2026 Class. Compton will be formally inducted on April 10, at Oaklawn in Hot Springs.
$3.5 Million Mindpath Health Data Breach Settlement Gets First Nod
A California Superior Court judge has given preliminary approval to a settlement to resolve litigation against Community Psychiatry Management, LLC, Mindpath Health has agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit stemming from a 2022 breach of its Microsoft Office email environment that exposed the protected health information of almost 194,000 individuals.
Why Your Company Needs a Chief Data, Analytics, and AI Officer
Who should be in charge of data, analytics, and AI? While there are many possible divisions of responsibility and reporting structures, a combined role—the CDAIO (Chief Data, Analytics, and AI Officer)—will best prepare organizations as they plan for AI going forward. To succeed, this role needs a clear mandate that includes owning AI strategy, preparing for a new class of risks, developing the AI tech stack, ensuring the company’s data is ready for AI, creating an AI ready culture, developing talent and partnerships, and generating significant ROI on AI investments. Given the emphasis on business value creation, in most cases CDAIOs should be positioned closer to business functions than to technology operations.
Today's biggest science news: X-class solar flares | Chernobyl fungus | Modern humans interbred with 'hobbits'
Monday, Dec. 1, 2025: Your daily feed of the biggest discoveries and breakthroughs making headlines.
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.
West Ham 0-2 Liverpool
Chris: Disappointed we didn't ask more of a nervous Liverpool team as we weren't totally outclassed. Madness from Paqueta and Bowen needs to do more as captain to shut him down. Michael: Paqueta is an absolute liability and he has cost us on more than one occasion.
Be an inclusive science teacher with these research-informed tips
Making chemistry lessons and practicals more accessible for learners with additional support needs will benefit everyone in your class
Cities put science in the spotlight
When three European cities launch an initiative next year to boost scientific excellence and collaboration, much of the action is likely to take place in public spaces rather than in the laboratory.That is welcome news for Ana Marušić. A medical doctor and professor at the University of Split Medical School in Croatia, Marušić champions close connections between “town and gown” to encourage citizen involvement in research, raise public health awareness and ignite young people’s interest in science. “Responsible research and innovation cannot be done in an ivory tower, answering only the questions that are relevant for scientists,” explains Marušić, who chairs the Department of Research in Biomedicine and Health and leads the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine. “The role of the university is to be a medium for transferring new discoveries in science to society, but also to listen to society about what is important and what is needed.”Three cities united by scienceMarušić’s efforts stand to gain traction through Science Comes to Town (SCTT), a new European project to highlight science’s role in society and strengthen cross-border collaboration in research, innovation and sustainability. With funding from the European Commission, three cities—Split, Brest (in France) and Kiel (in Germany)—plan more than 1,000 public events, workshops and competitions for citizens of all ages, researchers, businesses and policymakers. The year-long project kicks off in Spilt on 20 January with a conference involving partner institutions, community representatives and European policymakers. The three cities may be geographically far apart, but they share much in common. All are located on coasts and are home to top regional research institutions that are part of SCTT. Among the project's partners, the University of Western Brittany in Brest, Kiel University and the University of Split belong to the SEA-EU university alliance, uniting nine European coastal academic institutions to advance research, student exchanges and sustainable development. “These universities have a very strong connection between gown and town,” explains Marušić, who is one of Split’s SCTT ambassadors. “It's very important that these universities are there for the community so that we can learn from each other and grow together.”Tackling Europe’s STEM shortagesSCTT will also reinforce efforts to address Europe’s widening gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Studies show that nearly eight out of ten small- and medium-sized businesses cannot find enough workers with the skills required in advanced computing and artificial intelligence (AI)—hindering initiatives to boost European innovation and competitiveness. In healthcare, the European Commission has estimated a shortfall in medical professionals of 1.2 million, due to fewer young people joining the field and an ageing population that needs more care.Strengthening knowledge and dialogue can also help build trust between scientists and the public at time when disruptive technologies are reshaping research and clinical practice, but are also sparking questions about ethics and accuracy. With experience in the classroom and in clinical epidemiology—a discipline involving monitoring and controlling public health problems—Marušić sees the potential risks of over-reliance on AI and chatbot answers for both research and learning. “AI is a very good tool, but one has to be very critical about it,” she adds. “Delegating brain activities will definitely diminish your neural capacities because you are not developing the circuitry that is important for higher-level cognitive engagement.” She stresses the importance of critical thinking and encourages students to use AI as a researcher’s tool to reinforce rather than supplant human discretion and brainpower.The power of outreachSplit’s experience in bringing scientists and the public together has provided a platform for discussing research ethics and explaining science in simple terms. Local efforts to expand health literacy and awareness have helped reduce cardiovascular disease among women, according to Marušić’s research. The city’s university also hosts events to introduce schoolchildren to science, using hands-on experiments to spark curiosity.Marušić’s own love of science began with an interest in studying molecular biology. “But my parents told me, why don't you study medicine?” she recalls. “I said, OK, why not? And that was the best decision that I made.” Marušić is not a practicing physician, but teaches anatomy and public health. She also co-edits ST-OPEN, an overlay university journal that works on capacity building for research publishing among students and their supervisors. Balancing teaching, research and editorial work, she is a strong advocate for medical studies, urging high school students to consider medicine “because later on it gives you a really wide perspective about human life and about society” as well as many career opportunities.As SCTT prepares to bring science into daily life in 2026, Marušić hopes that it will build permanent bridges between scientists and citizens across Europe. “We can be a showcase for making collaboration with the community stronger to share knowledge, attract young talent and integrate critical and scientific thinking into everyday life,” she explains, adding that "collaborating with businesses to improve cities and communities is also an important aspect of this project."Science|Business, which connects policymakers, academics and industry through its news reporting, analysis and events, is an SCTT partner.
Colgate knocks off Fordham 72-62 at Northern Classic
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Cyber Monday deal on "world-class fitness tracker", the Garmin Forerunner 970 smartwatch just hit a best-ever price on Black Friday weekend
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