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Celebrating Women in Science Day 2026 at CERN
Every year, on 11 February, CERN celebrates the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. In an effort to amplify diverse voices in STEM, six women scientists from CERN open up about their careers and the lessons they hope to pass on to the next generation. Francesca is an Italian biomedical engineer pursuing her PhD at CERN, working in the robotics team of the Beams Department. She’s currently working on the MARCHESE project, in affiliation with Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, focusing on contactless monitoring of physiological parameters. Despite choosing a scientific career and often volunteering in scientific outreach initiatives, Francesca continues to nurture her passion for the humanities and arts. “I firmly believe that collaboration and inclusion are the right paths to improve the world together. I’m driven by a strong curiosity about everything around me.” Berare is a Turkish experimental physicist who worked with the ATLAS experiment during her MSc and PhD on searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. During her PhD, she became a Support Scientist for the Beamline for Schools (BL4S) competition, which marked the beginning of her journey combining research with science communication. She now works for both BL4S and ELISA, the mini proton accelerator at CERN’s Science Gateway. She fondly remembers the moment when the BL4S 2022 winners arrived at the experimental zone: “I felt incredibly lucky to share my passion with young, curious and really passionate people. We spent two weeks of beam time together watching their ideas turn into reality. All the intricate details of running an experiment, we accomplished them as a team.” Mia is a Canadian research fellow in the Accelerator Systems Department, working on beam developments for fundamental physics with radioactive molecules. Mia pursued a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering before moving to Vancouver for a master’s degree in engineering physics. Her interest in radioactive ion beam production brought her to CERN, where she studied actinide beams for three years as a PhD student in the Marie Curie European Training network “LISA” (Laser Ionisation and Spectroscopy of Actinides) at ISOLDE – a facility at CERN where scientists study the properties of atomic nuclei, with further applications in fundamental studies, astrophysics, and material and life sciences. Laura is a German mechanical engineer at CERN working on research and development to produce cavities for future accelerators. She studied mechanical and aerospace engineering at the Technical University of Munich. She joined CERN four years ago as a technical student for her master’s thesis and continued as a fellow working on collimators. Laura says that “as a child, I took part in girls’ day initiatives, which sparked my fascination for astrophysics and engineering. Later, it felt natural for me to give something back by organising workshops for young students to make STEM seem less intimidating and more accessible.” She particularly enjoys being close to the CERN Main Workshop and understanding how design ideas become real components. Paraskevi is a Greek physicist working at CERN’s HiRadMat (High-Radiation to Materials) facility, designed to deliver high-intensity beams to an irradiation area where material samples, as well as accelerator component assemblies, can be tested. She studied physics at NKUA, specialising in nuclear and particle physics, and is now pursuing her PhD at HiRadMat in collaboration with the University of Liverpool, studying novel materials for high-intensity beam diagnostics. “Continuous learning is one of my biggest motivators, and I am looking forward to exploring the limits of our knowledge on beam-material interactions,” says Paraskevi. Silvia is a Spanish physicist and deputy project manager for the Muon Drift Tube of the CMS detector, a general-purpose detector at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). She started her career at CERN more than 20 years ago as a technical student, working on prototypes of the first dipoles for the LHC. “My first motivation came in high school, from my teacher,” says Silvia about what made her pursue a career in STEM. “My favourite part about my job is learning. You can learn something new every day.” In parallel to this initiative, like every year since 2017, from 2 to 6 February 66 women scientists and engineers visited schools in Geneva, Switzerland, and in the Haute-Savoie and Ain regions of France to meet with students. Organised in collaboration with CERN, the University of Geneva, EPFL, LAPP and LAPTh, this event allowed more than 4200 students between 6 and 17 years old to meet a woman scientist, discuss their profession and career path, ask questions and participate in classroom activities.
The science behind love at first sight
Scientists are exploring how your brain and body react in the first seconds of attraction.
Is a kiss just a kiss? Exploring the art and science behind smooches
A single kiss can leave a lasting impression, whether it's in real life or on the silver screen. But why, exactly?
Sources: Sacramento State making aggressive effort to join FBS league, proposing an eight-figure entry fee
While many FBS leagues have rebuffed the proposal — the Mountain West and the Pac-12 among them — other league executives are exploring the possibility.
Sisters In Science: How One UMBC Lab Kindled A Family Tradition Of Discovery - UMBC: University Of Maryland, Baltimore County
On the fourth floor of UMBC’s Meyerhoff Chemistry Building, where students are hard at work exploring the intricacies of RNA molecules that may hold the...
Exploring the science of sound with the Michigan Science Center
Could singing help people with MS? Louisiana patients find connection in a choir
Music activates multiple parts of the brain. For people with MS, a choir is exploring what singing together can offer.
Exploring the Chiefs’ options for the defensive line this offseason
Here is a preview of Kansas City’s decision-making for the defensive line.
MIT's new brain tool could finally explain consciousness
Scientists still don’t know how the brain turns physical activity into thoughts, feelings, and awareness—but a powerful new tool may help crack the mystery. Researchers at MIT are exploring transcranial focused ultrasound, a noninvasive technology that can precisely stimulate deep regions of the brain that were previously off-limits. In a new “roadmap” paper, they explain how this method could finally let scientists test cause-and-effect in consciousness research, not just observe correlations.
Roanoke Mayor Cobb pitches entertainment district as next chapter for Berglund Center
ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) –Roanoke Mayor Joe Cobb says an entertainment district could represent a bold step for Roanoke’s future, building on the city’s history of economic development through public-private partnerships and long-term investment. Cobb says Roanoke has often advanced by exploring new ideas, weighing multiple options and working collaboratively to strengthen the city and the […]
Scenario Planning’s Role in Business Strategy
Scenario planning helps businesses navigate uncertainty by exploring potential futures and build resilience by preparing to respond effectively.
HHS exploring how to bolster medical imaging exchange across healthcare ecosystem
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology recently released a call for public comment on the work of radiologists
Report: Apple 'exploring' clamshell foldable iPhone as potential follow-up model
In today’s Power On newsletter from Mark Gurman, an interesting new possibility was shared for the iPhone lineup: a smaller,...
Microsoft explores bringing Linux-like top menu bar to Windows 11 with new PowerToys feature
Microsoft's PowerToys team is exploring a new feature that would add a menu bar to the top of the Windows desktop, offering power user shortcuts similar to the menu bar on a Mac or Linux distro.
Are men being misled over testosterone?
In part one of a miniseries exploring the popularity of testosterone, Madeleine Finlay hears from Professor Channa Jayasena of Imperial College London, who is chair of the Society for Endocrinology, about how this craze is manifesting in NHS clinics, and from ‘Sam’ who tells Madeleine about his own journey with the hormone
Yes, romance & fantasy novels are political. : It's Been a Minute
How do romantic tropes and fantasies impact how you understand politics?You might be a fan of Romantic Fantasy, or as the internet calls it: Romantasy. Even if you're not, you would recognize the tradwives or fascism. Romantasies combine supernatural characters and plotlines with the rush of a whirlwind romance novel, and, in this episode, we're exploring how the politics of some of these books have an effect on politics in the real world.Brittany is joined by Netta Baker, Advanced Instructor of English at Virginia Tech, and Princess Weekes, video essayist and online pop culture critic. They get into how this genre demolishes misogyny while reinforcing conservative politics.Support Public Media. Join NPR Plus.Follow Brittany Luse on Instagram: @bmluseFor handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
NBA trade rumors: Knicks eye Jrue Holiday, Lakers exploring options
The latest rumors and rumblings from around the league with just over a week until the trade deadline
From war damage to heart repair: ERC grantees supported to turn their science into practice
The European Research Council (ERC) has published the outcomes of the last 2025 round of its Proof of Concept Grants. In this round, 136 grantees will each receive €150 000, supporting them in exploring how their scientific results can move towards practical application or early commercial use. With these awards, the total number of Proof of Concept Grants under the ERC 2025 Work Programme reached 300, representing an overall budget of €45 million. The scheme is funded under Horizon Europe, the EU’s framework programme for research and innovation.
HDUs help deliver quality and cost improvements, Medicaid leaders say
Melissa Kotrys of the Contexture health information exchange previews her HIMSS26 panel session exploring how health data utility capabilities support Medicaid and public health objectives.
Lawmakers exploring options for DHS bill in critical week for government funding talks
Senate Democrats and Republicans are weighing how to move forward on funding the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies after another deadly shooting by a federal officer in Minneapolis, according to sources familiar with the matter.
MPH student takes an interdisciplinary approach to climate-related health inequities
Sanchita Gera, MPH ’26, is exploring how social and environmental factors outside the hospital walls affect some patients’ health more than others.
Science Pub: Cyborg Jellies Exploring Our Oceans
From shark tracking to oil spill mapping, marine research requires unique tools to gather data. In this free public talk,
City of San Antonio looking into 911 mental health option
The city, Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council, and the Center for Health Care Services are exploring a pilot program to help triage the mental health calls that come through the 911 system, possibly handling “low-acuity” calls over the phone, without having to dispatch emergency response.
Brewing Better Health at the School of Public Health
A cup of coffee sparks meaningful conversation in a new University of Nevada, Reno School of Public Health video series exploring trust, connection and the future of public health.
Exploring health consequences of Asthma-COPD overlap syndrome in a national study
Scientific Reports - Exploring health consequences of Asthma-COPD overlap syndrome in a national study
Decades of suffering: Long-term mental health outcomes of Kurdish chemical gas attacks
Dr. Ibrahim Mohammed is a clinical psychologist and researcher specializing in trauma, somatic symptoms, and psychopathology in conflict-affected populations. He has worked for over a decade with survivors of massacres in the Kurdistan Region, integrating clinical practice with research. He is also a lecturer at the Institute of Psychotherapy and Psychotraumatology at the University of Duhok. His current research focuses on validating psychological instruments for Kurdish communities and exploring genetic and phenomic factors related to trauma-related disorders. In a new study in Frontiers in Psychiatry, he and colleagues showed exceptionally high levels of trauma among survivors of a notorious atrocity: the 1988 chemical attack on Halabja in Kurdistan. In this editorial, he summarizes their findings.
Exploring the Eclipse! Early Lorwyn Standouts
The MTG Hero looks at Lorwyn Eclipsed and discusses the early standouts, impact predictions and deck ideas! Don't miss it!
Video: Why 'basic science' is the foundation of innovation
At first glance, some scientific research can seem, well, impractical. When physicists began exploring the strange, subatomic world of quantum mechanics a century ago, they weren't trying to build better ...
St. Louis Science Center cancels MLK Day showcase, halts YES teen program
One month ago today, the Saint Louis Science Center convened a meeting of staff assigned to its Community Science program—and then informed all of them they were being let go, effective immediately. The staffers supervised the science center’s long-running Youth Exploring Science program, better known as YES, which supports local students from underserved communities with […]
Dubai’s DWTC, Informa Said to Eye Listing Joint Events Business
Dubai World Trade Centre and the UK’s Informa Group are exploring a listing of a joint events business that’s expected to combine some of the emirate’s most prominent exhibitions and conferences.
Google is exploring a much better way to build batteries into phones
Less glue = easier repairs.
Apple's Foldable iPhone Rumored to Be Built With Liquid Metal and Improved Titanium
Apple is planning to use advanced liquid metal and improved titanium alloys for its first foldable iPhone, according to new supply-chain information. According to the Korean Naver user known as "yeux1122," citing a material company source, the hinge used in Apple's first foldable iPhone will be made from liquid metal, an "amorphous" material Apple has been exploring for over 15 years.
HSBC Is Said to Consider Selling Singapore Insurance Business
HSBC Holdings Plc is exploring options for its insurance unit in Singapore, including a sale, people familiar with the matter said, following other business revamps globally under Chief Executive Officer Georges Elhedery.
The four paths forward for US scientists in 2026
US science is worth fighting for, but so are the science projects and scientists denied opportunities. Here are 4 paths all worth exploring.
Do cats really hate aluminium foil? What makes them startle and what science says | - The Times of India
Trending News: Discover the science behind why cats are startled by aluminium foil, exploring their sensory reactions, and effective deterrents for keeping them off countertops.
Can changing your environment improve your health? Author explains at library event
Julia Hotz brings global research on social prescribing to Cuyahoga County Public Library's free virtual program exploring alternative treatments.
Apple Reportedly Exploring Multispectral Imaging for Future iPhones
Apple is exploring multispectral imaging technology for future iPhone cameras that could improve Visual Intelligence, enhance material detection, and boost image processing, according to a new supply chain rumor out of China. In a post on Weibo, leaker Digital Chat Station said Apple is currently evaluating components related to multispectral imaging within the supply chain, but cautioned that formal testing has not yet begun, suggesting the technology remains at an exploratory stage.
Salina Selected For Science on Screen Funding
The Salina Art Center Cinema has been selected as a recipient of the nationally recognized Science on Screen grant program. According to the organization, the Art Center Cinema is one of just 41 independent cinemas, museums, and community organizations nationwide awarded funding this year to present film screenings paired with expert-led discussions exploring science, technology, […]
Exploring Area15’s new interactive entertainment offerings
Area15 introduced us to fall’s attraction of the season, Universal Horror Unleashed, but even more experiences have rolled out since then.
Innovation & Tech Today Releases Volume 9, Issue 5: Gaming, Entertainment, and Global Innovation
Innovation & Tech Today releases Volume 9, Issue 5 exploring gaming, entertainment and global innovation shaping culture, industry, and future technology. Volume 9, Issue 5 highlights the breakthroughs shaping gaming, entertainment, and global innovation. This issue showcases how technology is driving progress across industries worldwide.” — Jon Stone, Managing Editor at I&T Today DENVER, CO, […]
Innovation & Tech Today Releases Volume 9, Issue 5: Gaming, Entertainment, and Global Innovation
Innovation & Tech Today releases Volume 9, Issue 5 exploring gaming, entertainment and global innovation shaping culture, industry, and future technology. Volume 9, Issue 5 highlights the breakthroughs shaping gaming, entertainment, and global innovation. This issue showcases how technology is driving progress across industries worldwide.” — Jon Stone, Managing Editor at I&T Today DENVER, CO, […]
Innovation & Tech Today Releases Volume 9, Issue 5: Gaming, Entertainment, and Global Innovation
Innovation & Tech Today releases Volume 9, Issue 5 exploring gaming, entertainment and global innovation shaping culture, industry, and future technology. Volume 9, Issue 5 highlights the breakthroughs shaping gaming, entertainment, and global innovation. This issue showcases how technology is driving progress across industries worldwide.” — Jon Stone, Managing Editor at I&T Today DENVER, CO, […]
Editors Pick: Sense, Nonsense and Science Columns
Seed World Europe features the columns of Dr. Joe Schwarcz, Director of McGill University’s Office for Science and Society, for readers who appreciate science with clarity, curiosity, and wit. Known for demystifying chemistry and challenging misinformation, Joe brings an engaging, no-nonsense voice to topics spanning food, biotechnology, health claims, and the science behind everyday phenomena. Each column helps readers separate evidence from hype while exploring how science shapes our world—and the seed sector.
From avocado toast to third spaces: Exploring Gainesville’s resilient small business community
From home bakeries to hat-making to third spaces, Gainesville’s small business scene thrives on passion and perseverance. Owners were motivated by their visions and dreams. And what they found was a supportive local community.
Lawmakers weigh impeachment articles for Bondi over Epstein file omissions
Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna said he and Republican Rep. Thomas Massie were “exploring all options” for forcing more disclosures, including by pursuing “the impeachment of people at Justice.”
Life beyond Earth? Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock on the mysteries of space
Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock is a space scientist and science educator who has worked on a number of instruments that are revolutionising our view of the cosmos, including the James Webb Space Telescope. This year she will be giving the Royal Institution Christmas lectures, Britain’s most prestigious public science lectures, in which she will be exploring some of the big questions space science still has to answer.
Redding unveils largest entertainment zone in state, boosting local business
Downtown Redding is now home to the largest entertainment zone in California, allowing people to sip on some alcohol while exploring downtown.
Redding unveils largest entertainment zone in state, boosting local business
Downtown Redding is now home to the largest entertainment zone in California, allowing people to sip on some alcohol while exploring downtown.
The impact of the EU's CBAM on business and the carbon-pricing landscape
With the EU's CBAM about to come into full effect, other jurisdictions around the world are exploring introducing border carbon adjustments of their own.
The biggest scientific breakthroughs of the last 25 years—and a few to watch
From decoding the human genome to exploring the universe, science has made huge strides in the 21st century.
Tomb Raider Co-Creator Doesn't Seem Too Impressed With Legacy Of Atlantis
"Personally I'd prefer exploring new lost worlds than another remake/remaster/reimagining."
Science needs contrarians, and contrarians need support
Institute of Quantitative Social Science initiative tailored to researchers exploring provocative ideas.
Does college sports need a CBA? Some ADs are starting to think so
A growing number of athletic directors say they are interested in exploring a once-unthinkable option.
Scientists are turning Earth into a giant detector for hidden forces shaping our Universe
SQUIRE aims to detect exotic spin-dependent interactions using quantum sensors deployed in space, where speed and environmental conditions vastly improve sensitivity. Orbiting sensors tap into Earth’s enormous natural polarized spin source and benefit from low-noise periodic signal modulation. A robust prototype with advanced noise suppression and radiation-hardened engineering now meets the requirements for space operation. The long-term goal is a powerful space-ground network capable of exploring dark matter and other beyond-Standard-Model phenomena.
Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU): Exploring Valuation After Strong 3-Month Share Price Rally
Brookfield Business Partners (BBU) has been quietly rewarding patient investors, with the stock up around 6% this month and more than 30% over the past 3 months, despite posting a modest net loss. See our latest analysis for Brookfield Business Partners. Zooming out, Brookfield Business Partners’ recent 7 day share price return of nearly 8% builds on strong year to date momentum. Its 3 year total shareholder return above 100% shows that patient holders have been well compensated for the...
AFTD Grantee Leads Basic Science Study Exploring Role of Protein in Tau-Based Disorders like CBD
A recent study examines chromogranin A in tau protein disorders, expanding our foundational knowledge of these forms of FTD.
Exploring Denmark’s Tardigrade Fauna through Citizen Science
In a groundbreaking study that intertwines the realms of citizen science and systematic biology, researchers have successfully unveiled an intricate tapestry of tardigrade fauna residing in Danish cryptogams. Tardigrades, or “water bears,” are microscopic, water-dwelling ani
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.