SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " THE DAY " 985 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
West Hartford Business Buzz: January 19, 2026 - We-Ha
A round-up of openings, closings, and other news about West Hartford businesses. Business Buzz is sponsored by NBT Bank, and we are very thankful for their support! By Ronni Newton Today is Martin Luther King Day and although it’s a federal holiday and many people have the day off, please note that
Northampton bar faces restricted entertainment license due to noise and safety issues
NORTHAMPTON — Noise complaints and safety concerns at a downtown bar regularly featuring live music and DJs is prompting the License Commission to temporarily restrict the days the business can have entertainment. The commission at its Jan. 7 meeting voted 3-0 to limit the entertainment license for Haze, 24 Main St., to Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays […]
AI answering systems are ‘saving the day’ for New England pizzerias. Customers aren’t so sure.
The artificial receptionists, being used to take orders and field calls, have been met with resistance from some customers who said they can’t get the service they are used to.
Tax docs: Kettering Health execs, church leaders got $3.2M in improper benefits
A number of former Kettering Health executives and board members, along with their family members, received more than $3.2 million in improper “excess benefits” from the hospital from 2016 through 2022, according to hospital tax records recently obtained by the Dayton Daily News.
Two presidential elections, two seismic shifts... (Politics+) : The NPR Politics Podcast
In today's bonus episode, Don Gonyea (national political correspondent) and Deepa Shivaram (White House correspondent) each share the "most" memorable story they've worked on. Don talks about a moment in the 2016 presidential election when he started seeing a key voting group for Democrats shift to then-candidate Donald Trump. Deepa recalls the day President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race and her experience covering Kamala Harris' first campaign rally as the presumptive Democratic nominee. Listen to find out how you can submit a most-type question for us to answer in a future bonus episode! To unlock this and other bonus content, and get sponsor-free listening, sign up for NPR Politics Podcast+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Regular episodes haven't changed and remain available every weekday!
The Best Hobbies for Brain Health Have These 3 Things in Common, Neurologist Says
In TODAY.com's Expert Tip of the Day, a neurologist reveals how to choose a hobby with the most potential brain benefits.
FBI Search Journalist's Home, U.S. Greenland Talks, Mental Health Funding : Up First from NPR
The FBI searches the home of a Washington Post reporter as part of a leak investigation, raising concerns among press advocates about an escalation against press freedom.U.S. talks with Denmark and Greenland end without a deal on Greenland’s future, but a new working group forms as allies push back on President Trump’s security-driven claims.And after widespread confusion and backlash, the Trump administration reverses course and restores roughly $2 billion in funding for mental health and addiction programs nationwide.Want more analysis of the most important news of the day, plus a little fun? Subscribe to the Up First newsletter.Today’s episode of Up First was edited by Emily Kopp, Rebekah Metzler, Mohamad ElBardicy and Alice Woelfle.It was produced by Kaity Kline, Nia Dumas and Christopher Thomas.We get engineering support from Neisha Heinis. And our technical director is Carleigh Strange.Our deputy Executive Producer is Kelley Dickens.
New transfer windows OK'd for hoops, other sports
Changes to the transfer windows in several sports were approved by the Division I Cabinet on Wednesday, most notably shortening and moving back the window in men's and women's basketball to the day after the national championship game.
Trump administration doubles down on ICE tactics following Minneapolis shooting : The NPR Politics Podcast
In the days since an immigration enforcement officer killed Renee Macklin Good in Minneapolis, the Trump administration has doubled down, in terms of both tactics and rhetoric. We discuss how ICE training contributed to the agency's actions in Minnesota and the political reaction to the shooting. This episode: voting correspondent Miles Parks, immigration policy correspondent Ximena Bustillo, and White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez.This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.
This 1 Free Activity Boosts Health More Than a Workout, Therapist Says
In TODAY.com's Expert Tip of the Day, a therapist reveals an important healthy habit that too many of us overlook.
Full-length Replay: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd gives his interesting and authentic opinions on the biggest sports stories of the day.
Foulkes calls for ban on lobbyist donations during R.I. legislative session
The Democratic candidate for governor made the proposal on the day House Speaker Shekarchi is holding a fundraiser at the outset of the legislative session.
2025 NFL Wild Card Weekend Odds: Back Underdog Jaguars, Chargers
Wild Card weekend will be the day of the 'dog, at least according to Geoff Schwartz. Here's where he's putting his money.
Why Washington's Demond Williams returned after $6 million transfer gamble
The day after his audacious announcement to break his contract and transfer, Williams sobered up to the reality he may need the Supreme Court's help to actually pull the move off
Full-length Replay: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd gives authentic opinions on the biggest sports stories of the day.
Marjorie Taylor Greene joins 'The View' after dumping Trump, Congress
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene appeared on "The View" on Jan. 7, after she upset President Donald Trump with her debut on the daytime hit.
Full-length Replay: First Things First
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard and Kevin Wildes offer their opinions on the day's sports stories.
Full-length Replay: First Things First: OT
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, Kevin Wildes and OT anchor Danny Parkins offer their opinions on the day’s biggest sports stories.
Full-length Replay: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd gives his interesting and authentic opinions on the biggest sports stories of the day.
Full-length Replay: First Things First
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard and Kevin Wildes offer their opinions on the day's sports stories.
Papadatos' Buzzer Beater Lands No. 9 Spot On ESPN Sports Center Top-10
Paris Papadatos' buzzer beater against FDU was the No. 9 play on the Sports Center Top-10 Plays of the Day on the late edition early on Monday morning.
Why Highly Gifted Minds Start Their Day Differently—The Morning Habit Science Explains
Ever wondered what happens in the minds of highly gifted individuals during those first sleepy moments of the day? For people with a very high IQ (130 and above), mornings don’t start like everyone else’s. Their minds, ever restless and buzzing, set the tone for how they face the early light—often with a morning habit…
WATCH: Trump says U.S. is 'going to run' Venezuela until transition of power after capturing Maduro
Trump addressed the nation after the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and flew him out of the country in a military operation early in the day that plucked a sitting leader from office.
Full-length Replay: First Things First: OT
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, Kevin Wildes and OT anchor Danny Parkins offer their opinions on the day’s biggest sports stories.
Full-length Replay: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd gives his interesting and authentic opinions on the biggest sports stories of the day.
‘Let 2026 be a year of reckoning’
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
Zohran Mamdani Supporters Celebrate “Politics of Optimism” at His Inauguration
Tens of thousands of New Yorkers braved freezing temperatures and police barricades to be part of Zohran Mamdani’s inauguration as mayor on New Year’s Day. Democracy Now! spoke with many Mamdani supporters, including a high school student and Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, about what the day represented to them, their hopes for the new administration and how it could set a model for progressives across the country. “Organized people will always be more powerful than organized money,” said Diana Moreno, a fellow democratic socialist who is running for Mamdani’s vacant seat in the New York State Assembly.
Full-length Replay: First Things First: OT
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, Kevin Wildes and OT anchor Danny Parkins offer their opinions on the day’s biggest sports stories.
With CIA strike, signs Trump is 'shaping the battlespace' in Venezuela
Trump acknowledged a covert U.S. strike on Venezuelan territory in an interview with a local news outlet on the day after Christmas, setting off a scramble to clarify which target he was talking about.
Ballots, tax returns and other important mail may not get postmarked the day you turn it in, Postal Service warns
If you rely on postmarks when casting your ballot, filing your taxes or paying bills, a new US Postal Service rule makes it clear that you should plan ahead.
Full-length Replay: First Things First: OT
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, Kevin Wildes and OT anchor Danny Parkins offer their opinions on the day’s biggest sports stories.
Last Call for 12.30.25 – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida
A digest of the day's politics and policy while the bartender refreshes your drink.
Burnley 1-3 Newcastle: What Howe and Joelinton said
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe, speaking to BBC's Match of the Day: "We needed to win because we knew we were under pressure. I thought the lads responded really well, it was a really fast start. We scored some really good goals and then, us being us at this present time, we made it difficult for ourselves.
Full-length Replay: First Things First: OT
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, Kevin Wildes and OT anchor Danny Parkins offer their opinions on the day’s biggest sports stories.
Full-length Replay: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd gives authentic opinions on the biggest sports stories of the day.
The deep ocean has a missing link and scientists finally found it
Scientists have uncovered why big predators like sharks spend so much time in the ocean’s twilight zone. The answer lies with mid-sized fish such as the bigscale pomfret, which live deep during the day and rise at night to feed, linking deep and surface food webs. Using satellite tags, researchers tracked these hard-to-study fish for the first time. Their movements shift with water clarity, potentially altering entire ocean food chains.
I'm a senior partner at BCG. I fuel my days playing basketball in the morning and eating cookies.
Amanda Luther, a BCG senior partner and managing director based in Austin, shares her routines for making it through the day.
The science behind why you lose track of time during the holidays
Ever wonder why the days after Christmas feel dreamlike and out of sync? There's a deeper explanation behind the holiday haze. The post The science behind why you lose track of time during the holidays appeared first on Straight Arrow News.
Full-length Replay: First Things First: OT
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, Kevin Wildes and OT anchor Danny Parkins offer their opinions on the day’s biggest sports stories.
Full-length Replay: First Things First: OT
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, Kevin Wildes and OT anchor Danny Parkins offer their opinions on the day’s biggest sports stories.
The Heinz History Center is renaming its sports museum to honor Franco Harris
It’s been 53 years to the day since Franco Harris hauled in the Immaculate Reception and carried the ball into the end zone at Three Rivers Stadium. In...
The future of worldbuilding in entertainment
WEST VIRGINIA (WVNS) – New innovations in entertainment and content creation have changed the way users consume and interface with media. From games and film to music and interactive media, platforms have been leveraged to coincide with one another to paint a broader picture. Creators have said the days of standalone titles are giving way […]
Last Call for 12.22.25 – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida
A digest of the day's politics and policy while the bartender refreshes your drink.
Full-length Replay: First Things First
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard and Kevin Wildes offer their opinions on the day's sports stories.
NASA launches science balloon in Antarctica | Space photo of the day for Dec. 22, 2025
The first scientific balloon flight happened on Dec. 16, 2025.
Mahmood Mamdani’s 'Slow Poison' centers politics of belonging in postcolonial Uganda : NPR's Book of the Day
Mahmood Mamdani — a professor of government at Columbia University and the father of Zohran Mamdani, NYC’s next mayor — has spent decades researching colonialism and its effects on the African continent. His work is both political and personal, influenced by his own experience in Uganda as an exiled citizen deemed nonindigenous by colonial structures. In today’s episode, Mamdani talks to NPR’s Leila Fadel about his newest book, Slow Poison, an account of colonial legacy in Uganda, the rise of the country’s modern autocrats, and the politics of belonging that surround it all.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
12/21 Big Ten Basketball Preview: Oregon vs. Gonzaga
There are six Big Ten games set for the day, mainly involving schools at home hosting mid-majors. The two exceptions, however, include Penn State taking on Pitt in Hershey Pennsylvania and Oregon facing Gonzaga in the Northwest Elite Showdown in Portland. Pittsburgh vs Penn State Nittany Lions The first game of the day involves an […]
Full-length Replay: First Things First: OT
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, Kevin Wildes and OT anchor Danny Parkins offer their opinions on the day’s biggest sports stories.
Entertainment: 6 Ways To Have Last-Minute Holiday Fun
Haunted Holidays at The Rave, city lights tours, The Nutcracker and multiple charity events fill the days leading up to Christmas in Milwaukee.
‘Kast’s victory is a political and ethical earthquake’
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
Taylor Swift gives an ‘early gift’ to fans this holiday season
Apparently dropping the first two episodes of her Disney+ docuseries the day before her birthday wasn’t enough of a gift from Taylor Swift to her fans.
Tax changes, science under fire, luxury on the high seas: Catch up on the day’s stories
CNN’s 5 Things PM brings you the stories you might have missed during your busy day.
STRAYS Short Film Acquired by 7 Palms Entertainment
Strays, a short film about the day in the life of a Pakistani immigrant, is set to be distributed by 7 Palms Entertainment. The film features a cast of Broadway alums, led by James Rana, who starred in The Band's Visit.
Exclusive: House Judiciary Committee expands Jack Smith probe
The House Judiciary Committee is demanding interviews with four current and former Department of Justice officials who were involved in subpoenaing phone records for several members of Congress around the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack, the day before Republicans interview former special counsel Jack Smith.
Chris Hemsworth says caring for his dad with Alzheimer's has reshaped his priorities as a father
Regardless of the experiences and material things that money can offer, at the end of the day, kids "just want your time," Chris Hemsworth said.
Last Call for 12.15.25 – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida
A digest of the day's politics and policy while the bartender refreshes your drink.
‘Consistency at the ballot box isn’t nearly as meaningful to many voters here’
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
'Scary' if Foden still to improve
Former England forward Theo Walcott says that if there is "a lot more to come" for Manchester City's Phil Foden then it could be "scary". Boss Pep Guardiola was critical of Foden in his post-match interview with Match of the Day after their 3-0 win over Crystal Palace and Foden agreed with his manager in his own response to the game. "It was constructive criticism I felt," Walcott said.
New Timing for Stubble Burning in India
Scientists say the seasonal crop fires are burning later in the day than in previous years.
‘Loopholes have won the day’: Cap? What cap? Spending on players growing even after NCAA settlement
Schools are promising coaches millions to build their rosters, far above the revenue-sharing limits put into place this year. Can anything stop the rising salaries?
The day the creator of Tetris met the inventor of the Rubik’s Cube: ‘We have to look for entertainment that challenges us’
Alexey Pajitnov and Ernő Rubik had a conversation with EL PAÍS in Spain, where the video game designer received an honorary award
🚨Breaking news: Mbappé brings big news to Xabi Alonso
The Frenchman has participated in part of the training with the group ahead of the match against Alavés. Undoubtedly, it is one of the great news of the day for Real Madrid and Xabi Alonso. Kylian Mb...
Thirty Years of Onion Politics: Bosnia and Herzegovina on the 30th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement
The Dayton Peace Agreement ended the Bosnian War, establishing the constitutional framework of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It achieved its immediate aim of ending direct violence, yet ended up creating a state apparatus that obstructs social equality and economic sovereignty. This Spotlight argues that the evaluation of its success must take two problems into account: the cementation of ethnic categories as foundational levels of governance and the resulting failure to address or transform war legacies; and the institutionalized international involvement undermining democratic self-determination.
🏆Champions: Huachipato crowned in the 2025 Copa Chile
Huachipato was crowned champion of the 2025 Copa Chile in a thrilling final against Deportes Limache, which was decided by penalties after a dramatic draw. The hero of the day was Carlo Villanueva, wh...
New Software from the Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast Initiative
Eighty-two volunteer teams with the Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast (DEB) Initiative spent the day spread across North America, observing the eclipse with telescopes, collecting a massive dataset of images, and developing software to process it.
Top 5 Entertainment News: From Ranveer Singh's 'Dhurandhar' dominating box office to Joe Jonas struggling to parallel park his car - highlights of the day | Hindi Movie News - The Times of India
Ranveer Singh's blockbuster, 'Dhurandhar', paves the way for a much-anticipated sequel. Meanwhile, 'Akhanda 2' clears its legal challenges, scheduled
Pebble's founder introduces a $75 AI smart ring for recording brief notes with a press of a button
After rebooting the Pebble smartwatch, founder Eric Migicovsky is expanding his company's device lineup with a new smart wearable: an AI-powered smart ring known as Index 01. Named for the finger where the ring is meant to be worn, the new $75 ring is not meant to be a competitor to the always-on, always-listening AI devices, like the AI pendant Friend, but instead offers a way to record quick notes and reminders with a press of a button on the ring's side. AI only comes into play via the open source, speech-to-text, and AI models that run locally on your smartphone, via the open source Pebble mobile app. That is, if the Ring's button is not being pressed, it's not recording. (And this is a press-and-hold gesture, too, which means you can't start the ring's recording and then let go to surreptitiously record a conversation.) You can wear the stainless steel ring while in the shower, washing hands, doing dishes, or in the rain, but you would have to take it off for other water-related activities, like swimming. At launch, it's water-resistant to 1 meter. The ring is also not a fitness tracker or sleep monitor. It doesn't record details about your heart rate or health. And it's not there to be your AI friend. "I'm not trying to build some AI assistant thing," Migicovsky told TechCrunch in an interview. "I build things that solve one main problem, and they solve it really well," he explains. "I think of as external memory for my brain...that's what this is. It's always with you." Plus, the ring has been designed to be highly reliable and privacy-preserving, he says, as all your thoughts are stored on your phone, not in the cloud. There is no subscription. Migicovsky has been wearing the ring for three months now and says he cannot imagine going back to a world where he doesn't always have a memory device with him. "The problem is that, during the day, I get ideas or I remember something, and if I don't write it down that second, I forget it," he says. The ring solves this problem, he adds, without becoming another device you need to charge. "The battery lasts for years," Migicovsky claims. Technically, the ring is said to support roughly 12 to 14 hours of recording. On average, the founder says he uses it 10-20 times per day to record 3-6 second thoughts. At that rate, he'll get about two years of usage. When the ring's battery dies, you can ship it back to the company for recycling. When using Index, you can record up to five minutes of audio, which can be saved to the ring and synced to your phone later. This makes sense for recording briefer, personal thoughts and notes, even when you don't have your phone handy, but it wouldn't work for recording a longer chat, like a presentation, meeting, or in-person interview of some kind. The ring also supports 99+ languages and has a bit of on-device memory, in case you're not in Bluetooth range of your device, where the recording is ultimately saved and transcribed. (The raw audio is retained, too, in case the speech-to-text is garbled due to loud background noise). If you own a Pebble smartwatch or one from another brand, your recorded thought can even appear on the watch's screen so you can verify it's correct. The ring works with Pebble's mobile app, which offers notes and reminders, but can optionally integrate with your phone's calendaring system, too, or other apps, like Notion. And the ring's software is open source, which makes it hackable by the community, the founder points out. Because of its open nature, the ring's button is already programmable. In addition to the press-and-hold gesture, you can program the ring to do other things with a single or double press, like play or pause your music or control the shutter on your phone's camera. You could use it to send a message through the universal chat app Beeper, which Migicovsky also created, or you could add your own voice actions via MCP. A new approach to hardware Migicovsky acknowledges that hardware can be difficult to get right -- as the previous exit of Pebble to Fitbit showed. (Fitbit, too, was later acquired by Google in 2021). "I didn't earn any money during Pebble -- we exited, but it was not a great exit," Migicovsky admits. This year, however, he decided to reboot the Pebble project after Google open sourced the PebbleOS, which opened up the door to new hardware. With his new company, Core Devices, Migicovsky plans to do things differently. Still, the founder doesn't regret his previous choices, he clarifies. "I wouldn't have gone back and changed anything. I loved what we built. I loved what we did. I love the company that we built, but it's not the only way to build a company," he told TechCrunch. " And, speaking as an ex-YC partner, there are -- there's a time and a place for building a venture-backed startup. Some companies are phenomenal when they raise money and build a big team, and I tried that...I think what I'm doing now is trying an alternative path, which is start from profitability," he says. The new company is a small team of five, self-funded, and focused on sustainability. So far, Core Devices has shipped the Pebble 2 Duo smartwatch with a black-and-white display. Its first run sold out, and the company is now preparing to ship the upgraded version, the Pebble Time 2. The newer device, which has seen 25,000 pre-orders, is a stainless steel watch with a larger, color e-ink screen. As for the Index 01, the ring's pre-order offer ends in March 2026. After that, the price increases to $99. It currently comes in silver, polished gold, and matte black and works with iOS and Android devices. Customers can select from eight ring sizes and three colors.
Full-length Replay: First Things First: OT
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, Kevin Wildes and OT anchor Danny Parkins offer their opinions on the day’s biggest sports stories.
Full-length Replay: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd gives his interesting and authentic opinions on the biggest sports stories of the day.
Full-length Replay: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd gives authentic opinions on the biggest sports stories of the day.
Top 5 Entertainment News: From Ranveer Singh's 'Dhurandhar' receiving praise to Nandamuri Balakrishna's 'Akhanda 2' getting postponed indefinitely, here are the buzzworthy highlights of the day | - The Times of India
On December 5, 2025, audiences were captivated by Ranveer Singh's 'Dhurandhar,' which triumphed at the box office and left fans raving about its lengt
No. 1 Nail Health Red Flag Never to Ignore, According to a Dermatologist
In TODAY.com's Expert Tip of the Day, a dermatologist shares an often overlooked nail symptom that can be a sign of a serious underlying issue.
Full-length Replay: First Things First: OT
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, Kevin Wildes and OT anchor Danny Parkins offer their opinions on the day’s biggest sports stories.
Top 5 Entertainment News: From rising buzz around 'Dhurandhar' ahead of its release to reports of Scarlett Johansson in talks to join the 'Batman 2' cast - headlines of the day | Hindi Movie News - The Times of India
On December 4, 2025, the entertainment world erupted with excitement as Ranveer Singh's highly anticipated film 'Dhurandhar' gained momentum thanks to
Arsenal's 'beautiful' line-up change
Match of the Day pundit Danny Murphy says Arsenal's squad depth is "remarkable" after Brentford struggled to contain the right side of their attack in the 2-0 win on Wednesday: "It's becoming remarkable now how good their squad is because [Jurrien} Timber and [Bukayo] Saka play on the right hand side normally, which is arguably one of the best combinations down the right side in Europe. "Then they bring in [Ben] White and [Noni] Madueke, who looked like they have played together for seasons. It was a beautiful combination.
Abby Phillip’s 'A Dream Deferred' chronicles Jesse Jackson’s rise to political esteem : NPR's Book of the Day
Rev. Jesse Jackson is well-known as an icon of the American Civil Rights Movement, a protégé of Martin Luther King Jr., and a steadfast activist — but he has quite a past in electoral politics, too. A Dream Deferred charts Jackson’s rise to political prominence during his 1984 and 1988 presidential campaigns, as the first major Black candidate for U.S. president. In today’s episode, author and CNN anchor Abby Phillip talks with NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe about her debut biography, and how Jackson himself approached politics and activism with separate mindsets.To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday
Full-length Replay: First Things First: OT
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard, Kevin Wildes and OT anchor Danny Parkins offer their opinions on the day’s biggest sports stories.
Full-length Replay: First Things First
Nick Wright, Chris Broussard and Kevin Wildes offer their opinions on the day's sports stories.
Top 5 Entertainment News: From Ranveer Singh apologizing for recreating the 'Kantara' sequence to Ajith Kumar visiting Batu Caves in Malaysia - buzzworthy stories of the day | - The Times of India
In a heartfelt moment, Ranveer Singh extended an apology for his portrayal in 'Kantara' during the IFFI event, taking the time to celebrate Rishabh Sh
Last Call for 12.1.25 – A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida
A digest of the day's politics and policy while the bartender refreshes your drink.
Full-length Replay: The Herd with Colin Cowherd
Colin Cowherd gives his interesting and authentic opinions on the biggest sports stories of the day.
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.
Intensity And Desire Won The Day For Sunderland On Saturday
“This was Sunderland of 2025 — gutsy, unpredictable, and utterly unmissable”, writes Phil West