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B.3 Living With a Star Science Clarification Regarding Interagency Awards
B.3 Living With a Star Science (LWS) emphasizes the science necessary to understand those aspects of the coupled Sun-Earth system that affect life and
Health savings accounts, backed by GOP, cover fancy saunas but not insurance premiums or formula
Trump and some Republicans are pitching the accounts as an alternative to expiring enhanced federal subsidies for the Affordable Care Act.
AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. Transfers the Majority of its Equity Investment in Hycroft Mining Holding Corporation to Sprott Mining for a Net Consideration of $24.1 million
AMC converted the majority of its Hycroft investment into cash, receiving an amount approximately equal to the original capital invested in…...
Delayed care to two Black pregnant women highlights maternal health disparities
Two pregnant Black women recently faced alarming neglect at hospitals in Indiana and Texas, highlighting racial disparities in maternal care.
Chris Henry Jr. commits to Ohio State: 5-star WR picks Buckeyes despite push from Oregon
Ohio State held on to another jewel in its 2026 recruiting class Friday
Pallone Welcomes Health Board Move To Defer Decision That Would Close Long Branch’s Hospital
U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-6) today welcomed the decision by the State Health Planning Board last night to defer their decision to issue a recommendation on the closure of Monmouth Medical Center (MMC) hospital in Long Branch. The decision by the Board to postpone issuing their final recommendation comes after the State’s final hearing[...]
The top 10 Capital Region business stories of 2025
1. The arena drama Community dreams of a sparkling new arena are looking more like a Netflix drama than a construction project. A coalition backing the project is pushing forward with plans for a key part of a billion-dollar entertainment district that pairs neatly with the big ideas in Plan Baton Rouge III. But the […]
U.S. cities pitch to host worlds in Olympic sports
Officials from a dozen U.S. cities visited Lausanne, Switzerland, to show that they want to host more world championships and top events in Olympic sports.
U.S. cities come to home of Olympic sports to pitch hosting future world championships
LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Sports officials from a dozen United States cities went to the heart of the Olympic family this week to show their country wants to host more world championships and top…
A Hospital Was Slated To Open in 2025. Amid a Legal Battle, It’s Still a Field of Dirt.
By Andrew Jones | KFF Health News Madison County, tucked in the mountains of western North Carolina, has no hospital and just three ambulances serving its roughly 22,000 people. The ambulances frequently travel back and forth to Mission Hospital in Asheville, the largest and most central hospital in ...
Caitlin Clark enjoys lucrative year despite injury woes
Despite Caitlin Clark's injury-plagued 2025 WNBA season, the Iowa women's basketball legend still hauled in a lucrative year through her endorsements.
Riverside Health Celebrates Ribbon-Cutting for Riverside Smithfield Hospital Ahead of Opening in Early January 2026
Riverside Smithfield Hospital will join the Riverside network of four additional acute care facilities in early January 2026
A New York to Scotland flight got all the way across the Atlantic before diverting to Ireland
Delta Air Lines Flight 208 from New York to Edinburgh diverted to Dublin, after the Scottish capital's airport halted flights due to an IT issue.
Q&A: Can the federal Rural Health Transformation Fund save Ohio's rural hospitals?
Ohio's proposal for a share of the $50 billion federal fund looks promising, local health experts say, but the money may not be enough to make up for rural hospitals' financial struggles.
Google’s Year in Search 2025: Cricket, IPL teams among trends and most-searched sports topics
Asia Cup, ICC Champions Trophy, Women’s Cricket World Cup and two IPL teams, Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals, were among the top trends in Google’s Year in Search 2025.
SJC weighs whether Pittsfield board could act on cell tower health complaints under federal limits
The case arises from years of complaints by residents who report experiencing headaches, dizziness, nausea, insomnia, skin rashes, palpitations and tinnitus since the tower began operating in 2020.
Who Gets to Mourn? Rethinking Grief, Resistance and the Everyday Politics of Peace in Colombia
What does it mean to resist when there are no slogans, no marches, no chants, only grief? This piece argues that the Women, Peace and Security agenda—despite its historic contributions—has often reduced women’s political agency to visibility, voice, and institutional participation. A feminist lens invites us to look beyond this framing and recognise the everyday, intimate, and affective forms of resistance through which women remember the dead, survive violence, and hold broken communities together.
Over a third of animals lost in test deep sea mining
The findings contribute to a controversial debate that pits green technology against the environment.
Sony's All-In on Exciting PS5 Action RPG The God Slayer, Despite an Xbox Version Existing
An unusual re-reveal
Warriors epic comeback vs. Sixers falls short in heartbreaking fashion
Despite erasing a 24 point deficit, the Warriors' thrilling comeback in Philadelphia came up short in heartbreaking fashion.
Bengals-Bills Preview
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) Impressed as Sean McDermott was regarding Buffalo’s dominance against Pittsburgh, the Bills coach knows last weekend’s win means little if Buffalo follows it up with a dud in hosting the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.
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...
As vaccination rates fall among Pittsburgh-area school-aged children, health officials sound alarm
Massie, Paul cosponsor Venezuela war powers resolutions
Several Kentucky lawmakers on Capitol Hill are opposing the Trump administration's missile strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats.
Science is a family affair for this ASU grad
Phoenix native Christina Flynn was taking one of her master’s degree final exams when she went into labor with her son — a child who would ultimately help shape her academic journey. She managed to complete the exam before heading to the hospital, a moment that perfectly reflects an academic journey shaped by personal experiences and unwavering determination.
8 Tips for Mindful Holiday Eating - NYC Health + Hospitals
Give yourself and your loved ones the gift of wellness this holiday season with expert tips on holiday eating.
Governor’s office responds to situation at North Star Health Alliance
Says hospital system needs to provide "basic information"
Republican pitches health savings accounts 'on steroids' that Americans could use to buy insurance
Missouri Republican Rep. Eric Burlison envisions a super HSA that would let users buy health insurance and unprocessed foods with pre-tax dollars from employers.
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Who is Brian Cole, the DC pipe bomb suspect?
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.
Report shows California health care jobs pay, but waitlists clog college on-ramp
Community college programs promise mobility — but demand far exceeds capacity, the PPIC finds.
Alternate proteins from the same gene contribute differently to health and rare disease
MIT Whitehead Institute research helps identify genetic mutations that may contribute to rare diseases, by studying when and how single genes produce multiple versions of proteins. The work includes case studies of affected patients at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Local Brooklyn Artist Eddie Quan Photo Exhibition Debuts at NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health - NYC Health + Hospitals
Brooklyn, NY — NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health is hosting a photo exhibition of local Brooklyn artist, photographer, and printmaker Eddie
'Not the time to lose our heads'
Burnley forward Lyle Foster says the team must draw confidence from their performance against Crystal Palace, despite slipping to a fifth consecutive Premier League defeat. Speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire, Foster stressed the importance of staying calm and maintaining belief during a difficult run. "After last night, we can take a lot of confidence and strength from the performance we have given," Foster said.
These are the absolute best TV shows of 2025
From "The Pitt" to "Andor" to "Adolescence," these 10 TV shows took our breath away in 2025.
China’s unlikely new entertainment capital
Zhengzhou is emerging as the Hollywood of micro-dramas
Florida dives into the redistricting arms race despite political and legal hurdles
Florida Republicans will need to navigate anti-gerrymandering rules approved by voters and internal divisions over the map-drawing process.
Suspect arrested in January 2021 D.C. pipe bomb case
The bombs were planted outside the Republican and Democratic national party headquarters in Washington, D.C, on the eve of the January 6 siege on the Capitol.
FBI makes arrest in DC pipe bomber investigation
The FBI arrested a person Thursday who investigators believe planted pipe bombs near the Republican and Democratic National Committee headquarters the night before the 2021 US Capitol riot.
From Crops to Capital: Training New Farmers in Business Basics
UConn Extension provides new and beginning farmers with resources to ensure their businesses grow and thrive
ECU Health Partners With Artisight to Bring Smart Hospital Technology to Eastern North Carolina
GREENVILLE, N.C. & CHICAGO, December 04, 2025--ECU Health, a rural health system serving 29 counties in eastern North Carolina, has partnered with Artisight to introduce Smart Hospital technology across its facilities, starting with five hospitals and expanding to more in the coming year. This new platform will make telehealth services more efficient by expanding specialized care from ECU Health Medical Center to patients in ECU Health hospitals across eastern North Carolina and improve the expe
'Health desert' in rural mid-Missouri sees hope with commitment from Boone Health
Boone Health's commitment to bring emergency care back to Audrain County brings hope for those who felt left behind after the closure of Audrain Community Hospital in 2022.
Japan’s Takaichi is winning fans not with politics but with her style and ‘work, work, work’ mantra
As the nation’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi has won admiration as a new type of role model for women, despite her hard-line conservative policies.
Sonny Milano with a Goal vs. San Jose Sharks
Sonny Milano (Washington Capitals) with a Goal vs. San Jose Sharks, 12/03/2025
Idaho judge rules state can cut mental health service that many warn risks public safety
The cut to a critical Idaho Medicaid mental health service for people with severe mental illness took effect Monday, Magellan says.
Through the lens: Four decades of arts & entertainment with photojournalist Roger Mastroianni
For more than 40 years, photojournalist Roger Mastroianni has chronicled Cleveland's arts, healthcare, and corporate landscapes—capturing everything from Cleveland Orchestra performances to hospital operating rooms.
The Tennessee 'waltz': Republicans and Democrats dance around special election results meaning
Tennessee special election results spark debate over 2026 midterms as Republicans maintain House seat despite heavy Democratic spending and efforts.
Is There Now an Opportunity in PENN Entertainment After Steep 5 Year Share Price Decline?
Wondering if PENN Entertainment’s beaten down share price is a hidden bargain or a value trap? This article will walk through the numbers with you, step by step. Despite some big swings over the last few years, PENN now trades around $14.69, with returns of -0.3% over 7 days, -11.6% over 30 days, -23.6% year to date, and a steep -33.0% over the last year that has clearly shifted market sentiment. Those declines sit on top of an even tougher long term picture, with shares down -55.9% over 3...
Texas health agency's executive commissioner retiring
Young, who spent decades in state government, will step down on Jan. 2. Gov. Greg Abbott will pick a successor.
Let’s make a deal: UTC business students simulate sales meetings
Students in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga recently practiced real-world sales pitches to build confidence and develop professional skills. Lecturer Libby Fakier organized the week-long exercise to practice pitches through a simulated meeting.
Hopes fade in Congress for a health care deal before premiums are expected to soar
Congress has less than a month before health insurance premiums are set to spike for millions of Americans, but hopes of a deal to mitigate the rising costs have made little progress. NBC News' Sahil Kapur reports on the pessimism on Capitol Hill over a deal being reached.
Delayed care to 2 Black pregnant women highlights maternal health disparities
Two pregnant Black women nearly 1,000 miles apart were ready to do what many do every day: welcome new bundles of joy, and just before the start of the holiday season. Instead, the health of both women and their babies was put at risk after hospital staff did not immediately provide the needed care.
The Hollywood Reporter’s 100 Most Powerful Women in Entertainment 2025
After another wild year for the industry, the women making the biggest impact across film and television reveal their predictions for Hollywood 2026, discuss the perks and pains of AI and even pitch their dream storylines for The Studio.
Hawley pitches new health care tax plan
The Missouri Republican is proposing making it easier for more tax payers to deduct medical expenses — and has pitched Donald Trump on the idea.
Flu shot protects against new variant, Michigan health officials warn
Michigan's chief medical executive says the vaccine 'reduces severe complications' of the flu, including hospitalization.
Steam, The Epic Games Store, And The Humble Store Refuse To Sell Indie Horror Game Horses
The controversial game has been pulled from several major storefronts, despite the developer's attempt to adjust its content.
Idaho sheriffs worry Medicaid mental health cuts pose ‘significant public-safety concern’
The Idaho Sheriffs' Association warned elected officials of public safety risks from cuts to Medicaid mental illness services.
Business entrepreneurs present pitches to public Friday
The gathering will not exactly be the long-running “Shark Tank” television show, yet business entrepreneurs, supporters or investors are invited to attend a presentation of business pitches during the High Country Accelerator Boat Launch Celebration...
Protesters pack normally quiet Atrium Health hospital authority meeting
With signs and medical devices, the protesters were pressing Atrium Health to honor affordable housing promises.
Pittsburgh’s People of Year 2025
Whatever may be happening at the national level, progressives in Pittsburgh are undeterred. The local Democratic Party has shored up and built on its base. Prominent left-leaning candidates now hold office everywhere from the county to Congress. Following November’s blue wave election, high off-year turnout propelled even more local progressives into office. Among their number […]
Shultz named CEO of Radial Entertainment
Oaktree Capital Management, parent company of Radial Entertainment, the newly formed global entertainment company managing the FilmRise and Shout! Studios brand
Renowned astronomers push to protect Chile’s cherished night sky from an industrial project
Chile’s Atacama Desert is one of the darkest spots on earth, a crown jewel for astronomers who flock from around the world to study the origins of the universe in this inhospitable desert along the Pacific coast.
PacificSource Medicaid patients warned they may lose coverage at Salem Health Jan. 1
As of Tuesday, PacificSource Community Solutions and Salem Health had not reached an agreement for in-network coverage for thousands of Salem Residents on the Oregon Health Plan for 2026. The parties announced earlier this week that they’d agreed on coverage for PacificSource patients with commercial insurance or Medicare.
Attorneys seek protections after Epstein survivors' identities exposed
In a letter filed in federal court, the attorneys argue it’s a problem that must be fixed before more records are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
College sports bill heads to final vote despite GOP defections
The 210-209 vote paves the way for House passage as soon as Wednesday.
Serena Williams: Tennis great denies comeback despite re-entering drug testing pool
Serena Williams files the necessary paperwork for a return to tennis - but then denies she is returning to the sport.
Tenpin Entertainment acquires Fairgame
/PRNewswire/ -- Tenpin Entertainment ("Tenpin"), backed by Trive Capital ("Trive"), the Dallas-based private equity firm, announced that it has acquired...
Accused National Guard shooter pleaded not guilty to charges at first court appearance from the hospital
The Afghan man appeared in court virtually from his hospital bed on Tuesday to plead not guilty to charges related to the shooting two of National Guardsmen in Washington, DC.
Indiana maps drawn 'purely for political performance' of GOP, bill author says
The author of Indiana's new congressional redistricting bill acknowledged the maps are "politically gerrymandered" but defended them against accusations of illegal racial gerrymandering.
NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health Appoints Selwena R. Brewster, MD, MBA As Chief Medical Officer - NYC Health + Hospitals
Brooklyn, NY — NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health today announced the appointment of Selwena R. Brewster, MD, MBA as Chief Medical Officer where
Delaware works to shore up rural hospitals threatened by Medicaid cuts
Delaware has a plan to transform health care in the state’s rural areas, but is dealing with billions in federal funding cuts.
Evidence mounts: Medically tailored meals improve health outcomes and lower total cost of care
As the nation faces rising chronic disease rates and accelerating health care costs, a new peer-reviewed white paper featured in MDI Healthcare spotlights the critical role of food as medicine in improving outcomes for high-risk individuals. The analysis, supported by insights from Mom's Meals®, shows medically tailored meals can reduce hospitalizations, lower emergency department use, and lower the total cost of care, which reveals evidence of widening action gaps in how these nutrition solutio
Business Trades Support Bank Capital Rule Reform to Boost Economic Growth
“Now is the time to modernize our capital framework to unleash economic growth for American businesses and consumers across the country.” WASHINGTON, D.C. — A coalition of leading business trade organizations urged prudential regulators to examine and modernize large bank capital requirements to ensure they support consumers, businesses, and the…
Legacy Health advanced practice providers go on strike
Advanced practice providers with Legacy Health hospitals and clinics in the Portland metro area and Southwest Washington have gone on strike.
Capitol agenda: The health care talks to watch
Many lawmakers now view Jan. 30 as the real deadline to figure out what to do about Affordable Care Act subsidies.
Send us your nominations for the 2025 Sloopys, our annual Ohio politics awards: Capitol Letter
Submit your nominations in 28 categories – some nice, some naughty – through Monday, Dec. 8.
Indiana hospital officials point to new studies showing decreased health care costs
Indiana hospitals are making progress toward lowering health care costs, according to new national rankings and reports.
Liberty Sports Group and Front Row Hospitality Announce Multi-Year Partnership with Shift4 to Power Commerce Across Sports, Entertainment, and Hospitality Properties
CENTER VALLEY, Pa. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Liberty Sports Group (LSG) and its food and beverage division, Front Row Hospitality…...
Liberty Sports Group and Front Row Hospitality Announce Multi-Year Partnership with Shift4 to Power Commerce Across Sports, Entertainment, and Hospitality Properties
CENTER VALLEY, Pa. & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Liberty Sports Group (LSG) and its food and beverage division, Front Row Hospitality…...
Pete Carroll searches for answers as Raiders' dismal season continues
Pete Carroll remains optimistic about the Raiders' chances despite their 2-10 record
Lawmakers demand audio and video of boat attack as follow-up strike raises concern on Capitol Hill
The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Monday said Secretary Pete Hegseth had confirmed to him there was a second US strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean in September — an attack that has drawn bipartisan scrutiny on Capitol Hill.
Map unveiled as Indiana House gets down to redistricting business
Millions of Hoosiers would have different representation in the U.S. House under a proposed redrawing of Indiana’s congressional maps that aims to produce a 9-0 GOP delegation.
Scoop: Inside the sudden shuttering of home care provider Inbound Health
The closure underscores mounting uncertainty around the hospital-at-home sector.
Hochul signs bill into law to build first New York state Holocaust memorial
Public officials and the Capital District Jewish Holocaust Memorial are trying to bring it to Albany.
Browns lose suprising record they held vs. the Steelers
Cleveland’s 231 rushing yards in 2016 was the most at Pittsburgh’s Acrisure Stadium before the Bills bested them on Sunday.
Fox News Politics Newsletter: Trump admin 're-examining' all Afghans imported after DC shooting
Welcome to the Fox News Politics newsletter, with the latest updates on the Trump administration, Capitol Hill and more Fox News politics content.
What's Up: December 2025 Skywatching Tips from NASA
The 3I/ATLAS comet makes its closest approach to Earth, the Geminid meteor shower sparkles across the sky, and the Moon and Jupiter get close for a conjunction.
Business Buzz: Small businesses continue to drive Colorado’s economy despite headwinds
Commentary: What WA’s elections say about Oregon politics
Oregon political observers hoping to extract lessons of some kind from the votes of Nov. 4 aren’t completely out of luck thanks to their neighbor on the north side of the Columbia River Elections in various states this month drew national attention and pundits read them closely for longer-term implications, but not in Oregon, where […]
MAX Accelerator Business IDEA Competition culminates with Dec. 3 live pitches at the IDEA Bank
The culmination of the MAX Accelerator Business IDEA Competition at Troy University is a pitch competition with a dozen students vying for some $8,000 is prize funding, the largest such pool in the program’s history.
UNC-Cigna health deal at a standstill
UNC Health and Cigna have not reached an agreement as of Monday morning, leaving Cigna subscribers facing "out of network" costs for UNC providers and hospitals.
'Out of network:' UNC Health-Cigna contract expires
UNC Health and Cigna have not reached an agreement as of Monday morning, leaving Cigna subscribers facing "out of network" costs for UNC providers and hospitals.
Newport business works to reduce Oregon’s fish waste
The Newport restaurant has become a local staple known for serving locally-caught seafood to tourists visiting Oregon’s Central Coast.
Capitol agenda: Health deal hinges on Trump
Capitol Hill factions are trying to figure out what the president wants and how to entice him to their side.
Top 10 Healthcare Industry Predictions For 2026
Sachin Jain’s annual list of health industry predictions covering managed care, hospitals, pharma, digital health, and entrepreneurship.
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.
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