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UNC Health-Cigna contract expires: Check other health care contracts in NC
More than 4,000 UNC Health patients with Cigna insurance are facing uncertainty after the insurer’s contract with the health system expired this week.
Scientists Uncover New Evidence of Ancient Airbursts That Ravaged Earth Without Leaving Craters
Scientists are uncovering signs that Earth has been hit by powerful cosmic blasts that leave little trace on the surface yet unleash extraordinary heat and pressure.
Olympic ice surface being built to specs smaller than NHL rinks, per source, sparking new concerns
The Olympic rink will have a shorter length but not substantially greater width, per a source, leaving players with less room to maneuver.
Lowell science teacher named 2026 Mass. Teacher Of The Year
Tara Goodhue credits her success to having the best students in the state.
Oregon’s governor unveils a ‘roadmap’ to business prosperity. Here’s what’s at stake
The blueprint comes as Oregon faces sluggish population growth, high housing costs and other faltering economic indicators.
Jackson bans employees from having relationships, doing business with ‘dope dealers’
The measure comes as three former Jackson city officials face federal charges in connection with a 2024 bribery scheme.
Doctors still unsure about Trump’s heart health after ‘weird’ memo
It is still unclear which imaging services President Donald Trump underwent to evaluate his cardiovascular health. The White House shared a memo Monday as an attempt to put this topic to bed—but questions remain.
Army veteran to challenge LePage in Maine 2nd CD primary
When asked about facing former Gov. LePage, a well-known opponent, Clark said he wants to give voters a choice.
Fact check: Trump delivers long list of false claims at Cabinet meeting
As usual, President Donald Trump made numerous false claims in his televised Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. And, as usual, most of them had previously been debunked.
Tenpin Entertainment acquires Fairgame
/PRNewswire/ -- Tenpin Entertainment ("Tenpin"), backed by Trive Capital ("Trive"), the Dallas-based private equity firm, announced that it has acquired...
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
Portland is one of the best places for women's sports
Portland's fan culture, teams and new facilities earned it a No. 4 national ranking from The Athletic.
Is Trending Stock AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (AMC) a Buy Now?
AMC Entertainment (AMC) has received quite a bit of attention from Zacks.com users lately. Therefore, it is wise to be aware of the facts that can impact the stock's prospects.
Carta Healthcare Partners with Fivos to Elevate Data Quality and Advance Vascular Patient Care
Carta Healthcare, a leading provider of AI-powered clinical data abstraction solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with Fivos, a leading provider of data solutions for medical research organizations and device manufacturers, as well as the clinical data registry provider for the Society for Vascular Surgery's Vascular Quality Initiative (SVS VQI®).
How AI is reshaping risk management in the entertainment industry
In this Q&A, we sat down with Brian Taliaferro, Entertainment and Gaming Industry Practice Leader at Marsh, to discuss the top risks facing clients in the entertainment industry today.
Cervical cancer
WHO fact sheet on cervical cancer, including key facts, causes, prevention and WHO response.
The verdict is in, and I owe it all to The Alligator - The Independent Florida Alligator
Since I stepped foot on campus as a sports journalism major, I knew I wanted to work for the largest student-run independent newspaper in the country. What I didn’t know was how much The Alligator would shape me into the person I am today.
French Premier’s Budget Push Faces Key Stretch Ahead of Vote
France’s National Assembly is starting a second reading of the 2026 social security budget bill on Tuesday in a crucial test of Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s plan to shepherd contested financial legislation through a divided parliament.
50% Copper Tariffs Have Tennessee Small Business on Edge
A small, specialty manufacturer in Tennessee struggles to survive as semi-finished copper tariffs strain their operations.
A short social media detox improves mental health, a study shows. Here's how to do it
Young adults who took just a one-week break from social media showed improvement in depression, anxiety and insomnia symptoms, a new study says. Plus, tips for how to take a break from your feed.
Research finds nontraditional benefits may help retain young public health workers
New research from Columbia University suggests that nontraditional benefits, including flexible schedules and access to child care, may help keep public health workers under 35 on the job.
Longwood hosts Troy following Dyer's 22-point game
Troy faces the Longwood Lancers after Zay Dyer scored 22 points in the Trojans' 74-70 win against the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles
Cal, Utah face off following impressive victories
Cal will aim to stay perfect at home Tuesday when it welcomes Utah to Berkeley, Calif.
Shein faces Texas probe into materials, labor, and data privacy
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Shein is selling cheap and dangerous products to US consumers.
Undefeated Missouri faces tough road test at Notre Dame
Notre Dame will host an ACC/SEC Challenge game for the first time when it clashes with Missouri on Tuesday night.
Sports Editors' Athletes of the Year
Jake Knapp, Chloe Humphrey, Ryleigh Heck and Reese Brantmeier led the way for their respective teams this year.
Costco files federal lawsuit challenging Trump's emergency tariff orders on imported goods
Major retailer Costco challenges Trump tariff legality in federal court. Company faces critical December deadline that could lock in payments forever.
Trending Timberwolves look to extend Pelicans' losing ways
The Minnesota Timberwolves' trip to New Orleans to face the Pelicans on Tuesday looks like a mismatch on paper.
WHO provides emergency funds to scale up health response in cyclone-hit Sri Lanka
As Sri Lanka faces rapidly worsening conditions triggered by a cyclonic storm, the World Health Organization today provided US$ 175 000 as emergency funds to support essential health services, while continuing to work with national authorities and humanitarian partners to reach life-saving interventions to the millions of affected people across the country.
Former counselor at Chicago behavior health facility sexually assaulted young patients: Prosecutors
A former counselor at a Chicago behavioral health center was charged with sexually abusing five young patients, prosecutors said.
This organization is trying to use AI to reshape American politics
Using artificial intelligence to identify congressional districts where independent candidates could win, an organization called the Independent Center is aiming to disrupt the two-party system.
Does Congress see war crimes in Venezuela?
Amid reports Pete Hegseth ordered a second strike on a Venezuelan boat, NPR's Mary Louise Kelly speaks with Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine about how Congress is handling oversight of the Pentagon.
Small Business Saturday rescheduled after snow disrupts shopping event
MADISON, Wis. -- Small Business Saturday faced significant disruption due to snow, but local businesses and advocates remain optimistic about a rescheduled event planned for this upcoming weekend.
Colorado businesses concerned about increased costs, supply chain issues as a result of tariffs, report finds
Colorado businesses face mounting headwinds amid a suite of tariffs enacted this year, with concerns about elevated costs, supply chain disruptions and consumer backlash, according to a new state report. The study is the second...
South Shore Health resolves contract dispute that could have affected 2,000 patients
Patients had faced losing access to their doctors starting in January.
The Guardian view on men’s health: the needs of different groups can only be addressed in a functioning system
Editorial: The specific health issues faced by boys and men deserve attention. But waiting lists stand in the way of improvement
Proposed redistricting map shakes up congressional races as candidates are drawn out
Several challengers, both Republicans and Democrats, face new political battles in their races for Congress.
Model to study extreme heat, related health effects advanced by NIEHS
Division of Translational Toxicology scientists develop valuable resources to understand temperature exposures and guide public health.
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.
Science Power-up: Where Biomanufacturing Can Take Us This Century
Explore how fundamental science is shaping the future of everyday items we all rely on, from food to plastics – and how artificial intelligence and data will power the technologies of tomorrow in biomanufacturing.
Plain English BEST OF: How to Be Happy and the Science of Cognitive Time Travel
Throughout December and January, we’re going to be re-airing some of our favorite episodes of the past year and beyond. This list includes interviews that really stuck with me and some others that you guys had tons of feedback and thoughts on … including this one!
HGTV's Hilary Farr Sets the Record Straight on Viral Rumors About Her Health
Hilary Farr shared an update on her well-being after alleged AI-generated posts claimed that the Love It or List It star's health was on the decline.
'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.
ESA Steps Up Earth Monitoring, As NASA And NOAA Missions Face Uncertain Futures
Someone has to.
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.
Clinical Research Unit moves environmental health research forward
New medical director Lawrence Kirschner highlights the CRU’s role as a hub for translational studies connecting environmental exposures, genetics, and human health.
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.
The Alligator isn’t perfect. But it’s home. - The Independent Florida Alligator
I never thought I’d be writing a goodbye to The Alligator.
Who the Hell Is Actually Using Facebook Dating?
With 21 million users, Facebook Dating is a secret hit, including among Gen Zers who use it for clout and content as much as for finding love.
Column: L.A. exploded into a world art capital. I was lucky to be here to witness it
Los Angeles' ascension coincided with the 46-year career of art critic Christopher Knight. In his final column for The Times, he cites three important factors in that rise.
Saint Francis (PA) faces Xavier on 5-game road slide
Saint Francis (PA) heads into a matchup against Xavier as losers of five road games in a row
Charleston Southern visits UT Martin after Blaine's 23-point game
Charleston Southern Buccaneers (5-4) at UT Martin Skyhawks (5-2) Martin, Tennessee; Tuesday, 12 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Charleston Southern faces UT Martin after Brycen Blaine scored 23 points in Charleston Southern's 74-62 loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks. The Skyhawks have gone 2-0 at home.
McNeese visits Utah Tech following Borden's 25-point game
Utah Tech faces the McNeese Cowgirls after Kaylee Borden scored 25 points in Utah Tech's 81-70 victory over the Westminster (UT) Griffins
Jennifer Bushong | Strategic marketing review: Preparing your business for 2026
As we approach the end of the fourth quarter of 2025, business owners and marketing leaders face a critical juncture. The end of the year signifies a time to reflect
Bibi's pardon request rocks Israeli politics, Thanksgiving reflections
Netanyahu’s pardon bid, Israel’s measles surge, Satmar visit, and Thanksgiving in Jerusalem.
UK refrains from hitting high street on Black Friday as fears grow over economy
Data comes as KPMG highlights soft consumer spending as one factor likely to hold back growth in 2026
How the cuts have shaken HIV/Aids care to its core and will mean millions more infections ahead
Reports highlight devastating impact of slashed funding, especially in parts of Africa, that could lead to 3.3m new HIV infections by 2030
For These Businesses, U.S. Tariffs Are a Price Worth Paying
Some British business owners are determined to keep their access to American consumers, but they are facing trade-offs.
Rising levels of hate forcing women out of Swedish public life, says equality agency
Country seen as champion of equal rights faces reckoning after senior politician says she felt compelled to quit
Lurie picks a new supervisor for District 4
Lurie picks a politics and policy vet for District 4.
Health Care Sticker Shock Coming for 450,000 New Yorkers
Federal budget cuts will force hundreds of thousands off New York's free Essential Plan, with some families facing $10,000 annual premium increases.
Flutter Entertainment India Partners with Aditya Mehta Foundation to Strengthen India’s Para-Sports Ecosystem
With an investment of INR 60 lakh, Flutter Entertainment India (FEI) in conjunction with Flutter Global’s “Do More” initiative will enable enhanced training facilities, upgraded adaptive equipment, and customized devices that will directly support up to 15 para-athletes in achieving high-performance excellence.
Using network science to evaluate landslide hazards on Big Sur Coast, California, USA
Abstract. Landslides, ranging from slips to catastrophic failures, pose significant challenges for prediction. This study employs a physically inspired framework to assess landslide hazard at a regional scale (Big Sur Coast, California). Our approach integrates techniques from the study of complex systems with multivariate statistical analysis to identify areas prone to landslide hazards. We successfully apply a technique originally developed on the 2017 Mud Creek landslide and refine our statistical metrics to characterize landslide hazard within a larger geographical area. Our method is compared against factors such as landslide location, slope, displacement, precipitation, and InSAR coherence using multivariate statistical analysis. Our network analyses, which incorporates spatiotemporal dynamics, perform better as a monitoring technique than traditional methods. This approach has potential for real-time monitoring and evaluating landslide hazard across multiple sites.
'Reconcile our resentment': Boy band Verivery faces its fears and 'han' after yearslong hiatus
During their two-and-a-half-year hiatus — practically an eternity in the K-pop world — the members of boy band Verivery kept busy, from acting in plays and musicals to one member even placing ninth in Mnet’s “Boys II Planet” audition program.
From an Eagle’s Egg, an Eagle, and Other Mysteries
Pavel Florenskij, a Russian physicist and theologian (1882-1937), imagined a field on the surfaces of icons that portray sacred images.
Closed-door MAHA summit offers a glimpse into the administration's evolving health priorities
Dr. Sandro Galea, a distinguished professor in public health and dean of the Washington University School of Public Health, warns that the administration's turn toward alternative medicine risks sidelining science in federal health policy.
Lurie picks a new supervisor for District 4
Lurie picks a politics and policy vet for District 4.
The Shade Room (@theshaderoom)
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Chinese barriers rattle K-pop entertainment agency shares
Experts cautious over volatility; hunt for megastars like BTS, Blackpink intensifies
HALPER SADEH LLC ENCOURAGES LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC. SHAREHOLDERS TO CONTACT THE FIRM TO DISCUSS THEIR RIGHTS
/PRNewswire/ -- Halper Sadeh LLC, an investor rights law firm, is investigating whether certain officers and directors of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc....
‘Landman’ Season 2, Episode 3 Recap: Running on Empty
In the latest episode of ‘Landman,’ we discover that M-Tex’s financial stability might’ve died when Monty did.
Here's why some LA makers are keeping their manufacturing local
Local companies across Los Angeles are choosing to produce their goods close to home, even as tariffs and global supply issues create new challenges
OTTAWA CHARGE STATEMENTS REGARDING HEAD COACH CARLA MACLEOD’S RECENT HEALTH NEWS
OTTAWA, ON (November 30, 2025) – The Ottawa Charge shared the following statements today regarding Head Coach Carla MacLeod’s recent health news: Statement from Charge Head Coach Carla MacLeod “I want to share some personal news: I was recently diagnos...
Netanyahu will not consider plea deal requiring him to leave politics, wants to run again
Sources close to President Herzog said that a decision on Netanyahu's pardon will take at least two months.
Politics chat: Trump moves on Venezuela, Afghans in the U.S.; Obamacare deadline approaches
President Trump says he's closing Venezuela's airspace and further limiting immigration to the U.S. Lawmakers are facing a deadline over extending the subsidies for Obamacare.
'Steel Magnolias,' 'Hunchback,' 'Nutcracker' opening on Lancaster County stages in December
Many plays and musicals opening on local stages at this time of year have a holiday theme. But not all of them.