SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " FAU " 13,645 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Did the Patriots overpay for A.J. Brown?
Four years after the Eagles gave up a first-round pick and a third-round pick to acquire receiver A.J.
Marlins' Pete Fairbanks: Nails down seventh save
Marlins' Pete Fairbanks: Nails down seventh save
U.S. Congressman tells Endeavor Health to stop retaliating against unionizing nurses
Democratic Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is calling on Endeavor to reinstate two nurses who were allegedly fired from Evanston Hospital and to respect workers rights to organize.
U.S. Congressman tells Endeavor Health to stop retaliating against unionizing nurses
Democratic Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is calling on Endeavor to reinstate two nurses who were allegedly fired from Evanston Hospital and to respect workers rights to organize.
‘SNL’s’ Marcello Hernández to host 2026 ESPYs as show leaves L.A.
Marcello Hernández will host the 2026 ESPY Awards, which are are leaving L.A. for New York after more than 25 years.
Tigers' Troy Melton: Nearly goes distance in win
Tigers' Troy Melton: Nearly goes distance in win
Rams offer free exchange for recently purchased Jared Verse jerseys
When the Rams traded for Myles Garrett, they sent one of their top young players to Cleveland as part of the deal.
Hackensack Meridian Health Opens Nation’s First Health & Wellness Center In A Major Travel Hub
The Metropark Health & Wellness Center is the first comprehensive health and wellness facility in the nation to be located within a major transit hub.
Reds' Rhett Lowder: Confirmed for start Sunday
Reds' Rhett Lowder: Confirmed for start Sunday
Phillies' J.T. Realmuto: Back in Philadelphia lineup
Phillies' J.T. Realmuto: Back in Philadelphia lineup
Top 10 Original films and series on Prime Video: See the weekly rankings
From action-packed films to buzzy series, here are the Original titles Prime Video members watched most from May 25-31.
Politics: What’s Life Like For The Government Employees Still Working?
More than 300,000 federal workers have left government service since the start of the second Trump administration.Some were laid off by the administration. Some took buyouts. Some walked out. The cuts hit every major agency — from the State Department to the Justice Department.That doesn’t mean things have been easy for those still working for the government. Last week, the Office of Personnel Management proposed requiring all federal employees to sign non-disclosure agreements that would prevent them from sharing internal government information.We sit down to talk about how those cuts are affecting the workers who remained.Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
Health system's ‘Heads Up’ series supports young people’s mental well-being
The series includes short videos, online materials and community discussions on topics highlighted in the survey.
People with cancer or HIV could lose Medicaid under new work rules, advocates say
Adults on Medicaid will be required to work 80 hours per month. The Trump administration says people who are sick will have to prove they are too sick to work to be exempt from the new work rules.
Former ACC president William Parmley remembered as powerhouse in cardiology
Parmley is most noted for his research on the harmful effects of secondhand smoke, hemodynamics and new therapies for heart failure.
In race for Pelosi's seat, her famed political influence was a factor
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), 86 and retiring, is still a political influence in the Bay Area, as seen by her endorsement of her replacement.
In the chase for stadium dollars, Tampa Sports Authority wants to prioritize Bucs over Rays
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tampa Bay Rays are hoping to strike stadium deals.
Takeaways from the California gubernatorial primary election
Money can't buy love. The gubernatorial glass ceiling remains intact. California voters show — again — that boring can be beautiful. Five takeaways from the gubernatorial primary.
AHA to celebrate Community Health Improvement Week, June 8-12
The AHA and health care organizations across the country will celebrate Community Health Improvement Week, June 8-12. CHI Week honors those working in partnership to improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities throughout the country. Hospitals and health systems are encouraged to plan in-person or virtual events to highlight and increase awareness of their work. LEARN MORE
How to evaluate risk when TAVR patients require surgery later in life
Robert Hawkins, MD, discussed an updated risk calculator—and the latest data on SAVR after TAVR—for a new video interview with Cardiovascular Business.
Report: Cardinals will not trade Josh Sweat
Speculation about edge rusher Josh Sweat's future with the Cardinals has picked up over the course of his absence from the team's offseason program, but a report on Wednesday tosses some cold water on thoughts of a trade.
How to watch the 2026 NBA Finals on Prime Video around the world
The New York Knicks will face the San Antonio Spurs, concluding Prime Video's inaugural season of global NBA coverage.
Marlins' Ryan Gusto: Limited workload in return
Marlins' Ryan Gusto: Limited workload in return
Marlins' Liam Hicks: Idle against southpaw
Marlins' Liam Hicks: Idle against southpaw
Giants' Luis Arraez: Two XBH in loss to Milwaukee
Giants' Luis Arraez: Two XBH in loss to Milwaukee
Brewers' Brice Turang: Drives in two, steals 10th base
Brewers' Brice Turang: Drives in two, steals 10th base
Orioles' Shane Baz: Keeps rolling in Tuesday's win
Orioles' Shane Baz: Keeps rolling in Tuesday's win
Tigers' Jack Flaherty: Finally gets in win column
Tigers' Jack Flaherty: Finally gets in win column
Rewriting the Narrative: Jewish Voices in the Entertainment Industry | AJC Global Forum 2026
At AJC Global Forum 2026, writer, producer, actor, and comedian Jamie Denbo joins Grammy-nominated songwriter, music publisher, and entrepreneur Billy Mann; Deborah Marcus; and Lori York for a conversation moderated by Dov Wilker, AJC Vice President, Advocacy and Innovation; Regional Director, AJC Atlanta.
What nearly 80,000 earnings calls reveal about executive leadership
Leaders who ‘pass the mic’ to their colleagues and show cooperation during meetings are more likely to be promoted to CEO on average, according to new Columbia Business School research.
Americans agree: Ultraprocessed foods pose major health hazard
Across partisan lines, Americans broadly believe ultraprocessed foods are addictive and harmful, and support policies that could strengthen safeguards and hold the food industry accountable.
Habits form far faster than science previously thought, research shows
Hopkins team studies whether a region of the brain plays a key role in developing habitual behavior, a discovery that could point to ways to alter entrenched habits
Lions add former Dolphins GM Chris Grier to front office
Former Dolphins General Manager Chris Grier has found a new job in Detroit.
Tech-favored candidates fell short on California's primary night
Tuesday's primary night was a poor showing for California's tech billionaires and founders who viewed statewide politics as the next frontier for their ambitions
News | Soundstage landlords cater to new entertainment platform: the cellphone
Sunset Studios launches prebuilt sets for fast-turn, short-form series
Texas Business Court is a powerhouse for resolving civil disputes
White & Case partner Sean Gorman published an article in Bloomberg Law detailing how the Texas Business Court is uniquely positioned to handle complex, high-value disputes.
SFA business students gain global edge through immersive study abroad tour of Spain and Portugal
NACOGDOCHES, Texas –– Nearly 50 students from Stephen F. Austin State University’s Nelson Rusche College of Business participated in an intensive, faculty-led study abroad program in Spain and Portugal May 10-21.Led by Dr. Matthew Lindsey, chair of the Department of Management and Marketing, and Dr. Mikhail Kouliavtsev, chair of the Department of Economics and Finance, the experiential learning trip bridged classroom business theory with real-world international operations across the Iberian Peninsula.
Elections to top science bodies test Croatia’s gender equality in research
Croatia’s track-record on gender equality in science has been both questioned and lauded in recent months, following both bad and good news on the topic. On the one hand, a senior awards committee was announced without a single woman researcher included. On the other, the national science academy welcomed its first cohort of fellows with more women than men.Members of the committee, which gives national awards recognising scientific achievement, are proposed by the ministry of science and endorsed by the parliament. The current line-up does include a woman, but she is culture minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek rather than a researcher. Even then, she didn’t make it into the photograph released to announce the appointments on April 16. “The image speaks a thousand words,” says Tanja Rudež, a science journalist for Jutarnji List newspaper. “I am surprised that none of these men, all well-known scientists, saw a problem with the fact that there was not a single successful female scientist on the committee,” she told Science|Business.Ivan Đikić, a prominent Croatian biochemist based at Goethe University Medical School, commented on LinkedIn that the news illustrated a “sad truth” about the state of science in Croatia.“It [. . .] reveals a system where women, despite contributing a substantial share of high-quality, internationally competitive science, are systematically excluded from the very processes that determine recognition and influence,” he wrote. Some 60% of researchers in Croatia are women, according to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, and they perform well in international competitions. For example, of the 12 European Research Council (ERC) grants awarded to Croatian researchers, seven went to women.“So how is it possible that decision-making bodies are still dominated by men over 60, while not a single female ERC laureate is involved in the selection process?” asked Đikić. “This is not a marginal oversight; it is a structural failure.” The ministry of science did not reply to a request for comment. The awards committee is not unusual. For example, a scientific advisory body announced by the ministry of demographics in April comprises 35 men and five women. The board of the Croatian Science Foundation, newly appointed by the parliament, is a little better, with five men and two women, but still unequal. “This is especially significant because such bodies do not merely distribute prestige. They shape research priorities, funding allocation and long-term scientific development,” Marija Lugarić, chair of the parliament’s committee on gender equality, told Science|Business. “Representation here matters not only symbolically, but materially.”Referring to the awards committee and the board of the science foundation, Lugarić says that while both bodies were appointed by parliament, neither met the minimum 40% gender balance threshold that Croatian law and EU guidelines expressly recommend for public bodies.Đikić wants to see EU institutions put pressure on the government to ensure basic standards of fairness, transparency and democratic governance in science policy are met. “Meaningful change will not come without pressure,” he wrote. “It must intensify both within Croatia and at the level of European institutions. Anything less undermines the credibility of Europe’s commitment to excellence and inclusion in science.”Rudež also underlined the importance of talking and writing about this topic, “because public opinion in Croatia does influence changes in the status and visibility of women in science.”The European Commission has not yet responded to a request for comment.Good news from the academyA more positive story came from the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts on 21 May, with the announcement of seven new women fellows and five men. This is the first time in the academy’s 165-year history that women have outnumbered men in a new intake.One of the new fellows, two-time ERC grantee Iva Tolić, credits the academy leadership with trying to be more modern and inclusive, representing the whole community better. “The academy is really aware that so far, before this election, there were very few women,” she told Science|Business. “So, they are actively trying to make this more equal.”Related articlesExplained: How the MSCA is close to achieving gender balanceCall for EU to leverage academic freedom in global talent raceRudež is more cautious, noting that despite the academy’s “breakthrough this year [. . .] it is still a predominantly male institution, with only 18% women.”This reflects a wider imbalance in Croatia’s research landscape. “The key levers of power in science are still in the hands of men,” she went on. “For example, all 14 rectors of private and public universities are men.”Similarly, Lugarić says a structural glass ceiling still exists in Croatian science, which is “most visible precisely where power is exercised.”She cites data from the Commission’s She Figures 2024 report, which shows that Croatia ranks second in the EU for gender equality in research and innovation overall, with an equality index of 79.6 out of 100. It is in the top five for women’s career advancement, participation in research; representation across all research sectors and for scientific publications.In stark contrast, it ranks second to last when it comes to women in decision-making positions in science. “This is not a coincidence,” Lugarić says. “It is a structural pattern.”Informal barriersThe persistent under-representation of women in the highest structures of Croatia’s academies, boards, award committees and leadership positions is not down to formal barriers, Lugarić says, but arises from more subtle obstacles such as “informal networks, persistent expectations regarding traditional gender roles and the unequal distribution of care responsibilities.”Tolić would like to see more support for young women in terms of affordable housing and child support, and higher salaries. Currently, she says, salaries in science stay low for the first 10-15 years, while housing and spaces in kindergarten are limited and expensive. “You have to work a lot, you get very little money, so it’s not great to have a family in this situation,” she says.But despite the challenges, Tolić is optimistic, saying that gender equality in research in Croatia is “definitely improving and going in the right direction.” The situation is particularly promising in biology, she adds, where most full professors, heads of department and deans of faculties are women. Lugarić, too, see the glass ceiling “very slowly, cracking,” and cites the academy election as an example that structural change is possible. Yet the situation in the national awards committee is a “stark reminder that without a conscious, systemic commitment to gender balance, progress will remain slow and uneven.”
The cult of objectivity has broken consciousness science
With 22 competing theories and no consensus in sight, the science of consciousness is lost. In this exclusive IAI interview, Berkeley psychedelics researcher and bestselling author of a new book on consciousness Michael Pollan insists that even though consciousness lies beyond traditional forms of scientific investigation, we should resist becoming dualists who see it as something radically different from ordinary stuff in the world. Instead, he makes the case for reimagining science itself: it must stop reaching for objective descriptions of physical reality, and instead embrace subjectivity as the indispensable core of all inquiry. Alasdair Craig: How did your experiences with psychedelics get you interested in consciousness?Michael Pollan: One of the things that happens on psychedelics is that they foreground consciousness. What formerly seemed perfectly transparent and ever present—and yet, non-existent, as water is to fish—suddenly you see it. The metaphor I use in the book is that psychedelics sponge the windscreen. Suddenly you realize: wow, there’s a windscreen, there is this phenomenon that’s mediating my relationship to reality. This is not an unusual realization on psychedelics. I think a lot of people are called to think about consciousness after psychedelic experiences. So that was the proximate inspiration for A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness (2026).And then there was a more specific way in which psychedelics influence the book. That was a particular experience I had on psilocybin. I had the sensation that the plants in my garden were conscious and returning my gaze, with their own point of view and agency, and I got curious as to how to evaluate an insight like that. I mean, what’s the truth quotient of insights you have on psychedelics? And I was reading William James—who, of course, wrote beautifully about mystical experience—and he said, we can’t judge the metaphysics here, but we should pay attention to two criteria: (1) How useful is it to think this is true? He was a pragmatist, of course. And (2) can we subject it to other ways of knowing to validate it? Because maybe we should treat these insights as hypotheses. And that’s kind of how I approach psychedelics, as a great generator of hypotheses, but they need to be tested against other ways of knowing. And so that led me down this long path exploring the science of plant intelligence and plant sentience.AC: I love your phrase, “smudging the windowpane of conscious experience.” So do you now start to think, actually, even when I’m not on psychedelics, I’m just seeing a screen all the time, which is not reality, but rather is my conscious experience, behind which reality is hidden?MP: Well, you know, not when I’m brushing my teeth and making breakfast! But yes, in meditation, certainly. I mean, one of the things you realize is that my experience happens to be this way now, but it could be another way. And many things can affect it. My morning coffee changes the screen in various ways, sharpens certain things.___The only tool we have to understand consciousness is consciousness.___There’s this wonderful metaphor in Aldous Huxley’s book, The Doors of Perception, where he thinks we channel consciousness, and that what the brain does is edit it, and there’s a reducing valve. And psychedelics open the reducing valve wider. I don’t know that I’m ready to buy into the idea that consciousness exists outside brains, but I do love that metaphor because there are times when you are more conscious than others. I know I’ve switched from window pane to valve, but you know, a camera aperture can open wider or narrower. And I do have a sense of that. I have a sense of when I’m being less conscious, and when I’m being more conscious, by which I mean, you know, more present, taking in more sensory information. So when you start thinking about consciousness as a matter of degree, that changes things also.I think when we scroll on social media, obviously, we’re conscious. But minimally so, because we don’t have to generate our own thoughts. We’re basically taking these little hits from other people and thinking their thoughts.The process of writing this book made me kind of relativize everyday consciousness as just one type, which is exactly what William James said. Normal consciousness is one type, separated by the flimsiest of screens from the other types.AC: If we stick with the metaphor of the smudge on the window that you get when you take psychedelics, it seems like we’re saying that consciousness has become like an object that you’re looking at, right? You’re looking at the smudge and that just is consciousness. But sometimes we’ll talk about consciousness as a state that you’re in, rather than an object you can perceive. You’re either conscious or you’re not conscious. So it’s difficult to really know what sort of thing we’re talking about when we talk about consciousness, right?MP: Yeah. When you say that consciousness is an object, what’s the subject? Consciousness also? The only tool we have to understand consciousness is consciousness. So we’re in a closed loop and when we get a perspective on consciousness, we’re not achieving any distance from it. That’s one of the problems with studying consciousness. Science is predicated on an objective, God’s eye view of things, and you never get that. There’s no such thing. SUGGESTED VIEWING The brain filters consciousness With Àlex Gómez-Marín But, yeah, there is this sense, I think, that consciousness is something you can approach. Certainly, when you’re writing and trying to recreate a conscious experience, it’s a fiction, but you’re standing back from it, and looking at it. But there’s no real subject-object distinction.AC: That’s so interesting, because when philosophers start talking about consciousness, they often talk about what they call “qualia”, which is their word for the felt experience of, say, the color red. And I think that way of speaking often makes us think of the qualia as an object, which you can see out there: the redness of red. But, as you say, we also want to collapse the subject-object distinction when we talk about consciousness. So there’s something strange going on here…MP: Oh, yeah, there are many strange things going on! *AC: Let’s talk about the varieties of consciousness. Apart from perceptions, there are, pains, emotions, thoughts, and so on. What is it that holds all this diversity together so that they all count as instances of consciousness? What is it that they all have in common?MP: Yeah, that’s a really good question. I mean, there is sensory information, right? Which we perceive coming from the world outside ourselves. And then there’s internal information, which is what’s called interoception. And this is very important too. This is where feelings come from—what are sometimes called homeostatic feelings—that are intended to get the brain to keep us in these narrow ranges of temperature and glucose and so on. That’s a very important part of consciousness. And according to some researchers, who I think are probably right, this is where consciousness begins, with these very primal feelings, like hunger and thirst and warmth and itch, and things like that. And then there’s this third thing, which is our thinking about thinking.And what holds all this together is, I think, the sense of self. Consciousness generates a self: it is probably an organizing principle. All this stuff is happening to the self. It’s a construct, I think, but it is very useful. It can connect all these different streams of consciousness to a single being or a place, metaphorically speaking.* AC: The first half of your book is about the science of consciousness. Is consciousness just another thing, like black holes or the origin of life, which we don’t yet understand, but which we should have every hope that science will one day get to the bottom of, or is there something special about consciousness that makes this unlikely?MP: It depends how you define science. As we define science now, it’s going be very difficult. Science since Galileo has had a set of rules or assumptions, which is that the proper remit of science is to deal with the objective, quantifiable, third-person world. And the physical sciences have done amazing work under that set of limitations. Galileo—for tactical reasons, not for philosophical reasons—said science should not deal with the soul, which at the time was what consciousness was considered to be. So what is subjective, what is qualitative, what is first person, we’re going to leave to the church, he said. And this was a good agreement, and it probably kept many scientists from getting burned at the stake. But it leaves science in an awkward spot, now that it wants to venture into that territory of qualities, of first-person experience. And I don’t think it has the proper tools. I think it will have to add to its toolkit in some way, and find a way to bring in phenomenology, or lived experience and introspection, which science is usually dismissive of.The challenge—we alluded to it earlier—is that the only tool you have to study consciousness with is consciousness. And what I mean by that is, the whole scientific enterprise is a manifestation of consciousness. As much as scientists like to flatter themselves with this idea that they attain a godlike perspective on what they study, when it comes to consciousness, there’s no such thing. And it’s fine for all the things you can step outside of and study from that perspective. But two areas it won’t work are consciousness and cosmology.___It could be that we live in this anomaly of not believing nature is conscious. And maybe psychedelics are teaching us something we’ve forgotten.___With cosmology, too, you have to study the universe from inside the universe. It’s not that cosmologists haven’t made progress. We know a lot about the age of the universe and expansion and things like that. But we can’t penetrate what happened before the Big Bang. We just don’t have the tools because we can’t stand outside.The fact that there are 22 full-scale theories of consciousness tells you all you need to know: we’re kind of lost. And I was surprised to find that we are more lost than I thought we were when I started this. I thought that there’d be leading theories, or that we had experiments that we could conduct that would nail some of this down. And the fact is, we don’t.So, I don’t know if science can solve it. But, of course, we can change the rules of science. A really influential book for me was a book called The Blind Spot, by two physicists, Marcello Gleiser and Adam Frank, and a philosopher, Evan Thompson. It’s a reminder that science is a social practice. It’s organized in a certain way and it can be organized in a different way. But it has this huge blind spot at the center of it, which is its failure to recognize that it is a form of consciousness itself, and it doesn’t have a good way of taking account of lived experience.AC: On the one hand, I think you want to resist traditional dualism, which would say that consciousness is something magical, something supernatural, right? But on the other hand, you’re accepting that there is this division in reality between the stuff that you can investigate objectively and measure, and so on—the stuff that science has been good at finding out about—and consciousness, which, for some reason, you can’t objectively measure. Some would take this to suggest that the dualism is actually right. Is there a way of reconciling these two strands of your thinking?MP: To call it magical is full of value judgement. I mean, you could just say immaterial. The interesting thing is, I think, that intuitively we’re all dualists. And I don’t know whether that’s because we’re children of Descartes and other cultures are less dualist than we are. Or it may be because that’s how consciousness feels. It feels different than the body. It feels separate from the body. But I don’t think we should trust that intuition.AC: So let’s think about ways that science might be changed to get at consciousness. I suppose the starting point would be the way that you begin the second half of your book. You have this nice line from William James, where he says, “We now begin our study of the mind from within.” Could you give us some sense of the ways of studying the mind from within? What does this involve?MP: I don’t know what that science looks like. But one of the points I’m making is that it depends on the humanities. I found that I learned as much, if not more, about consciousness, from reading novels and poetry. There is a sense of the fullness and complexity of consciousness that you don’t get in any scientific account. I interviewed this stream-of-consciousness writer and I approached her as an expert on consciousness, and she is. So I think that dialogue is really important.I’m reading Ben Lerner’s new novel, Transcription. Just read the first page of this novel: it’s a man falling asleep on a train, going to conduct an interview, and there is the experience of being in the train, facing backwards, there’s the view outside, but there’s a reflection of himself through which he’s seeing outside. There’s the memory of dropping his kids off at school. All this is going on in one moment of consciousness. Scientists aren’t going anywhere near that. But I think it’s useful for them to think about. That’s where we’re trying to go: like, how does such a layered experience happen? You know, it also makes you wonder, could a computer ever do this? And it gives you some doubt.*AC: Before we get to computers, perhaps we could talk briefly about plants. How did you come to feel that they are sentient?MP: Well, it was a psychedelic experience, and it’s not unusual on psychedelics. In fact, there’ve been studies about how people become animists during psychedelic experience. Their belief in animism arises after a single psychedelic experience.You know, most scientists would say this is all a myth. But we have only 400 years of the age of enlightenment and science. Before that, we were animists, and if you go around the world, most indigenous cultures are still animists, and children are animists, by and large, until they go to school. So it could be that we live in this anomaly of not believing nature is conscious. And maybe psychedelics are teaching us something we’ve forgotten.As I said, I wanted to test this idea, and see whether there was conventional scientific evidence for it. And there’s fascinating work going on in a field that calls itself—in a rather cheeky way—plant neurobiology. These are people who fully realize there are no neurons in plants, but they’re trolling conventional botanists! And they’re doing experiments that are demonstrating that plants can learn and remember, which is kind of amazing: how do you store a memory without neurons? They’re finding plants that can solve problems, that can hear and see. In fact, they have 20 senses to our five or six. For example, a bean plant looking for something to twine, and given a pole within eight inches or so of it, knows where that pole is and will aim its spiraling reach at that pole. What is that about? Is it bouncing signals off of it?One of the spookiest things is the fact that the same anesthetics that put us out put plants out. You might think that plants are already out, but they’re not. They’re just slow. If you take a plant with a fast behavior, like a Venus flytrap, and give it an anesthetic, it will stop reacting. So you have to ask yourself, what is lost when the plant is anaesthetized? Some state of alertness, of awareness, of its environment, of reactivity. I’m not prepared to call that consciousness, but maybe it’s sentience—which is a simpler form of consciousness, and involves the ability to sense what’s going on in your environment and assess what’s good and bad for you and act appropriately. That may be a universal quality of life.AC: Let’s turn from plants to AI. You point out that LLMs are trained on the internet rather than direct interactions with reality. You put this really nicely when you say the internet is not the world so much as a shadow cast by the world. So LLMs are living in this kind of shadow world, or in Plato’s cave, as you put it. What’s the significance of this for AI consciousness and moral consideration? And, to recall the beginning of our conversation, if we’re stuck behind a veil or screen of consciousness, are we also stuck in a kind of shadow world?MP: I don’t think they’re the same shadow worlds because our world includes nature and other people. And even if it’s mediated in some ways... There is a reality out there, and we are in relation to it, through consciousness. There’s friction with it. What’s missing from the LLMs is that friction with the real world. There’s more to the world than human representation, which is what they’re dealing with. And that means that so far, AI is a cultural technology for combining thoughts we’ve already had. SUGGESTED VIEWING Cracking the code for thought With Roger Penrose, Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski, Max Tegmark, Güneş Taylor Genuine creativity is more than collage. A lot of what AI does now is tantamount to collage, putting this with that and you know, that’s part of art, certainly. But there are also genuinely new ideas that come into the world that don’t come in through manipulating the representations we already have. So it remains to be seen whether AIs can be truly creative in that more radical sense.But my arguments against AI becoming conscious have to do with the fact that the idea of AI consciousness is based on this faulty metaphor that the brain is a computer. There are dimensions in which the brain is like a computer—it certainly does its share of computation. But computers have this sharp distinction between hardware and software, and brains don’t. In a brain, hardware and software are identical. Every memory is a physical change to the brain. Brains are not interchangeable in the way computers are. So this idea that you could take the consciousness out and somehow run it on another substrate, a silicon substrate, seems foolhardy.Anyway, it’s a more extended argument, and I may be wrong. And when we move to computers that aren’t based on silicon—neuromorphic computers and things like that—all bets may be off.AC: Regarding your point about LLMs being stuck in the world of our representations—the internet or whatever—and not being able to interact with reality, are these representations, the world of the internet, themselves part of reality? We’ve created the internet, but it’s still a real thing that exists. And so while the LLMs may be trapped within that part of reality, they’re nevertheless within reality and interacting with it and so on. So it’s not obvious that there’s a barrier there to them becoming conscious and being creative.MP: Yeah, I mean, if our consciousness is built out of human culture, which is what we’re talking about with all those representations. But I tend to think consciousness comes a bit more out of nature and friction with the natural world, but...AC: So there’s a fundamental divide between the natural world and human artefacts?MP: And we lose track of that, and especially people in this computer world. You know, the people who are creating these AI systems, my guess is they’ve been into video games since the age of three, and they didn’t go outside a lot. And their own contact with nature is somewhat limited. I could be wrong, it’d be a very interesting thing to ask, all the wizards of AI, whether they like to go fishing and hiking and do things like that. Or were they on computers from a very early age? I interviewed Blake Lemoine, the Google engineer who came to believe that LaMDA, the Google LLM out at the time, was conscious and deserved personhood. It was very clear that he didn’t see a distinction between this bubble in which he lived and the real world. And I think we’ve all been distanced from the natural world, and this is taking us even further away. But it’s still there, you know, and we still have bodies, and we’re still mortal, and we don’t live in a simulation.AC: I think that’s a great place to finish. Michael Pollan, thank you very much!
Guardians' Steven Kwan: Contributes immediately
Guardians' Steven Kwan: Contributes immediately
The number of Americans living without health insurance remained stable at 8%—before ACA subsidies expired
The data on medical coverage rates comes from the 2025 National Health Interview Survey, with data being released by the CDC twice a year. Numbers from last year show that 28 million people have no health insurance.
Diamondbacks' James McCann: Begins baseball activity
Diamondbacks' James McCann: Begins baseball activity
President Trump seeks control of science funding
The White House Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars in federal grants. Critics say the proposed change would jeopardize the integrity of U.S. science.
President Trump seeks control of science funding
The White House Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars in federal grants. Critics say the proposed change would jeopardize the integrity of U.S. science.
President Trump seeks control of science funding
The White House Office of Management and Budget is moving to take more control of billions of dollars in federal grants. Critics say the proposed change would jeopardize the integrity of U.S. science.
Contributor: U.S. lead in science is shrinking fast as China, India and even Iran catch up
As global competition intensifies, the United States risks driving away the world’s brightest minds rather than drawing them in.
'Grangeville' review: Samuel D. Hunter play grapples with fraught past
The Idaho-set play has its West Coast premiere at Ruskin Group Theatre in a production directed by John Perrin Flynn and starring Tim Cummings and Jeff LeBeau.
Health groups lobby against chemical law changes
Public health and environmental advocates are pressing lawmakers this week to oppose industry-backed changes to the Toxic Substances Control Act.
Red States’ Sound Science Laws Echo Trump Regulatory Overhaul
Republican-led states are following President Donald Trump’s lead and making it harder for their agencies to exceed federal environmental standards.
We finally know enough about how the brain breaks to focus on fixing it, experts say
The Allen Institute in Seattle says scientists have now learned enough about how the brain works to start fixing it when it breaks.
COMMENTARY: Politics and failure
Politics is the only profession of which I am aware in which competence doesn't seem to matter. One can fail miserably; one can be corrupt and one can get away with crimes that if committed by someone outside of elective office, arrest, prosecution and a stint in jail would be the result. Yet politicians, Democrats and Republicans, continue to get re-elected.
OPINION: Civility where art thou in today’s politics?
I've been asked of late if we as United States citizens, and even here at home in Arkansas, have seen a vast and downward decline in civility.
A science powerhouse bets on genetic therapy to beat brain disorders
The Allen Institute in Seattle says scientists have now learned enough about how the brain works to start fixing it when it breaks.
A science powerhouse bets on genetic therapy to beat brain disorders
The Allen Institute in Seattle says scientists have now learned enough about how the brain works to start fixing it when it breaks.
Orioles take win streak into matchup with the Red Sox
The Baltimore Orioles will attempt to keep a three-game win streak intact when they take on the Boston Red Sox
Pirates take on the Astros after Mangum's 4-hit game
The Pittsburgh Pirates play the Houston Astros after Jake Mangum had four hits against the Astros on Tuesday
Reds and Royals meet to determine series winner
Both the Cincinnati Reds and the Kansas City Royals are looking for a series win with a victory on Wednesday
‘Cancer crisis’: Experts warn of impending global shortage of radiology professionals
Researchers project that the global healthcare workforce will need approximately 750,000 more radiologists by 2050.
Chip prodigy returns to China, hybrid crop grown in desert: 7 science highlights
From the world’s first parallel processor to doubts over Elon Musk’s Starship, here are some highlights from SCMP’s recent science reporting.
International medical graduates represent nearly 25% of diagnostic radiologists in US
Recently policy changes under the Trump administration "highlight potential vulnerability in relying on this as a supply of radiologists," experts write in Academic Radiology.
Lumexa Imaging inks new joint venture with Hospital for Special Surgery
The Raleigh, North Carolina-based radiology group said this marks its ninth JV deal, with the latest boosting its presence in New York.
Pirates' Endy Rodriguez: Smashes first homer Tuesday
Pirates' Endy Rodriguez: Smashes first homer Tuesday
Astros' Yordan Alvarez: Blasts 21st homer Tuesday
Astros' Yordan Alvarez: Blasts 21st homer Tuesday
Pirates' Gregory Soto: Closes out eighth save
Pirates' Gregory Soto: Closes out eighth save
Pirates' Bubba Chandler: Earns second win Tuesday
Pirates' Bubba Chandler: Earns second win Tuesday
Dodgers' Eric Lauer: Does fine in Arizona
Dodgers' Eric Lauer: Does fine in Arizona
Mariners' Jhonny Pereda: Belts three-run homer
Mariners' Jhonny Pereda: Belts three-run homer
Cardinals' Nolan Gorman: Snaps slump with homer Tuesday
Cardinals' Nolan Gorman: Snaps slump with homer Tuesday
Amazon launches Prime in South Africa with unlimited free delivery, savings, and entertainment benefits
For the first time ever, Amazon Prime members in South Africa will be able to shop Prime Day.
The Gerrymandering of America: It’s About More Than Politics
The design of political constituencies is an important element in the maintenance of community. The way we have manipulated voting districts has eroded a relationship that ought to be fundamental to public life.
Trump-backed Rep. Randy Feenstra concedes Iowa governor primary
It’s a blow for the president, who has seen most of his chosen candidates this cycle sail to victory or advance to runoff elections — until now.
The Science Behind the Quest for a Non-Peptide Oral Weight Loss Drug A
A combination of human and artificial intelligence has paved the way for a GLP-1 agonist that is effective when taken by mouth.
Rangers' Jakob Junis: Locks down fourth save
Rangers' Jakob Junis: Locks down fourth save
Guardians' Kyle Manzardo: Goes deep in Tuesday's win
Guardians' Kyle Manzardo: Goes deep in Tuesday's win
Gilbert Fire and Rescue orders full building evacuation, leaving business owners scrambling for space
Gilbert fire ordered a full evacuation of a commercial building near Gilbert and Guadalupe roads after determining the property posed an immediate safety risk, leaving business owners scrambling.
Top 6 worries about healthcare AI among clinicians and patients in 2026
AI is now as much a part of U.S. healthcare as any other technology category in wide use across the sector. However, like no other technology, its role is “being actively shaped, not passively adopted” by clinicians and patients alike.
Connection uncovered between liability protections and downsizing decisions—in nursing homes, at least
When nursing homes lose their fear of getting sued for substandard care quality, they tend to make do with fewer caregivers, a new study reveals.
Blue Jays' Kevin Gausman: Yields four runs in Tuesday's loss
Blue Jays' Kevin Gausman: Yields four runs in Tuesday's loss
Red Sox's Garrett Crochet: Diagnosed with low-grade strain
Red Sox's Garrett Crochet: Diagnosed with low-grade strain
Supreme Court rules Alabama may redraw congressional maps to oust a Black Democrat
The decision clears the way for the governor and state lawmakers to redraw their congressional voting map with six districts that favor Republicans and one that favors a Democrat.
Nationals' Drew Millas: Exits early Tuesday
Nationals' Drew Millas: Exits early Tuesday
With Myles Garrett, will Rams finally find true L.A. sports fan love?
The Rams are doing everything they can to be perennial Super Bowl title contenders, but will they ever get closer to the Dodgers and Lakers in popularity?
Mercury, Storm trying to discover elixir for losing streaks
The Phoenix Mercury opened the season with a 99-66 victory against the Las Vegas Aces, who swept them in the WNBA Finals last season.
Barriers to Inclusive Sexual and Reproductive Health Care for LGBTQ+ Populations: A Narrative Review With Emphasis on Midwifery and Obstetric Services in Greece
Despite recent legal and policy advancements, LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, and additional identities) populations continue to face significant barriers to equi...
Science: HHS Asking for Changes in NIH-Funded Research
The Department of Health and Human Services is now reviewing all grants approved by its National Institutes of Health, and HHS staff “sometimes ask for substantive changes in the research,”
Ocean sensors will go dark under Trump funding cuts
The Trump administration is dismantling a $386 million network of more than 900 ocean sensors funded by the National Science Foundation.
Peabo Bryson dead: R&B singer known for Disney classics was 75
R&B singer Peabo Bryson died Tuesday in Marietta, Ga., after suffering a stroke over the weekend, according to his familiy.
FDA highlights recall of certain Impella introducer kits after 3 injuries
This latest recall was put in place due to an increased risk of blood clots developing during use. Only a small number of hospitals are affected.
Martin Scorsese is betting on AI to transform storyboarding process
Martin Scorsese is joining AI firm Black Forest Labs as an advisor to 'push the bounds of creativity.'
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin refuses to commit to following court orders
Mullin faced the Senate Appropriations committee amid scrutiny over the agency's budget and immigration enforcement ahead of the World Cup.
Blue Jays' Max Scherzer: Making next rehab start Friday
Blue Jays' Max Scherzer: Making next rehab start Friday
Giants' Jung Hoo Lee: On bench Tuesday
Giants' Jung Hoo Lee: On bench Tuesday
Eagles release DE Brandon Graham in a procedural move
The Eagles released veteran defensive end Brandon Graham on Tuesday.
Guardians' Petey Halpin: Returns to Triple-A
Guardians' Petey Halpin: Returns to Triple-A
Ford Road in Canton Township set to get 4 new businesses amid traffic safety concerns
A parking lot off Ford Road near IKEA in Canton is slated for a small, 4-unit commercial building, prompting questions from drivers and small business owners about what that means for traffic.
New-look pacemaker uses ultrasound to stimulate the heart—no implant required
The engineers behind this new device envision a future where patients wear a single postage stamp-sized sticker that images and stimulates the heart.
L.A. Rep. Jimmy Gomez reportedly faces House investigation over sexual misconduct allegations
The investigation came after the New York Post reported that the five-term congressman had been spotted kissing a much younger congressional staffer from a different office in 2023.