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Political Science Major Reflects on Impactful Experience at Thurgood Marshall Institute
Political Science Major Reflects on Impactful Experience at Thurgood Marshall Institute - Read this story on www.coloradocollege.edu
Research in Yale Science Building paused due to ventilation failure
A Wednesday email announced that the building — except for Marsh Lecture Hall and concourse-level physics research labs — would be closed until further notice.
Gov. Stein to discuss rural health improvements at virtual town hall
Governor Josh Stein, along with other state officials, will host a virtual town hall on Friday, Jan. 16, to discuss North Carolina's Rural Health Transformation
The 4 Coolest Tech Innovations From CES 2026 You Need To Check Out
Among the new technologies at CES 2026, the TCL SQD-Mini LED TV, Lenovo Legion Pro Rollable laptop, Jackery Solar Mars Bot, and Nvidia DLSS 4.5 stand out.
Photo gallery: John Marshall defeats Linsly, 66-35
MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. — Photo gallery from John Marshall’s 66-35 win over Linsly. (Photo gallery courtesy of Robert Ovies Sports Photography)
Mars Veterinary Health publishes 2025 Science Impact Report highlighting global advances in pet health
Mars Veterinary Health has published its 2025 Science Impact Report – Pets, Purpose, Progress: Clinical Excellence through Scientific Innovation.
Attempt to affirm climate science fails on Senate floor
Republican Sen. Roger Marshall objected to a Democratic resolution.
Amendment 37: New Opportunity: C.12 Foundational Artificial Intelligence for the Moon and Mars
C.12 Foundational Artificial Intelligence for the Moon and Mars (FAIMM) is intended to enable individual researchers to participate as members of teams who
Powell's Made This Political: Sen. Marshall
Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) shares his thoughts on the DOJ serving the Federal Reserve with subpoenas and whether or not he agrees with some of his GOP colleagues who will oppose any Federal Reserve nominations with this going on. Senator Marshall voices his support for President Trump's credit card interest rate cap proposal and discusses what's next on health care from the Senate. He speaks with Joe Mathieu and Julie Fine on the late edition of Bloomberg's "Balance of Power." (Source: Bloomberg)
Scientists Solve Mars Water Mystery With a Thin Layer of Ice
New climate modeling suggests that small lakes on ancient Mars could have stayed liquid for decades, even in a generally cold environment. Small lakes on early Mars may have stayed in liquid form for many years, despite average temperatures that were far below freezing. Researchers at Rice Uni
Stream Smarter for $14.97: Unlimited Entertainment for Busy Entrepreneurs
Learn why entrepreneurs are ditching multiple streaming subscriptions.
The electrifying science behind Martian dust
Mars, often depicted as a barren red planet, is far from lifeless. With its thin atmosphere and dusty surface, it is an energetic and electrically charged environment where dust storms and dust devils ...
Marshon Lattimore arrested: Commanders CB faces weapons charges in Ohio
Washington is reportedly aware of the arrest of Lattimore on weapons charges
Interplanetary science needs a commercial backbone
Interplanetary science needs a commercial backbone
Cancer-stricken 'Stranger Things' star Jennifer Marshall says Season...
NC Secretary of State calls for new budget to keep up with business registrations
New business formations reached record pace in North Carolina in the second half of 2025. Elaine Marshall says her team needs more staff to handle all the paperwork.
New Record For Longest-Ever Observation Of One Of The Most Active Solar Regions In 20 Years
The solar eruptions around May 2024 affected Earth and even our missions on Mars.
Honoring Service to Palmetto Bay, Not Politics
After the November 2026 election, three familiar faces will be leaving the Palmetto Bay Village Council: Marsha Matson, Patrick Fiore, and Mayor Karyn Cunningham. Love them, loathe them, or argue...
The audacious plan to make rocket fuel on the moon
Using lunar ice to make rocket fuel could help future lunar settlements sustain themselves and provide a launch pad for astronauts to reach Mars.
Idaho Senator responds to Health and Welfare fraud allegations
KBOI-TV CBS 2 covers news, sports, traffic, and weather in the Treasure Valley and Boise, Idaho and nearby communities, including Meridian, Nampa, Garden City, Caldwell, Kuna, Middleton, Eagle, Mountain Home, Star, Melba, Payette, Weiser, Horseshoe Bend, Idaho City, Marsing, Homedale, Parma, New Plymouth, Murphy, Fruitland, Emmett, Wilder, Notus, McCall, Cascade, Donnelly, Council, and Vale, Oregon, and Nyssa, Oregon, Ontario, Oregon.
The top Charlotte business stories of 2025
Before we get too far into the new year, let’s take a brief moment to look back — this time at some of the top Charlotte-area business news of 2025. To do that, Tony Mecia of the Charlotte Ledger Business Newsletter joined our Marshall Terry for our segment BizWorthy.
College football bowl and 2025-26 CFP picks, predictions: Legendary Vegas expert reveals best bets today
SportsLine expert Bruce Marshall reveals betting guide for every College Football Playoff and bowl game
Scientists just found the best places to look for ancient life on Mars
Mars once had sprawling river systems that rivaled major watersheds on Earth, and scientists have now identified the biggest ones for the first time. Researchers mapped 16 massive drainage basins where water likely flowed long enough to support life. Even though these areas cover just 5% of ancient Martian terrain, they account for a huge share of erosion and sediment movement. That makes them some of the most promising places to search for ancient life.
How Pakistan’s Asim Munir became Trump’s ‘favourite field marshal’
The army chief, analysts say, has driven Pakistan's geopolitical reemergence over the past year as a soldier-diplomat.
Mission Health announces visitor restrictions, citing high rate of flu in WNC
WLOS News 13 provides local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, notices of events and items of interest in the community, sports and entertainment programming for Asheville, NC and nearby towns and communities in Western North Carolina and the Upstate of South Carolina, including the counties of Buncombe, Henderson, Rutherford, Haywood, Polk, Transylvania, McDowell, Mitchell, Madison, Yancey, Jackson, Swain, Macon, Graham, Spartanburg, Greenville, Anderson, Union, Pickens, Oconee, Laurens, Greenwood, Abbeville and also Biltmore Forest, Woodfin, Leicester, Black Mountain, Montreat, Arden, Weaverville, Hendersonville, Etowah, Flat Rock, Mills River, Waynesville, Maggie Valley, Canton, Clyde, Franklin, Cullowhee, Sylva, Cherokee, Marion, Old Fort, Forest City, Lake Lure, Bat Cave, Spindale, Spruce Pine, Bakersville, Burnsville, Tryon, Columbus, Marshall, Mars Hill, Brevard, Bryson City, Cashiers, Greer, Landrum, Clemson, Gaffney, and Easley.
College football bowl and 2025-26 CFP picks, predictions: Legendary Vegas expert reveals best bets today
SportsLine CFB expert Bruce Marshall reveals betting guide for every College Football Playoff and bowl game
The spiders on the icecaps of Mars
Astrobiologists think they could point to more habitable areas on the red planet
Time runs faster on Mars and scientists just proved it
Thanks to Einstein’s relativity, time flows differently on Mars than on Earth. NIST scientists have now nailed down the difference, showing that Mars clocks tick slightly faster—and fluctuate over the Martian year. These microsecond shifts could play a big role in future Mars navigation, communications, and even a solar-system-wide internet. It’s a small time gap with big consequences for space exploration.
Science in 2050: the future breakthroughs that will shape our world
Nature - Nuclear fusion. People on Mars. Artificial general intelligence. These are just some of the advances that could come by the mid-century mark.
Austin Peay secures 110-59 win against Fisk
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) Rashaud Marshall had 24 points in Austin Peay's 110-59 win against Fisk on Sunday.
5 shot overnight in Fort Lauderdale’s Himmarshee Village entertainment district
Fort Lauderdale police investigated a quintuple shooting in one of the city’s nightlife districts overnight Sunday.
Scientists may have found the best place for humans to land on Mars
A newly identified region on Mars may hold the key to future human landings. Researchers found evidence of water ice less than a meter beneath the surface, close enough to be harvested for water, oxygen, and fuel. The location strikes a rare balance between sunlight and cold, helping preserve the ice. It could also offer clues about whether Mars once supported life.
Perseverance continues science mission amid uncertainty about Mars Sample Return
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is continuing its mission to collect samples despite uncertainty about when or if those samples will be returned to Earth.
College football bowl and CFP picks, predictions: Legendary Vegas expert reveals best bets for today
SportsLine CFB expert Bruce Marshall reveals his betting guide for every College Football Playoff and bowl game
The Business of Watches Podcast: Audemars Piguet CEO Ilaria Resta Drives Double-Digit Sales Increase For Brand's 150th Anniversary Year
How AP managed to grow sales amid an industry downturn and how its Chief Executive is positioning the brand for the next century.
Trump appears in new batch of Epstein documents
The Justice Department released a new batch of documents from Epstein investigation. President Donald Trump’s name is mentioned many times in the documents, including in references to flight records related to Epstein’s private plane. Authorities have not accused Trump of criminal wrongdoing related to Epstein. CNN’s Marshall Cohen reports.
I compared TJ Maxx and Marshalls this holiday season. I would only recommend one.
TJ Maxx and Marshalls are two of the best-known discount department stores in the US, but they are not the same.
College football bowl and CFP picks, predictions: Legendary Vegas expert reveals best bets
SportsLine CFB expert Bruce Marshall reveals best bets for every College Football Playoff and bowl game
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4750-4762: See You on the Other Side of the Sun
Written by Lucy Thompson, Planetary Scientist and APXS team member, University of New Brunswick, Canada
Kalamazoo salon owner faces financial uncertainty after car crash damages business
WWMT-TV Newschannel 3 provides local news, weather forecasts, notices of events and entertainment programming for Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, Battle Creek, South Haven, Paw Paw, Portage, Otsego, Texas Township, Oshtemo, Plainwell, Allegan, Holland, Saugatuck, Holland, Wayland, Kentwood, Middleville, Hastings, Marshall, Three Rivers, Sturgis, Constantine, Coldwater, Albion, Wyoming, Hudsonville, Allendale, Byron Center, Hudsonville, Grand Haven, Muskegon, Sparta, Rockford, Belding, Greenville, Ionia, Cedar Springs and their surrounding areas.
College football bowl and CFP picks, predictions: Legendary Vegas expert reveals best bets
SportsLine CFB expert Bruce Marshall reveals best bets for every College Football Playoff and bowl game
Sudlersville man arrested for attempted arson of Ridgely business
The Office of the State Fire Marshal announced today they have arrested a 26-year-old Sudlersville man for attempted arson targeting a business in Ridgely.
Wind-Sculpted Landscapes: Investigating the Martian Megaripple 'Hazyview'
Written by Noah Martin, Ph.D. student and Candice Bedford, Research Scientist at Purdue University
Time Moves Faster on Mars, And Scientists Finally Know by How Much
"This is the closest we have been to realizing the science fiction vision of expanding across the Solar System."
Curiosity Blog, Sols 4743-4749: Polygons in the Hollow
Written by Lucy Lim, Planetary Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Marshall Scholar examines the intersection of books, literature and politics
Jack Wallace, UVA’s 18th recipient of the scholarship, says critical thinking and literacy are antidotes for mistrust generated by technology.
Science in 2026: the events to watch for in the coming year
Nature - The rise of AI scientists, missions to explore the moons of Earth and Mars and a massive ocean-floor drill are among the developments set to shape research in 2026.
Fire destroys business, apartment building in Patten
The State Fire Marshal's Office is investigating a fire in Patten that destroyed a business and nearby apartment building.
Morehead State knocks off Little Rock 78-64
MOREHEAD, Ky. (AP) George Marshall scored 17 points as Morehead State beat Little Rock 78-64 on Tuesday night in an Ohio Valley Conference opener.
THE WEEK OF DEC 15, 2025
- NSF seeks input on new funding structure - Academies propose Mars mission plans - Science Republicans investigate civil rights offices
NASA Continues MAVEN Spacecraft Recontact Efforts
NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) mission team, in partnership with the agency’s Deep Space Network, continues recovery activities after
Fourth-Quarter Drought Sends EKU to 75-50 Loss Against Marshall - Eastern Kentucky University Athletics
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky University battled Marshall for three quarters but was held scoreless in the fourth quarter, resulting in a 75-50 loss Sunday afternoon at the Clive M. Beck Center.
🚨 Ligue 1’s autumn champions revealed...
The Big Surprise!That's it, except for Monaco and Marseille who play tonight at 8:45 PM, all the top French teams have started their winter break. We now know who the autumn champion in Ligue 1 is, an...
Photo gallery: John Marshall defeats Magnolia, 80-51
MOUNDSVILLE, W.Va. — Photo gallery from John Marshall’s 80-51 win over Magnolia. (Photo gallery courtesy of Robert Ovies Sports Photography)
The Search for Life Tops NASA's Science Goals for the First Human Mars Mission
A new report identifies searching for life as the top science priority for humanity's first landing on Mars, ranking it above understanding water cycles, mapping geology, or even studying how the Martian environment affects astronaut health. The report outlines four possible exploration campaigns, with the highest ranked approach calling for missions totalling 330 sols at a single scientifically rich site where crews could investigate everything from ancient lava flows to active dust storms. By placing the search for extraterrestrial life at the centre of human Mars exploration, the report reimagines the first crewed mission not just as a milestone for spaceflight but as humanity's best chance to answer whether we're alone in the universe.
Einstein was right: Time ticks faster on Mars, posing new challenges for future missions
Clocks on Mars tick faster by about 477 microseconds each Earth day, a new study suggests. This difference is significantly more than that for our moon, posing potential challenges for future crewed missions.
Report identifies science objectives of human Mars exploration
The search for past or present life should be the top science objective of future human missions to Mars, a new National Academies report concludes.
'We Can Get There': Scientists Make the Case for Mars in 200-Page Report
Primarily they want to search for life, but geological and resource exploration are also discussed.
Scientists have calculated just how much faster clocks tick on Mars
Clocks tick faster on Mars than they do on Earth, in part because Mars experiences less gravitational pull from the Sun. Now scientists have calculated just how much faster -- 477 microseconds, on average.
NASA Teams Work MAVEN Spacecraft Signal Loss
NASA’s MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) spacecraft, in orbit around Mars, experienced a loss of signal with ground stations on Earth on Dec. 6.
Search for Life Should Be Top Science Priority for First Human Landing on Mars, Says New Report
When astronauts set foot on Mars, it will be one of humanity’s greatest milestones, marking the start of a new era of discovery on another planet. A new National Academies report identifies the highest priority science objectives for the first human missions to Mars and says searching for evidence of existing or past life on the planet should be the top priority.
Sensory play business Squish opens downtown
Kids in Marshalltown have a new play option – Squish, a downtown hands-on sensory play business. Owners Bobbie Slaney and Tiffany Fouts started the business inside the Hellberg’s Jewelers building at 13 W. Main St., with a soft opening on Monday. According to Slaney, the inspiration came when they saw there were not a lot […]
Strangely bleached rocks on Mars hint that the Red Planet was once a tropical oasis
Bleached clay rocks found on the Martian surface suggest that the Red Planet was once home to heavy rainfall and tropical conditions, new Perseverance observations hint.
For small businesses hit by soaring costs, layoffs are painful and personal
Lacie Carroll-Marsh had to lay off 17 of her 31 employees this year: “We have Christmases together. And it hurts. There’s tears on both sides.”
Lessons from the Past: Responsible Science and Astrobiology
In a recent paper, a team of SETI and astrobiology specialists examines four controversial claims about the existence of extraterrestrial life. From these, they present recommendations for scientists and science communicators when addressing future claims of discovery.
McWane Science Center unveils terrapin conservation lab. How to help in 2025
The Birmingham museum partners with UAB to raise endangered Mississippi Diamondback Terrapins before releasing them back to Alabama's coastal marshes.
How to tell time on Mars
Physicists finally know how much faster time moves on the Red Planet.
Red Dead Redemption Out Now on Netflix, iOS, Android, PS5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch 2
Experience John Marston's journey across the sprawling expanses of the American West and Mexico to hunt down the remaining members of the Van der Linde Gang in Red Dead Redemption along with his fight to stop a virulent zombie plague in Undead...
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.
Curiosity Cracked Open a Rock on Mars And Revealed a Big Surprise
A first on the red planet!
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.