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PARKERSBURG – The Artsbridge calendar for the week ahead: TODAY * Anything Goes: Wild Things, all member exhibition of the West Virginia Watercolor Society, Parkersburg Art Center * Belpre Holiday Lights, Civitan Park, Belpre * Festival of Trees Display, Blennerhassett Hotel and Spa * Shannon Hammer, naturalist photography display, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., WesBanco, […]
Science teacher bringing lessons to life with a touch of magic
Alexus Ables uses magic and real-life experiences to draw her students in to learning.
COVID-19 pandemic narrowed health care industry pay gap, new study finds
A new study finds that the COVID-19 pandemic narrowed the wage gap between high and low paid workers in the health care industry, as the lowest earners saw the biggest boost in pay in the years since the pandemic began.
Map unveiled as Indiana House gets down to redistricting business
Millions of Hoosiers would have different representation in the U.S. House under a proposed redrawing of Indiana’s congressional maps that aims to produce a 9-0 GOP delegation.
'There’s a lot of harassment' | Madisonville business owner looking for solutions after safety issues
Liz Field of The Cheesecakery told us the harassment and issues have gotten worse within the last year, and now she’s at her wits' end and doesn’t know what to do.
Missouri sportsbook promos: Claim almost $3,000 in bonuses with Missouri sports betting promo codes at launch
The best Missouri sportsbook promos are available now that sports betting is legal in the state. Get the latest Missouri sports betting promo codes and claim up to $3,000 in bonuses
Congress set to vote on college sports bill that limits NIL, transfers
The U.S. House of Representatives is set to vote Monday, Dec. 1 on the SCORE Act to give the NCAA more authority to set rules on NIL and transfers.
Missouri sports betting is now live: Find the best sports betting apps and launch promos to claim
Missouri sports betting is now live, and the top Missouri sportsbooks are offering Missouri sports betting promos
The AirPods Pro 3 Wireless Noise Canceling Earbuds Drops to $149.99 for Cyber Monday
Certified open box (new) from an eBay vendor with 400,000 feedback and a 99.7% rating.
Gen Z And AI In The Business World
Gen Z founders surf AI-driven digital waves, prioritizing collaboration, owned platforms, differentiation, and hyper-personalized engagement.
Are university policies holding science back? Study shows how patenting boosts pure research
When UC Berkeley biochemist Jennifer Doudna first began studying how bacteria fight virus infections, she had no idea it would result in one of the most important scientific breakthroughs of the century. ...
Trump’s quest for political retribution is impeding the Justice Department : The NPR Politics Podcast
President Trump has vowed to seek retribution from his perceived political enemies and to reward his political allies. We discuss how that focus is playing out at the Justice Department, where career prosecutors and other civil servants are no longer calling the shots. How does this partisan shift affect major court cases, from redistricting in Texas to James Comey’s prosecution?This episode: senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith, justice correspondent Carrie Johnson, and senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson.This podcast was produced by Casey Morell and Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub.
Adversity unites playoff foes as Maple Leafs visit Panthers
The Toronto Maple Leafs hope their offensive spark stays lit when they visit the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night in Sunrise, Fla., in the teams' first encounter since the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Netflix Won't Let You Cast Shows From Your Phone to Your TV Anymore
The streaming giant quietly removed the feature that lets you control content on your TV screen using a mobile device. The company says the feature was not widely used.
South Shore Health resolves contract dispute that could have affected 2,000 patients
Patients had faced losing access to their doctors starting in January.
As political winds shift, top chipmaker TSMC looks beyond Taiwan
The lifeblood of Silicon Valley — advanced microchips — pumps from a science park on Taiwan's west coast, mostly from TSMC, the world's biggest chipmaker. But now the company is looking abroad for places to grow.
These One UI 8.5 Features Could Be Exclusive to the Galaxy S26 Series
We’ve managed to get access to several One UI 8.5 features that may be exclusive to the Galaxy S26 series. So, let's get started.
Read Instagram chief Adam Mosseri's memo ordering staff to the office five days a week in 2026
Instagram back-to-office policy: Adam Mosseri demands full-time in-person work in 2026, fewer meetings, and faster product prototypes.
Chris 'The Bear' Fallica's Top 10 College Football Rankings: Week 15 Edition
Chris 'The Bear' Fallica delivers his top 10 rankings ahead of conference championship weekend of the college football season.
Premier League predictions: Chris Sutton v Felix White
BBC Sport football expert Chris Sutton takes on Felix White - and AI - with his predictions for the midweek Premier League fixtures.
In 19th century Tombstone, the Bird Cage Theater had entertainment for everyone
Tombstone’s Bird Cage opened in 1881 in what was then a young, remote boomtown. Today, the historic variety theater is revered among locals and tourists alike.
CT LEND Fellows Train to Improve Health Care for People with Developmental Disabilities
Three School of Social Work MSW students are learning to assist children and adults with neurodevelopmental disabilities as 2025-26 Connecticut Leadership E ...
K&W Cafeterias close all locations after 88 years in business
K&W Cafeterias, a beloved Southern restaurant for 88 years, has closed all its locations.
The Red Sox are already crying poor
As free agency begins, the Red Sox want you to believe they don’t make money.
White House reveals new details on Donald Trump's MRI
President Trump’s MRI showed perfectly normal cardiovascular and abdominal results, with the White House saying he remains in excellent health.
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
Flutter Entertainment (FLUT) Price Target Trimmed by Citi
We recently published 12 Best Consumer Cyclical Stocks to Buy According to Analysts. Flutter Entertainment plc (NYSE:FLUT) is one of the best consumer cyclical stocks Flutter Entertainment plc (NYSE:FLUT) is a software technology company that offers online betting and other services. Its leading service FanDuel is one of the largest sports betting apps in the […]
Gov. Joe Lombardo signs first responder health bill passed during special session
The Professional Fire Fighters of Nevada, whose representatives had lobbied hard for the bill, thanked the governor in a news release issued Monday.
World Health Organization recommends GLP-1 drugs for obesity
The World Health Organization is now recommending GLP-1 drugs for adults trying to manage obesity. Dr. Natalie Azar explains how this historical shift changes the approach for patients.
School of Health Professions to celebrate graduates at Dec. 13 commencement: Center Times Plus, UT Southwestern
On Saturday, Dec. 13, the achievements of 128 School of Health Professions graduates will be celebrated at a commencement ceremony in the Tom and Lula Gooch Auditorium on South Campus.
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.
Shopify suffers Cyber Monday outage, with checkout services down for some businesses
Some merchants that use Shopify's platform for online sales may experience an issue with checkouts, the company said.
Survey: New York cellphone ban helping student engagement, teacher effectiveness
92% of respondents said the transition to the policy, implemented at the beginning of this academic school year, went smoothly.
Oleksandr Usyk expresses desire to fight Deontay Wilder who would be open to world title clash in 2026
Oleksandr Usyk wants to defend his world heavyweight titles against Deontay Wilder, who has welcomed a fight against the unified world champion.
AI becomes a political wedge issue, creating odd bedfellows across parties
MAGA media personality Steve Bannon described the fight on the right as one between populists and "broligarchs" in the tech industry.
Jeffries seeks to raise pressure on GOP centrists over expiring health care subsidies
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is pressing centrist Republicans to help Democrats extend ObamaCare tax credits before they expire at the end of the month. Jeffries has offered…
Forsberg: Jordan Walsh emerging as the 'violent defender' C's were promised
After Jordan Walsh's career night, Chris Forsberg breaks down how the young Celtics wing has become a legitimate difference-maker on defense.
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.
Warriors icon Steph Curry reveals heartfelt advice for young Sharks superstar Macklin Celebrini
Warriors icon Steph Curry revealed his heartfelt advice for young Sharks superstar Macklin Celebrini on NBC Sports Bay Area's "Dub Talk."
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!
Susquehanna launches exercise science degree program
Susquehanna University will offer an exercise science degree program beginning in fall 2026.
Inside this year’s White House holiday decor
It took 150 volunteers working for one week, with 25,000 feet of ribbon, 120 pounds of gingerbread, more than 10,000 butterflies and a 6,000-piece Lego portrait of President Donald Trump’s likeness to deck the White House halls this year.
iOS 26.2 Release Date: What To Expect And When From The Next Critical iPhone Update
Apple’s next iPhone update is full of new features, large and small. Here’s why it’s important and when it’s coming.
The "most capable" and "best-looking" Apple Watch Series 11 is cheapest at Best Buy and Amazon for Cyber Monday
Snap it up for $329 at either of these retailers, $70 off its typical retail price and worry less about battery life and more about hitting those training goals.
Exchanging a holiday gift? Science is on your side. | News
Gift givers aren't nearly as offended by returns as the recipient may think, SDSU marketing research shows.
Allen County Coroner identifies victim of deadly Piere’s Entertainment Center stabbing
The Allen County Coroner’s Office has identified the victim of a fatal stabbing at Piere’s Entertainment Center.
Hearing in case that could rewrite the rules of religion in politics
A Texas hearing saw pushback to the federal government's recent reversal of a decades-long precedent that banned churches from endorsing politicians.
College football rankings: Ohio State finishes regular season No. 1 in CBS Sports 136
Updating the college football rankings featuring every FBS team after the Week 14 action
iPad Mini Drops to New All-Time Low Price of $349 for Cyber Monday
Amazon and Best Buy have introduced new low prices on the iPad mini 7 for Cyber Monday, starting at $349.00 for the 128GB Wi-Fi tablet, down from $499.00. You'll also find a few deals on cellular models during this sale. Note. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Jan Eberth named head of the Department of Population Health Sciences
Eberth comes to the university from Drexel University in Philadelphia, where she spent the past three years as professor and chair of health management and policy. Prior to that, her education and career were divided between Texas and her native South Carolina.
How upcoming business leaders are using AI to prep for high-stakes deal negotiations—and everyday interactions
Students at American University’s Kogod School of Business are learning how to use AI to sharpen the way they negotiate everything from job offers to high-stakes mergers.
Portland Business Journal Selects Relay Resources President and CEO for 2026 Executive of the Year Award
PORTLAND, Ore., December 01, 2025--Dr. Jennifer Camota Luebke, president and CEO of Relay Resources — the Pacific Northwest’s leading social enterprise nonprofit advancing disability inclusion in the workplace — has been named a 2026 Executive of the Year by the Portland Business Journal.
Chronology: How We Got Here and What’s Happening Now with McAllen’s Entertainment District
McAllen’s Entertainment and Cultural Overlay District (ECOD) in the downtown/17th Street area was formally created by Ordinance 2005-95, adopted on November 14, 2005.
Alina Habba, Trump's former lawyer, disqualified as New Jersey prosecutor
The ruling from a panel of judges from the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals comes amid the push by President Donald Trump's Republican administration to keep Habba as the acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, a powerful post charged with enforcing federal criminal and civil law.
CFP Traffic Report: Examining the paths for remaining Power Four contenders
How are the remaining College Football Playoff contenders from the Power Four navigating the traffic?
How Data is Changing Science – Part 3: The Infrastructure Layer
In Part 1 of this series, we examined how science is beginning to change. Less fieldwork, fewer lab hours. More screens. More simulations. Instead of waiting for nature to do […]
Seen but not forgotten: How citizen science helps document biodiversity in remote Borneo villages
When I, Erik Meijaard, worked as a wildlife consultant for a timber concession in Borneo, I often chatted with the logging truck drivers—and quickly realized that some of them knew far more about local ...
Mayor Villalobos intensifies effort to confront ongoing issues in McAllen’s Entertainment District
McAllen’s Entertainment and Cultural Overlay District, commonly known as the 17th Street entertainment district, was created in 2005 to allow bars, clubs, and music venues to operate under special permits with added safety requirements.
Former Trump personal lawyer Alina Habba is unlawfully serving at the US attorney for New Jersey, appeals court says
A federal appeals court on Monday found Alina Habba, President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, is serving unlawfully as US attorney for New Jersey, dealing a legal blow to the Trump administration that could have far-reaching consequences on other appointments across the country.
WHO issues global guideline on the use of GLP-1 medicines in treating obesity
To address the growing global health challenge of obesity, which affects more than 1 billion people, WHO has released its first guideline on the use of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) therapies for treating obesity as a chronic, relapsing disease.
Science on Tap: The science behind food
Wisconsinites tend to take pride in being the dairy state, encouraging the love of everything from cheese curds to custard to cream puffs.But are you aware of how much research goes into perfecting the products?
It's the Best Time of Year to Buy a New TV: Save Up to $1,000 With Cyber Monday Deals on LG, Samsung, Sony, and More
Cyber Monday TV deals are here with some of the year's lowest prices, with models from Samsung, Sony, and Amazon offering hundreds off!
Lane Kiffin's disastrous exit from Ole Miss spells a much deeper problem in college football
I tried the biggest burgers at 5 fast-food chains and ranked them from worst to best
The biggest burgers from McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, In-N-Out, and Shake Shack were all different in flavor profiles and price points.
The Post’s college football rankings, Heisman watch following Week...
The Post's Zach Braziller ranks the top teams heading into the conference championship games.
NFL news, injury updates: Justin Herbert to have surgery on hand, Sauce Gardner suffers possible calf strain
CA migrant workers delay medical care during Trump’s immigration crackdown
Fewer immigrant farmworkers in California are showing up at pop-up medical clinics since Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Airbus stock drops as much 10% as it confirms a 'quality issue' in the best-selling A320's supply chain
Airbus shares fell as much as 10% after it emerged there was an issue with some A320s' fuselage panels that could delay deliveries to airlines.
I'm 22 and worth $25 million. I don't regret sacrificing sleep, friendships, and college parties to get here.
Emil Barr says having an "extreme" work-life balance is a recipe for mediocrity. He spends as much time working as possible in the hope he'll be a billionaire by 30.
Go (North) West, College Basketball
Lamenting the death of the truly-enjoyable MTE. I hadn’t planned on much basketball coverage here for a couple reasons: for one, the internet is a dying place, and, for two, that’s exacerbating the steady death of Off Tackle Empire dot blogspot dot biz. BUT! Looking over the (limited) options for basketball on this last snowy […]
Best Missouri betting apps: Top MO sportsbook apps to use right now
Missouri betting apps are now accepting real-money bets, and this page will guide you through the best sports betting apps currently available in Missouri.
Today's biggest science news: X-class solar flares | Chernobyl fungus | Modern humans interbred with 'hobbits'
Monday, Dec. 1, 2025: Your daily feed of the biggest discoveries and breakthroughs making headlines.
Arts & Entertainment fall 2025 semester in review
Students surprise film professor with trip to Criterion Closet At the end of last semester, film students at Grand Valley State University thanked their professor with a trip to the Criterion Closet. Students surprised Associate Professor Joel Potrykus with a trip to the Closet, located in New York. The Criterion Closet is a physical collection of films, contained...
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.
State Variations in the Role of the Reproductive Health Safety Net for Contraceptive Care Among Medicaid Enrollees
This KFF analysis uses 2023 T-MSIS Research Identifiable Files to look at where reproductive-age female Medicaid enrollees received their last contraceptive visit by state. Overall, more than four in 10 (43%) female Medicaid enrollees received their last contraceptive visit of 2023 at a safety net provider, which includes Planned Parenthood clinics, community health centers, state and local health departments, and Indian health services, but there is wide variation by state.
Sports Daily: Chiefs aim to stay in playoff hunt in upcoming game against Houston
The busy holiday week is behind us. We have Chiefs, college football, college hoops and more to talk about. Paul Mills and Joshua Brisco join the show.
How incoming federal loan caps could impact med students
And other health news from Morning Rounds
World's first commercial space science satellite launched
The first private space science satellite set to study the effect of flares from stars has been launched into space and is now in orbit, the company behind it has said.
Four people shared their quitting stories. This is some of their best advice.
Are you fed up at work? Sick of it all? Ready to throw in the towel? You're likely not alone.
The 50 Best Undergraduate Business School Professors Of 2025
We reviewed more than 1,200 nominations from students, colleagues & B-school deans to select 50 business professors with outstanding impact.
The 50 Best Undergraduate Business School Professors Of 2025
We reviewed more than 1,200 nominations from students, colleagues & B-school deans to select 50 business professors with outstanding impact.
FEMA workers reinstated after suspension and investigation over letter criticizing Trump’s overhaul of agency
A group of FEMA workers has been reinstated after three months of forced leave and an investigation into alleged misconduct for signing an open letter to Congress that criticized the Trump administration’s overhaul of the disaster relief agency and warned it could put American lives in danger.
Ruby Is Not a Serious Programming Language
Ruby survives on affection, not utility. Let's move on.
New study finds cancer-linked compounds in common foods
Scientists have found that common foods can contain hidden contaminants formed during cooking or through environmental exposure. A new testing method called QuEChERS helps identify these chemicals more quickly and with greater ease. The research showed strong accuracy and high sensitivity across multiple food samples. This streamlined approach could improve food safety checks while reducing chemical waste.
Scientists just found a way to tell if quantum computers are wrong
Researchers unveiled a new technique that validates quantum computer results—especially those from GBS devices—in minutes instead of millennia. Their findings expose unexpected errors in a landmark experiment, offering a crucial step toward truly reliable quantum machines.
Lesley Netter-Snowden named executive vice president and chief business officer
Kennesaw State University President Kathy S. Schwaig has appointed Lesley Netter-Snowden as executive vice president and chief business officer (EVP/CBO) effective immediately, following a national search.
Science 37 Honored for Site Innovation in the 2025 Clinical Trials Arena Excellence Awards
Science 37 is the Winner of Research and Development Award in the Site Innovation category in the 2025 Clinical Trials Arena Excellence Awards
Science must move from materialism to mystery
Theoretical physicist and neuroscientist Àlex Gómez-Marín argues that modern science has become trapped in a framework that mistakes matter for the whole of reality. In this wide-ranging interview, Gómez-Marín challenges the foundations of materialism, defends the scientific study of near-death experiences, and calls for a new type of science grounded in mystery and a renewed sense of the sacred. He suggests that abandoning materialism could open the door to a deeper understanding of consciousness, death, and the purpose of human existence. Simon Custer: You are both a theoretical physicist and a neuroscientist, and you have also been fiercely critical of materialist theories of mind and consciousness. What do you think the ultimate nature of reality is?Àlex Gómez-Marín: I don't know what the ultimate nature of reality is, but what I try to first assess is whether the stories that they [mainstream science] have told us about it are right, or maybe whether there are other alternatives. That's why I've been a fierce critic of materialism. As a scientist, I realized that they had sold us this idea that to be a good scientist you also had to subscribe to many other -isms, like materialism, reductionism, and even secularism. And so first I think one needs to unmount these -isms, and then, as is happening today in consciousness studies, we have a huge landscape where there isn't only one game in town, the idea that matter is the only thing that really exists. But because we are studying the hard problem of consciousness, it may be the case that other views of reality, like idealism, or even dualism, or other theories like dual aspect monism... these are philosophical ideas that now, I think, have room in science to be taken seriously. How does something like materialism relate to dualism or idealism? What is materialism in the first place?Well, materialism is the philosophical position that matter is the only really ‘real’ thing in the universe. And I think that worked kind of well because science started 400 years ago and Galileo made that split, I call it the foundational wound. It was a great business move.He said, let's start doing science on that portion of reality that lends itself more easily to mathematization and measurement. So, for some reason, the solidity of this table or the movement of planets lend themselves very well to this foundational idea of science. But as time went on, 400 years later, we realized that we had forgotten the other side, which is what really matters.What really matters is pain, is love, is feelings, sensation, consciousness, which is very hard to define, but very intimate. We all know what it is. It's that thing that disappears when we go into deep sleep and comes back in the morning. SUGGESTED VIEWING On the edges of knowledge With Michael Shermer, Rupert Sheldrake, Güneş Taylor It's what it is like to be, as Nagel said. It's the feeling of being alive. So, materialism is good to study certain things, but then when it ossifies into this ideology and then is dressed like science, now it's preventing us from understanding these key questions that are really that everybody wants to know.Why are we here? Why do we feel reality? Where do we go when we die? And so we need other ways. We need pluralism. I'm only asking for having more options on the table and taking them seriously. Why does materialism fail to explain consciousness? For example, if you were to lobotomize me, I would not be a functional human being. What do you say to someone who might think that materialism adequately explains the mind?Well, here we could speak about different things. We could talk about physics or about neuroscience. I happen to have training with both.For instance, for neuroscientists, 99% of them, I'm not included in that portion, believe that the brain can only be a productive organ. It's an organ that somehow, somewhere, consciousness emerges. It's like a lamp. And then something happens, magic happens, and then consciousness emerges.That's the position you need to be if you're a materialist because if the only really ‘real’ thing is matter, then you need to say, just give us some more time and money and we'll figure out how mind emerges or is produced from matter. There are many philosophically sophisticated ways of criticizing this.Now there's another option, which is the brain as a permissive organ. This was said by William James more than 100 years ago.Now then the brain wouldn't be like this machine, like for instance, a heat engine whose smoke is consciousness, which is what we would have in the first big model, the productive model. But in the permissive model, the brain would be a kind of a filter. And so the brain would still have a very important role in consciousness, but it wouldn't be a productive role.It would be permissive, much like a filter or much like a prism which would receive light. And - I'm speaking metaphorically - it would receive the light of the mind and then it could reflect it and refract it.Now, with these two big options on the table, I think we can make progress into what I call the edges of consciousness, which are all these experiences, weird experiences that many people have, but we don't talk about enough, like near-death experiences, precognitive dreams, synchronicities. These experiences are very important for humans and they have a place in the permissive hypothesis and they are literally impossible in the productive hypothesis. So that's yet one more reason to explore alternatives to materialism. There may be anecdotal evidence for near-death experiences, but is there robust evidence that would be accepted by the majority of scientists who subscribe to the scientific method?Sure. And the plural of anecdotes, someone said, is data.And there's a lot of data. Actually, this year is the 50th anniversary, half a century, since Dr. Raymond Moody realized that we have two ears and one mouth and started listening to what his patients had to say about their experiences while they were clinically dead.The heart had stopped, breathing had stopped in these patients. These patients would come back and tell him these amazing stories that some people may say are hallucinations, but for the patients were hyper-real, like seeing light at the end of the tunnels, seeing deceased family members waiting for them, feeling bliss.___I would say the evidence suggests that the mind can survive the death of activity of the brain.___And so he and others started taking them seriously and writing their accounts down. And then you can do a science based on that material of experience that people have. Now, on the more objective side, more recently people have started to measure what's going on in the brain when people are clinically dead and brought back. This has opened a proper field of study, which is near-death studies.Evidence is a difficult word, because sometimes people think that when you say evidence, this is just the final proof. Evidence is like in a jury. You bring testimony, you bring pieces of data that point in one direction or another.I would say the evidence suggests that the mind can survive the death of activity of the brain. When brains are broken or shut off, there can still be mind going on. And that's revolutionary.That would entail that when we die, it's not game over, which, by the way, is the thesis of materialism. If consciousness survives, materialism dies. It's game over for materialism if something of us continues after we die. Do you think that there is mental continuity after death?Well, I think so, and I believe so, and I could also say I may have experienced it myself, because four years ago I had a near-death experience. I was in the hospital, I lost a lot of blood, and I saw those beings at the end of the tunnel, three beings, and there was yellow light. I was in a well, I was looking upwards, and I hadn't read about NDEs by then, but when I came back from this experience, I decided I would try to integrate this also in my professional life. Not just my personal life, of course, but my professional life as a physicist and as a neuroscientist. So I may have had the experience of glimpses of what an afterlife would be, and I'm not ashamed to say it in this way, and then one can do science of it, and then one can do philosophy of it.One can think about what -isms we were discussing, what views on reality would allow those experiences to be really ‘real,’ as opposed to, well, poor guy, the brain was kind of broken, it must have been a hallucination. Do you have a view about whether individuality or “the ego” persists after death, or whether we sort of merge into some sort of cosmic consciousness instead?I don't know, but my view would be along those lines you're suggesting. I think we could speak about a kind of universal mind, and then the problem is not how we emerge from matter, but how we fragment from a more holistic consciousness into these individual eddies and then when we die, this kind of dissipates.But I'm not sure. For instance, idealism would promote that view, but then what would survive of us after these eddies just vanish and become again the big Consciousness, I'm not sure what that would be. I don't know for sure, but I would tell you I believe something of us survives.And there are other lines of research, not just near-death experience, that can address this really hard question of survival. For instance, there are children who remember previous lives. This was studied by Ian Stevenson at the University of Virginia for more than 50 years.___Research takes place within a selection mechanism that also sometimes reinforces things that are not very scientific.___It's amazing research. He went all over the world, especially in the East, and collected all these case studies, all these stories. In plural, these were data of kids, very young age, who would describe up to 40 items that then he could go and verify.There was no internet. There was really no way the kid could know. Why would the kid say that when I was living in this other body and I was a woman and that's how my house would look like or that's how I would die, right? Again, there is evidence, not proof, but there's evidence not only that something weird and interesting is happening as we cross the threshold, but also when we come back to this life.Scientists should not be afraid of studying this, but they are because there's stigma. There's usually stigma upon the enigma, and this is so unfortunate. And one of the reasons is because of the ideology of materialism, because those things cannot be possible. What is wrong with the politics of science such that they have generated this stigma?So many things. Science is a human activity to begin with.So it falls prey to all our passions and ego and greed. That's one thing. Science is a job for the good and for the bad.You need to get a salary. You need to get grants. Research takes place within a selection mechanism that also sometimes reinforces things that are not very scientific.And then, we didn't have time to unpack this, but science for many years become entangled, as I was suggesting before, to other -isms, materialism, secularism. So anything that smells like the afterlife, people may think has to do with God, and then they freak out.Anything that suggests that there's something about the mind that may not need a physical material substrate to exist, it smells like non-materialism. So, all these -isms are ideologically blocking that kind of research, and then there are all these sociopolitical constraints as to what should be studied and what shouldn't be studied.I call it the backstage of science. Sometimes we scientists or science communicators seem to speak as if the data is the only thing that matters. We say, well, data and theory.But then there's a third leg of this stool, which is all the politics that goes behind the scenes. And we often don't speak about this, and it's quite vicious and petty, and it's very real. Why is materialism so attractive to most scientists?Well, an easy answer is because we've grown up with it.It's what the educational system promotes, and that's what you hear when you go to university. So it's like growing in a culture. It feels like the air in which you breathe.So it's very hard to begin with to detect, well, maybe there's another alternative. Maybe there are other ways of doing science, other environments in which one could do science. That's one reason.And other reasons maybe are more profound, and I'm not qualified to explain them, but I could say, looking at this 400-year history of science, since it started around 1623 with Galileo's book The Assayer, that science went and coupled with all what's going on in the West.And so the fall of religion, you could say, and science presented us this new alternative that then could be coupled very well with other -isms, and this idea of growth, and then science losing its good twin brother, which was philosophy. There's a whole natural history of science starting as philosophy, kind of emancipating or breaking out from philosophy, and then marrying technology, and then marrying other social systems.From that point of view, materialism is a very convenient idea to propose. There were attempts, like the German idealists tried to do a more romantic science. But no, the idea prevailed, like Francis Bacon said: You should pursue nature through all her corners, he said, and make her spill her secrets.Our attitude towards nature in the science that dominates is very much reflecting how we treat nature in our society, in our culture, like a resource to extract secrets by force and then dominate it. How is materialism related to the notions of growth and progress? What's wrong with having a productive citizenry?This is another very interesting and very difficult question to answer.But there's this recent book coming out by Paul Kingsnorth. In it, he explains this idea of the machine and this idea of progress. And this, again, this conflation of more is better, of we need to go forward always, and convincing us that the way to do that is to continually extract more from nature. But because we don't have the religious context anymore, because God is dead, then what do we have? We have what we can do as humans with our own gadgets.It's kind of the story of the Promethean fire. We will just build anything to make ourselves God.A good example today is transhumanism. Transhumanism is this pseudo-religion dressed in technoscientific language whose goal is very religious. They promise immortality, they promise redemption, they promise transformation of the entire natural world, but it's done by human means through technology. Are you suggesting that we can't have ethics without religion?Well, we should have ethics with or without religion. That's another pruning that has happened in science. We say, forget about aesthetics, although some physicists still think that beautiful means probably true, and forget about politics. We pretend there's no backstage of science, and even let's forget about ethics.___Science needs to be in the service of mankind.___Scientists, when they become more like engineers, they're just thinking how to make things work so that they can go to the moon, go to Mars, make machines that think, but they don't think whether that's a good idea.And also consider metaphysics. Many scientists for a long time pretended, and maybe that comes from the stream of positivisms, that really one doesn't need metaphysics at all, except that materialism is always the metaphysics running the system.You see, it's not just ethics. It's the pruning of all of these, you could say, five main legs of philosophy that just makes a kind of unconscious science, a science that doesn't really know what it's doing. It's doing it very well locally, but it just doesn't know what it's doing globally. Do you think science has to have an ultimate vision and purpose behind it for it to be effective or for it to be meaningful and transformative?Yes, a way I would say that is that science needs to be in the service of mankind. And it hasn't been that. And we can see it through, you know, when we discovered the secrets of the atom, and all of a sudden, the Manhattan Project, and then we create nuclear weapons.And now we're trying to crack how machines may think, and now we're creating this mess, right? So science needs to be in service of mankind, not in service of a few ideas that maybe want to make more money or just dominate upon nature. What about planes, trains, automobiles, and modern medicine? Hasn't science served mankind by helping us develop those technologies?Yes and no. I see where you're going, and it's fair.I came here by plane, and it's a blessing. When I almost died, the surgeons did their job, and they saved my life. But these two forced choices between Luddites and Silicon Valley types, I think, of course, it's a false dichotomy.Progress, in a way, it's good, but we often don't speak about the dark side of the moon. We say the great things that progress has brought, and we don't speak about the disasters, the side effects that it has come with, and the same when we promise new technologies. We tend to think that any technology is great, that email is going to save us so much time because we don't need to write letters and send them anymore.Is that true? I spend so many hours a week writing emails. Let's just say there are great things about it and bad things about it. People like Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, for example, argue that we've made moral progress over time because of the Enlightenment. Do you think that's totally wrong-headed?I think he's emphasizing a side of the moon, and he does that very well, and you can find tons of plots where there's a slope going up and say it's great. But I think he should also tell the not-so-friendly story.But if your ideology is just to resist and continue to explain that the Enlightenment is the best thing ever and reason is the best thing ever… this feels to me like you're worshipping these abstractions.I'm very critical of it and also of these, again, science communicators and scientists that say, Oh, science says, in the name of science, experts say. It's like, come on, let's be careful because we can shoot ourselves in the foot by putting forth to the people an image of science that we know is not really true. Recently there's been a resurgence of spirituality and of people who say that they're spiritual but not religious, especially in the United States. If materialism is going away, what is going to fill that gap? Are we going to return to traditional religion? Do you see that being connected with the rise of the political right?I'm not a fortune teller, so I don't know what's going to happen. But, yeah, we could say we're in this post-materialist age and even post-secular age. One cannot come back to the past, but maybe just to contact with the roots is a good idea.What do I mean by that? I think we need to do a science 2.0, a science that says thank you to Galileo and thank you to materialism, but we need to reinvent even a new kind of scientific method. We need to do so in a culture where we realize humans cannot thrive in a vacuum where there's this idea that the sacred has to be removed.Now, how do we do that without bringing in back all the vices of religion? I don't know. I'm from a Catholic country.Here we are in England, so there are differences and interreligious dialogue has always been a challenge. But I think maybe a way of putting it is: after all these conflicts and branchings I was quickly alluding to, science from philosophy and then also from religion, now there's a time of reconciliation perhaps and maybe debates in the proper sense, like exchange of ideas in service of learning and getting into something higher than both poles. We need science to talk to religious people and it's interesting when people say they're spiritual and not religious.I think this is just a way of saying, no, I don't want to go back, I want to go forward. But at the end of the day, religions have offered us practices and grounding that we now desperately need. Everybody can and should just meditate or pray or do whatever they want, but we're in a crisis and it's time for reconciliation. What do you say to critics that say you are merely projecting our need for meaning onto a fundamentally indifferent universe?Yeah, I know that the typical science communicator says something like this. But we're not projecting. Human beings feed on meaning.It's the other way around. If you're a materialist, because the only thing that there is is matter, all that comes next, free will, consciousness, meaning, this is a kind of illusion that we need to explain.They're just craving for meaning, but there isn't really for them. I would also like to remind my materialist friends that for decades, if not centuries, they've said in the name of science, we know that this and this and this doesn't really exist. I think now they sense they're forced to say, well, actually, we don't know. We've been saying, for instance, that there's nothing after you die, and now probably they need to admit that they don't know the answer.___We need to do a science 2.0, a science that says thank you to Galileo and thank you to materialism, but we need to reinvent even a new kind of scientific method.___So it's a moment to open up possibilities and also to gently but fiercely critique these claims that I think harm society. If you say in the name of science, get on with it, when your father dies, you'll never see him again. Well, what the F do you know about it? You haven't studied the literature, you haven't had any of those experiences, and basically what you're doing is you're just doing marketing on ideology. This needs to stop. Do you think that it's scarier for some people to entertain the thought that there might be life after death, compared to a materialist worldview where you just die, given that there might be consequences for unsavory behaviour?Well, death and dying is scary. It's maybe the ultimate ending. It's a limit on life, and when we're in this conquest mode, we don't like limits.And it also has, there's a shockwave backwards, so I think if you change your notion of what death is or may be, you live differently. It also has consequences, as you're saying, for the future because this is not our only goal here and we come back in whatever form. And again, different religions would say different things. I the East, they are more happy with the idea of reincarnation, and here in the West, there are other preferences. But in any case, it changes how we live, and that's really what matters.It's not about just projecting or imagining what we'll be after, but how we live now and also how we treat those who are dying. So it goes from the individual to the families, to the hospitals.Now in the near-death research I do, this has ramifications at all these levels, all the way to society.But our society is thanatophobic. It has a phobia of death. We don't want to hear about death, and this is another thing we need to put on the table and be willing to talk about it. Do you think that we might get closer to answering ultimate questions like why is there anything at all if we jettison materialism?That’s an excellent question, Simon. Two things: we should stop treating reality, I believe, as a great sudoku, as an enigma, as something that with intelligence, money, and time that we will crack and instead treat reality more like a mystery. And what you do for in front of a mystery is not to be the clever guy in a class and say “I’ll solve you” but more like “I will bow and you will transform me.”I know this sounds a bit like a scientist speaking like a mystic. But I think this reorientation is needed. In the end, we won’t crack the big questions, but they will transform us. If we free ourselves from this prison of materialism, the way we will explore these questions will be freer, more creative, and in service of mankind. Do you think exploring mystery is the reason why we are here?I think we are here because, and this pseudo-theological argument I’m making off the cuff, But the One, the Absolute, if there is such a thing, had everything except limitation. We are that absolute experiencing that contingency. It’s like an act of divine proprioception. It’s a wonderful adventure, it’s just incredible to be alive. Perhaps we have forgotten why we are here and the whole point is to experience the flesh.Let me end by saying this. I criticize materialism harshly. I bang on this dead horse, because I think it’s dead. But matter is a great mystery. So maybe my invitation is as follows: hey materialist friends, come here, let’s work on materialism 2.0! Consciousness is a mystery, but matter is also a mystery. The fact that we can have an intersubjective experience consensus, the fact that we can apply mathematics, that we can measure things... the physical world we take for granted, but it is a great mystery too.Maybe that’s related to your last question: why are we here? Why did spirit decide to incarnate? Being in the flesh may be a great thing if spirit decided to do so.Àlex Gómez-Marín, thank you very much.My pleasure.
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