SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " Life " 6,992 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Annual Student Research Program Commences
48 undergraduate students from across the country are gathered to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime experience of hands-on science and data-gathering with NASA scientists and university mentors.
10 Shows Like 'Spider-Noir' You Should Watch Next
Spider-Noir is an admittedly weird spinoff of the Spider-Man franchise. Here are 10 other reboots and reimaginings that took a different tack when returning to the small screen.
Radiologists: Take the deep dive into advanced cardiovascular CT at SCCT
SCCT offers a unique blend of clinical education, business strategy, and networking to stay on top of CCTA's rapid proliferation.
UNT Health Fort Worth’s new pharmaceutical sciences program comes at ‘critical time’ for region
Starting this fall, UNT Health Fort Worth will offer a new pharmaceutical sciences PhD program — the first of its kind in North Texas. The school said the new program could help address workforce needs as the life sciences and research and development industries continue to grow in the region.
Fitbit Air Can Turn Into a Watch and the Trick is Super Easy
When we talk about devices like the new Fitbit Air having their momentt, we can't do so without mentioning the fact that it doesn't have a screen. This is a fitness and health tracker that is...
Belkin’s new Joy-Con grips also boost the Switch 2’s battery life
The Charging Grip sticks a 10,000mAh battery to the back of the handheld while making the Joy-Cons easier to hold.
Fan arrested, given lifetime ban after running onto court to take selfie with Victor Wembanyama during Game 1 of NBA Finals
Alix Earle Is Reportedly Joining Benson Boone’s “The Time of My Life” Video
Alix Earle’s next entertainment move may take her from TikTok, reality TV, and magazine covers into Benson Boone’s music-video world. The influencer and media personality ... Read More
What a toy whale tells Pacific Northwest scientists about the potential for renewable tidal energy
Northwest researchers are working to understand the impact of underwater tidal energy turbines on wildlife.
A study of 8,300 older adults revealed a surprising salt habit
A large study of older adults in Brazil found that adding extra salt at the table is still a common habit, especially among men. While too much salt is linked to serious health problems and faster cognitive decline, researchers discovered that women’s salt-shaking habits were tied more closely to lifestyle and diet.
Melinda French Gates invests $215 million in health. Inside her surprising choice
Melinda French Gates is giving $215 million to improve women’s health. Her first-ever grant to benefit menopause and women in midlife.
UNT Health Fort Worth’s new pharmaceutical sciences program comes at ‘critical time’ for region
Starting this fall, UNT Health Fort Worth will offer a new pharmaceutical sciences PhD program — the first of its kind in North Texas. The school said the new program could help address workforce needs as the life sciences and research and development industries continue to grow in the region.
UNT Health Fort Worth’s new pharmaceutical sciences program comes at ‘critical time’ for region
Starting this fall, UNT Health Fort Worth will offer a new pharmaceutical sciences PhD program — the first of its kind in North Texas. The school said the new program could help address workforce needs as the life sciences and research and development industries continue to grow in the region.
Melinda French Gates on Menopause, Midlife, and the Women's Health Gap
Melinda French Gates talks menopause, mental health, and the systemic gaps in women's care.
Everwell Health highlights science-backed ingredients for functional beverages at BevNET Live 2026
Everwell Health will showcase its “Ingredients for Life” portfolio at BevNET Live in New York City from June 10–11
Beluga whales keep switching mates and it may be saving their species
Hidden beneath Arctic waters, beluga whales have long kept their family lives a mystery. By analyzing DNA from more than 600 belugas in Alaska’s Bristol Bay over 13 years, researchers uncovered a surprisingly flexible mating system: both males and females regularly have offspring with different partners over their lifetimes.
Black men's health in Boston: New push to bridge life expectancy gap
City uses gathering to shape how $1 million in new funding will be distributed
Google's Dreambeans, its weirdest-named AI tool to date, will turn your life into a cartoon
Dreambeans is a curated list of AI-illustrated "stories" culled from the personal data in your Google account.
CMA Fest puts spotlight on Music Row's mental health work
Potentially life-saving work is taking place backstage at CMA Fest.
Politics: What’s Life Like For The Government Employees Still Working?
More than 300,000 federal workers have left government service since the start of the second Trump administration.Some were laid off by the administration. Some took buyouts. Some walked out. The cuts hit every major agency — from the State Department to the Justice Department.That doesn’t mean things have been easy for those still working for the government. Last week, the Office of Personnel Management proposed requiring all federal employees to sign non-disclosure agreements that would prevent them from sharing internal government information.We sit down to talk about how those cuts are affecting the workers who remained.Find more of our programs online. Listen to 1A sponsor-free by signing up for 1A+ at plus.npr.org/the1a.
Jennifer Garner reveals how 'upheaval' from Ben Affleck divorce impacted her career
Jennifer Garner says the end of her marriage to Ben Affleck led to such an 'upheaval' in her family life that she 'hardly worked' for years.
Honoring the life of Karen H. Huntsman
Huntsman Mental Health Institute honors Karen Haight Huntsman’s legacy of philanthropy, compassion, and enduring impact on health care and the University of Utah.
LEGO Batman: Legacy Of The Dark Knight Finally Punches Up Switch 2 Release Date
Joining a particularly stacked month
How to evaluate risk when TAVR patients require surgery later in life
Robert Hawkins, MD, discussed an updated risk calculator—and the latest data on SAVR after TAVR—for a new video interview with Cardiovascular Business.
AI Startup Collate Raises $95 Million To Automate Life Sciences Paperwork
In this week’s edition of InnovationRx, we look at breakthroughs from ASCO, Harrison.ai's U.S. expansion, Clear's move into healthcare and more.
Rumour: A Nintendo Direct Might Come Our Way As Soon As Next Week
A Direct? In mid-June? Groundbreaking.
May's top PlayStation games by copies sold
Yesterday’s State of Play gave us an idea of where PlayStation’s heading next. But we’ve had our May estimates for a couple of days now (we always update our data daily for clients), so it’s time to look at what performed best on PlayStation last month. We’ve got a new IP at the top, two evergreens doing their evergreen thing, FC26 smashing it ahead of the World Cup Plus pivot, and a quiet but promising result for Lego Batman. Let’s have a look at the state of Play…Station’s top games for May. 007 takes #001 007 First Light sold 1M copies on PS5 in May, easily making it the month’s top PS5 game by copies sold. Over 80% of those May copies were digital, which is broadly in line with where PlayStation’s digital share has settled for new releases this year. To date, 007 First Light has sold through 2.2M copies across platforms (so no unsold retail copies in that figure). The platform split is 55.1% PS5, 33.1% Steam, and 11.8% Xbox (console, Windows, and cloud combined). In gross revenue terms, 007 First Light has generated $150M. Owing to regional pricing and audience composition differences, the consoles make up a higher share of revenue than they do copies. Of the $150M, 60.5% came via PlayStation, 27.6% via Steam, and 12.9% via Xbox. Part of this is because over two-thirds of 007 First Light‘s PlayStation audience is in North America (43.4%) or Western Europe (23.2%), where local currency means the game generates more revenue per player. On Steam, under half of First Light‘s audience is from those same regions (31.8% North America, 15.1% Western Europe). As we covered in last week’s 007 Steam piece, the Steam version is pulling in higher-than-expected numbers in China, which now accounts for 17.3% of First Light‘s Steam audience. 007 is the equivalent of $44 USD in China, which is roughly 37% cheaper than the US price and about 44% cheaper than Western Europe. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe The crossover data backs up what we’ve seen all year about launch-window cohorts. 11% of PS5 players who played 007 First Light in May also played Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, which launched just a few days before. Last month was a great month for Denmark! IO Interactive is Copenhagen-based, and Lego Group is headquartered in Billund (TT Games is UK-based but produces work under Lego Group licence and direction). Speaking of which… A very blocky #2 and #3 Minecraft sold another 788K copies on PlayStation consoles last month. Business as usual, since Minecraft hasn’t sold fewer than 760K copies in a single month all year. With over 350M copies sold across all platforms, Minecraft is the best-selling game in history and one of the strongest brands in the world. Every month, a new cohort of children reaches Minecraft age, which guarantees a constant volume of new sales regardless of what the broader market is up to. The demographic refresh rate is truly impressive, with the audience renewing itself faster than it’s churning. Lego Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight shifted 757K copies on PS5 last month, bringing its lifetime total on the platform to over 800K. Across all platforms, Legacy of the Dark Knight has now passed 1.5M sold through, so PlayStation accounts for over half of the game’s players. The May crossover data for Legacy of the Dark Knight on PS5 is also useful. 27% of those players also played Fortnite, 16% Roblox, 16% FC 26, and 14% NBA 2K. That’s the household-and-family cohort showing up, plus the launch-window cohort of core gamers who buy practically everything. FC 26 gets players through the door ahead of the World Cup FC 26 sold 411K copies on PlayStation last month (90% via PS5), the fewest copies FC 26 has sold all year and down heavily from April’s 700K. Part of this dropoff is because FC 26 has been available as a PlayStation Plus monthly game since 6 May, cannibalising premium sales. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe The strategic logic is straightforward for EA, which is sacrificing premium unit sales in May to build up the player base ahead of the FIFA World Cup, which kicks off on 11 June. Obviously, a bigger player pool going into the tournament means a bigger pool of potential Ultimate Team spenders during the period when football attention is at its peak. The early returns are around what you’d expect, with 4.4M new players accessing FC 26 via PS Plus last month – a substantial new spender pool. Anecdotally, a few of my mates who were ‘’skipping FIFA and Ultimate Team this year’’, were drawn back in via PS Plus. Lo and behold, one of them is buying packs like it’s going out of fashion. Whether this is all a smart trade for EA depends entirely on the Ultimate Team conversion rate over the next six weeks. Either way, the short-term engagement impact on the game as a whole is evident. FC 26‘s MAUs hit a record 24M on PlayStation in May, up 30% from the previous record set in April. GTA V does what GTA V always does Rounding out the top five is another evergreen title. Grand Theft Auto V shifted another 387K copies on PlayStation last month. No matter what else is happening in the industry, GTA V keeps pulling players in. It’s sold another 1.8M copies on PS5 in the first half of this year alone, helping the franchise pass the 230M-sold milestone across all platforms. Subscribe for free to get the most accurate games estimates in your inbox twice a week 🫶 Subscribe I have a theory that Minecraft and GTA V are doing the same thing at different demographic levels. Both are functioning as generational gateway games that the audience ages into faster than it ages out of. Minecraft captures kids around age 6-10, GTA V captures much of the same audience around age 12-15 (unofficially, of course). The crossover data suggests this: 40% of GTA V‘s monthly PlayStation players typically play Fortnite in any given month, while 30% play Roblox. Household accounts aside, that’s not the original GTA V audience from 2013. Of course, the under-12 audience would love to get their hands on GTA, too. It’s always been the way of things, and some parents are happy to oblige. Mine did too back in the day, and I turned out just fine. Right? Right!? Want to get your hands on our data for yourself – for free? We’re offering a free trial of our platform for games companies. Send us a message here, or reply to this email, and we’ll set you up. The last word Reply to this email – or reach out here – if you have any feedback for the newsletter – or want to request a game for us to cover. [Alinea Analytics boasts the most accurate PC and console estimates in the business. Game makers use our platform to understand their audience, keep an eye on the competition, monitor sales trends, and spot new opportunities. We equip game studios and financial institutions with accurate data and the confidence to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Want to talk about all things games market data? We’d love to chat!]
Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow tear up over “Friends” and“ The Comeback” connection: 'S---!'
The real-life friends reunited on June 3 for the season 24 premiere of the "Variety" interview series Actors on Actors.
RWJBarnabas Health Expands Lifesaving Naloxone Initiative Across New Jersey
– RWJBarnabas Health (RWJBH), through its Institute for Prevention and Recovery (IFPR), is expanding its hospital-based naloxone distribution initiative to individuals and communities across the state, increasing access to life-saving resources and connecting individuals to recovery support services.
Community Hospice and Health Services Invests in Behavioral Health
California-based Community Hospice and Health Services is extending its mission to improve quality of life into the behavioral health space. In addition
A first look at Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface Dev Box
Microsoft has focused on performance, battery life, and display for its Surface Laptop Ultra.
Ted Danson will 'apologize for the rest of my life' for infamous blackface performance at Whoopi Goldberg roast
Ted Danson recalls preparing for the infamous roast of Whoopi Goldberg in 1993. He knew immediately that it hadn't gone well.
Plex adds new social features ahead of a major price hike for its lifetime pass
Plex has come a long way from being just a personal media server. Over the past few years, it has transformed into a streaming hub, today featuring
Jason Sudeikis calls dating 'daunting' following Olivia Wilde split in rare comment about personal life
Jason Sudeikis finds dating 'daunting,' he says, six years after he and Olivia Wilde ended their engagement.
Artists and Scientists Partner to Bring Atmospheric Data to Life
In the fluxART project, scientists using eddy covariance to study atmospheric flux partnered with artists to help communicate the “breath of the biosphere.”
A 23-year-old got candid about how medication ruined her sex life. How common is that?
SSRIs can be life-changing for people struggling with mental health issues, but for others, these drugs caused PSSD. What is it? Experts explain.
The cult of objectivity has broken consciousness science
With 22 competing theories and no consensus in sight, the science of consciousness is lost. In this exclusive IAI interview, Berkeley psychedelics researcher and bestselling author of a new book on consciousness Michael Pollan insists that even though consciousness lies beyond traditional forms of scientific investigation, we should resist becoming dualists who see it as something radically different from ordinary stuff in the world. Instead, he makes the case for reimagining science itself: it must stop reaching for objective descriptions of physical reality, and instead embrace subjectivity as the indispensable core of all inquiry. Alasdair Craig: How did your experiences with psychedelics get you interested in consciousness?Michael Pollan: One of the things that happens on psychedelics is that they foreground consciousness. What formerly seemed perfectly transparent and ever present—and yet, non-existent, as water is to fish—suddenly you see it. The metaphor I use in the book is that psychedelics sponge the windscreen. Suddenly you realize: wow, there’s a windscreen, there is this phenomenon that’s mediating my relationship to reality. This is not an unusual realization on psychedelics. I think a lot of people are called to think about consciousness after psychedelic experiences. So that was the proximate inspiration for A World Appears: A Journey Into Consciousness (2026).And then there was a more specific way in which psychedelics influence the book. That was a particular experience I had on psilocybin. I had the sensation that the plants in my garden were conscious and returning my gaze, with their own point of view and agency, and I got curious as to how to evaluate an insight like that. I mean, what’s the truth quotient of insights you have on psychedelics? And I was reading William James—who, of course, wrote beautifully about mystical experience—and he said, we can’t judge the metaphysics here, but we should pay attention to two criteria: (1) How useful is it to think this is true? He was a pragmatist, of course. And (2) can we subject it to other ways of knowing to validate it? Because maybe we should treat these insights as hypotheses. And that’s kind of how I approach psychedelics, as a great generator of hypotheses, but they need to be tested against other ways of knowing. And so that led me down this long path exploring the science of plant intelligence and plant sentience.AC: I love your phrase, “smudging the windowpane of conscious experience.” So do you now start to think, actually, even when I’m not on psychedelics, I’m just seeing a screen all the time, which is not reality, but rather is my conscious experience, behind which reality is hidden?MP: Well, you know, not when I’m brushing my teeth and making breakfast! But yes, in meditation, certainly. I mean, one of the things you realize is that my experience happens to be this way now, but it could be another way. And many things can affect it. My morning coffee changes the screen in various ways, sharpens certain things.___The only tool we have to understand consciousness is consciousness.___There’s this wonderful metaphor in Aldous Huxley’s book, The Doors of Perception, where he thinks we channel consciousness, and that what the brain does is edit it, and there’s a reducing valve. And psychedelics open the reducing valve wider. I don’t know that I’m ready to buy into the idea that consciousness exists outside brains, but I do love that metaphor because there are times when you are more conscious than others. I know I’ve switched from window pane to valve, but you know, a camera aperture can open wider or narrower. And I do have a sense of that. I have a sense of when I’m being less conscious, and when I’m being more conscious, by which I mean, you know, more present, taking in more sensory information. So when you start thinking about consciousness as a matter of degree, that changes things also.I think when we scroll on social media, obviously, we’re conscious. But minimally so, because we don’t have to generate our own thoughts. We’re basically taking these little hits from other people and thinking their thoughts.The process of writing this book made me kind of relativize everyday consciousness as just one type, which is exactly what William James said. Normal consciousness is one type, separated by the flimsiest of screens from the other types.AC: If we stick with the metaphor of the smudge on the window that you get when you take psychedelics, it seems like we’re saying that consciousness has become like an object that you’re looking at, right? You’re looking at the smudge and that just is consciousness. But sometimes we’ll talk about consciousness as a state that you’re in, rather than an object you can perceive. You’re either conscious or you’re not conscious. So it’s difficult to really know what sort of thing we’re talking about when we talk about consciousness, right?MP: Yeah. When you say that consciousness is an object, what’s the subject? Consciousness also? The only tool we have to understand consciousness is consciousness. So we’re in a closed loop and when we get a perspective on consciousness, we’re not achieving any distance from it. That’s one of the problems with studying consciousness. Science is predicated on an objective, God’s eye view of things, and you never get that. There’s no such thing. SUGGESTED VIEWING The brain filters consciousness With Àlex Gómez-Marín But, yeah, there is this sense, I think, that consciousness is something you can approach. Certainly, when you’re writing and trying to recreate a conscious experience, it’s a fiction, but you’re standing back from it, and looking at it. But there’s no real subject-object distinction.AC: That’s so interesting, because when philosophers start talking about consciousness, they often talk about what they call “qualia”, which is their word for the felt experience of, say, the color red. And I think that way of speaking often makes us think of the qualia as an object, which you can see out there: the redness of red. But, as you say, we also want to collapse the subject-object distinction when we talk about consciousness. So there’s something strange going on here…MP: Oh, yeah, there are many strange things going on! *AC: Let’s talk about the varieties of consciousness. Apart from perceptions, there are, pains, emotions, thoughts, and so on. What is it that holds all this diversity together so that they all count as instances of consciousness? What is it that they all have in common?MP: Yeah, that’s a really good question. I mean, there is sensory information, right? Which we perceive coming from the world outside ourselves. And then there’s internal information, which is what’s called interoception. And this is very important too. This is where feelings come from—what are sometimes called homeostatic feelings—that are intended to get the brain to keep us in these narrow ranges of temperature and glucose and so on. That’s a very important part of consciousness. And according to some researchers, who I think are probably right, this is where consciousness begins, with these very primal feelings, like hunger and thirst and warmth and itch, and things like that. And then there’s this third thing, which is our thinking about thinking.And what holds all this together is, I think, the sense of self. Consciousness generates a self: it is probably an organizing principle. All this stuff is happening to the self. It’s a construct, I think, but it is very useful. It can connect all these different streams of consciousness to a single being or a place, metaphorically speaking.* AC: The first half of your book is about the science of consciousness. Is consciousness just another thing, like black holes or the origin of life, which we don’t yet understand, but which we should have every hope that science will one day get to the bottom of, or is there something special about consciousness that makes this unlikely?MP: It depends how you define science. As we define science now, it’s going be very difficult. Science since Galileo has had a set of rules or assumptions, which is that the proper remit of science is to deal with the objective, quantifiable, third-person world. And the physical sciences have done amazing work under that set of limitations. Galileo—for tactical reasons, not for philosophical reasons—said science should not deal with the soul, which at the time was what consciousness was considered to be. So what is subjective, what is qualitative, what is first person, we’re going to leave to the church, he said. And this was a good agreement, and it probably kept many scientists from getting burned at the stake. But it leaves science in an awkward spot, now that it wants to venture into that territory of qualities, of first-person experience. And I don’t think it has the proper tools. I think it will have to add to its toolkit in some way, and find a way to bring in phenomenology, or lived experience and introspection, which science is usually dismissive of.The challenge—we alluded to it earlier—is that the only tool you have to study consciousness with is consciousness. And what I mean by that is, the whole scientific enterprise is a manifestation of consciousness. As much as scientists like to flatter themselves with this idea that they attain a godlike perspective on what they study, when it comes to consciousness, there’s no such thing. And it’s fine for all the things you can step outside of and study from that perspective. But two areas it won’t work are consciousness and cosmology.___It could be that we live in this anomaly of not believing nature is conscious. And maybe psychedelics are teaching us something we’ve forgotten.___With cosmology, too, you have to study the universe from inside the universe. It’s not that cosmologists haven’t made progress. We know a lot about the age of the universe and expansion and things like that. But we can’t penetrate what happened before the Big Bang. We just don’t have the tools because we can’t stand outside.The fact that there are 22 full-scale theories of consciousness tells you all you need to know: we’re kind of lost. And I was surprised to find that we are more lost than I thought we were when I started this. I thought that there’d be leading theories, or that we had experiments that we could conduct that would nail some of this down. And the fact is, we don’t.So, I don’t know if science can solve it. But, of course, we can change the rules of science. A really influential book for me was a book called The Blind Spot, by two physicists, Marcello Gleiser and Adam Frank, and a philosopher, Evan Thompson. It’s a reminder that science is a social practice. It’s organized in a certain way and it can be organized in a different way. But it has this huge blind spot at the center of it, which is its failure to recognize that it is a form of consciousness itself, and it doesn’t have a good way of taking account of lived experience.AC: On the one hand, I think you want to resist traditional dualism, which would say that consciousness is something magical, something supernatural, right? But on the other hand, you’re accepting that there is this division in reality between the stuff that you can investigate objectively and measure, and so on—the stuff that science has been good at finding out about—and consciousness, which, for some reason, you can’t objectively measure. Some would take this to suggest that the dualism is actually right. Is there a way of reconciling these two strands of your thinking?MP: To call it magical is full of value judgement. I mean, you could just say immaterial. The interesting thing is, I think, that intuitively we’re all dualists. And I don’t know whether that’s because we’re children of Descartes and other cultures are less dualist than we are. Or it may be because that’s how consciousness feels. It feels different than the body. It feels separate from the body. But I don’t think we should trust that intuition.AC: So let’s think about ways that science might be changed to get at consciousness. I suppose the starting point would be the way that you begin the second half of your book. You have this nice line from William James, where he says, “We now begin our study of the mind from within.” Could you give us some sense of the ways of studying the mind from within? What does this involve?MP: I don’t know what that science looks like. But one of the points I’m making is that it depends on the humanities. I found that I learned as much, if not more, about consciousness, from reading novels and poetry. There is a sense of the fullness and complexity of consciousness that you don’t get in any scientific account. I interviewed this stream-of-consciousness writer and I approached her as an expert on consciousness, and she is. So I think that dialogue is really important.I’m reading Ben Lerner’s new novel, Transcription. Just read the first page of this novel: it’s a man falling asleep on a train, going to conduct an interview, and there is the experience of being in the train, facing backwards, there’s the view outside, but there’s a reflection of himself through which he’s seeing outside. There’s the memory of dropping his kids off at school. All this is going on in one moment of consciousness. Scientists aren’t going anywhere near that. But I think it’s useful for them to think about. That’s where we’re trying to go: like, how does such a layered experience happen? You know, it also makes you wonder, could a computer ever do this? And it gives you some doubt.*AC: Before we get to computers, perhaps we could talk briefly about plants. How did you come to feel that they are sentient?MP: Well, it was a psychedelic experience, and it’s not unusual on psychedelics. In fact, there’ve been studies about how people become animists during psychedelic experience. Their belief in animism arises after a single psychedelic experience.You know, most scientists would say this is all a myth. But we have only 400 years of the age of enlightenment and science. Before that, we were animists, and if you go around the world, most indigenous cultures are still animists, and children are animists, by and large, until they go to school. So it could be that we live in this anomaly of not believing nature is conscious. And maybe psychedelics are teaching us something we’ve forgotten.As I said, I wanted to test this idea, and see whether there was conventional scientific evidence for it. And there’s fascinating work going on in a field that calls itself—in a rather cheeky way—plant neurobiology. These are people who fully realize there are no neurons in plants, but they’re trolling conventional botanists! And they’re doing experiments that are demonstrating that plants can learn and remember, which is kind of amazing: how do you store a memory without neurons? They’re finding plants that can solve problems, that can hear and see. In fact, they have 20 senses to our five or six. For example, a bean plant looking for something to twine, and given a pole within eight inches or so of it, knows where that pole is and will aim its spiraling reach at that pole. What is that about? Is it bouncing signals off of it?One of the spookiest things is the fact that the same anesthetics that put us out put plants out. You might think that plants are already out, but they’re not. They’re just slow. If you take a plant with a fast behavior, like a Venus flytrap, and give it an anesthetic, it will stop reacting. So you have to ask yourself, what is lost when the plant is anaesthetized? Some state of alertness, of awareness, of its environment, of reactivity. I’m not prepared to call that consciousness, but maybe it’s sentience—which is a simpler form of consciousness, and involves the ability to sense what’s going on in your environment and assess what’s good and bad for you and act appropriately. That may be a universal quality of life.AC: Let’s turn from plants to AI. You point out that LLMs are trained on the internet rather than direct interactions with reality. You put this really nicely when you say the internet is not the world so much as a shadow cast by the world. So LLMs are living in this kind of shadow world, or in Plato’s cave, as you put it. What’s the significance of this for AI consciousness and moral consideration? And, to recall the beginning of our conversation, if we’re stuck behind a veil or screen of consciousness, are we also stuck in a kind of shadow world?MP: I don’t think they’re the same shadow worlds because our world includes nature and other people. And even if it’s mediated in some ways... There is a reality out there, and we are in relation to it, through consciousness. There’s friction with it. What’s missing from the LLMs is that friction with the real world. There’s more to the world than human representation, which is what they’re dealing with. And that means that so far, AI is a cultural technology for combining thoughts we’ve already had. SUGGESTED VIEWING Cracking the code for thought With Roger Penrose, Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski, Max Tegmark, Güneş Taylor Genuine creativity is more than collage. A lot of what AI does now is tantamount to collage, putting this with that and you know, that’s part of art, certainly. But there are also genuinely new ideas that come into the world that don’t come in through manipulating the representations we already have. So it remains to be seen whether AIs can be truly creative in that more radical sense.But my arguments against AI becoming conscious have to do with the fact that the idea of AI consciousness is based on this faulty metaphor that the brain is a computer. There are dimensions in which the brain is like a computer—it certainly does its share of computation. But computers have this sharp distinction between hardware and software, and brains don’t. In a brain, hardware and software are identical. Every memory is a physical change to the brain. Brains are not interchangeable in the way computers are. So this idea that you could take the consciousness out and somehow run it on another substrate, a silicon substrate, seems foolhardy.Anyway, it’s a more extended argument, and I may be wrong. And when we move to computers that aren’t based on silicon—neuromorphic computers and things like that—all bets may be off.AC: Regarding your point about LLMs being stuck in the world of our representations—the internet or whatever—and not being able to interact with reality, are these representations, the world of the internet, themselves part of reality? We’ve created the internet, but it’s still a real thing that exists. And so while the LLMs may be trapped within that part of reality, they’re nevertheless within reality and interacting with it and so on. So it’s not obvious that there’s a barrier there to them becoming conscious and being creative.MP: Yeah, I mean, if our consciousness is built out of human culture, which is what we’re talking about with all those representations. But I tend to think consciousness comes a bit more out of nature and friction with the natural world, but...AC: So there’s a fundamental divide between the natural world and human artefacts?MP: And we lose track of that, and especially people in this computer world. You know, the people who are creating these AI systems, my guess is they’ve been into video games since the age of three, and they didn’t go outside a lot. And their own contact with nature is somewhat limited. I could be wrong, it’d be a very interesting thing to ask, all the wizards of AI, whether they like to go fishing and hiking and do things like that. Or were they on computers from a very early age? I interviewed Blake Lemoine, the Google engineer who came to believe that LaMDA, the Google LLM out at the time, was conscious and deserved personhood. It was very clear that he didn’t see a distinction between this bubble in which he lived and the real world. And I think we’ve all been distanced from the natural world, and this is taking us even further away. But it’s still there, you know, and we still have bodies, and we’re still mortal, and we don’t live in a simulation.AC: I think that’s a great place to finish. Michael Pollan, thank you very much!
CORUS ENTERTAINMENT IS CANADA'S ENTERTAINMENT SPECIALTY PROGRAMMING LEADER¹ WITH AN UNRIVALED 2026/2027 SLATE OF CANADIAN ORIGINALS AND ACQUISTIONS ACROSS ITS NETWORKS AND STACKTV
With more top 20 networks than any other broadcaster and owning 100 per cent of the top 10 most watched entertainment specialty programs this past fall3, Corus Entertainment dominates Canada's entertainment specialty programming landscape1. With a powerhouse slate of star-studded dramas and comedies, premium lifestyle and factual storytelling, and family fun entertainment premiering across its networks and streaming on STACKTV, Corus' 2026/27 lineup solidifies its position as the leader in Canad
A welcome break from today’s repulsive, glue-factory politics
Lamar Alexander’s new memoir of life in the Senate reveals a craftsman of politics and conservatism.
Caryn Seidman Becker Bought Clear Out Of Bankruptcy. Now She’s A Billionaire.
After conquering airport security checkpoints, Clear’s billionaire CEO Caryn Seidman Becker wants to use your biometrics to unlock doctors’ appointments, baseball games and the rest of your life.
A Psychedelics Revival Is Overdue
R. Gordon Wasson was a Manhattan banker who fancied himself a mycologist. In 1955, after decades studying the mushrooms of ancient cultures, he traveled to the remote mountains of southern Mexico to partake of what locals called the “flesh of the gods.” Wasson chronicled the experience in Life magazine — the first widely published account of psychedelic mushrooms since Spanish friars condemned their use in the early 17th century.
Dubai-Based Apparel Group Said to Explore IPO for India Business
Dubai-based fashion and lifestyle retailer Apparel Group is considering an initial public offering for its Indian unit in Mumbai, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Gerrymandering of America: It’s About More Than Politics
The design of political constituencies is an important element in the maintenance of community. The way we have manipulated voting districts has eroded a relationship that ought to be fundamental to public life.
APLA Health food pantries a lifeline for people living with HIV in Los Angeles
One grocery bag at a time, APLA Health's Vance North Necessities of Life Program in North Hollywood is helping empower people and provide hope.
Tunisian court sentences Ennahdha leader Rached Ghannouchi to life in prison
Opposition leader and dozens of other defendants handed lengthy prison terms for 'forming a terrorist alliance'.
University of Utah honors the life of Karen Huntsman
Businesswoman and philanthropist Karen Huntsman died this week. The University of Utah honors her accomplishments and legacy.
Albert Mohler says recurring health episodes are manageable, not life-threatening
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Albert Mohler said Monday that recurring medical episodes that have affected him during recent public speaking appearances are related to complications from previous surgeries and are not life-threatening.
NWA Citizen Science Call 2026 (Astrobiology, Origin of life, Biosignatures)
Dear all, We would like to draw your attention to the NWA Citizen Science Call 2026.
US FDA proposes using existing science to speed up gene therapy development
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday proposed allowing makers of cell and gene therapies targeting rare and life-threatening diseases to use existing scientific knowledge to expedite development.
More Optimal Cardiovascular Health Linked to Lower Risk for Severe COVID-19
Researchers examined whether the American Heart Association's Life's Essential 8 metric and its components were associated with severe COVID-19.
Star Fox for Nintendo Switch 2 Is Shaping Up to Be a Dream Remake
Star Fox on Switch 2 is shaping up to be a significantly expanded and surprisingly cinematic retelling of the Lylat Wars, thanks to an overhauled script that’s brought to life by some of the strongest voice acting and cutscene direction I’ve ever seen in a Nintendo game.
175 Years Ago, He Set Out to Prove the Earth Was Spinning. His Experiment Took the World By Storm.
Foucault’s pendulum experiment led to an increase in the public’s interest in both real-life science and science fiction.
Star Entertainment Group closes US$390 million refinancing deal with WhiteHawk Capital
The Star Entertainment Group’s refinancing lifeline via WhiteHawk Capital Partners has officially closed, according to a Monday announcement by the US-based private
Jensen Huang Says Nvidia and Microsoft Just Reinvented the PC. But There Might Be 1 Problem
For years, the PC industry has been stuck in a rut. Consumers stretched upgrade cycles from three years to five or more, smartphone sales stole attention, and innovation often boiled down to slightly faster processors and better battery life. So when Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang declares that the PC has been “reinvented,” investors should ... Jensen Huang Says Nvidia and Microsoft Just Reinvented the PC. But There Might Be 1 Problem
As restaurants struggle with costs, a major food supplier deal raises new fears
Restaurant Depot is a lifeline for small businesses. Many hope its sale to industry giant Sysco falls through.
The Adventures Of Elliot: The Millennium Tales Estimated Playtime Revealed
It apparently takes "around 30 hours"
Mario Kart World Races Onto Nintendo Music Today, App Web Browser Support Added
Listen "anytime, anywhere"
Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold8 wide foldable spotted in the wild
The Galaxy Z Fold8 foldables are expected to debut in July. Samsung is expected to launch its next foldables in July. Recent leaks suggest that the rumored...
A Longevity Doctor's Simple Bone Health Tip
Primary care doctor and longevity specialist Amanda Kahn, MD, shares a bone health tip she's implemented into her own life.
How The World Searches for Extraterrestrial Life May Be Holding Back Discoveries
Could scientists be overlooking life in space?
ASUS Unveils Revolutionary ProArt PCs Powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark at Computex 2026
ASUS unveils the new ProArt P16, P14 laptops and ProArt Mini PC powered by NVIDIA RTX Spark at Computex 2026. Discover 1 petaflop AI performance, 128GB unified memory, Lumina Pro OLED displays, all-day battery life, and local AI agents launching fall 2026.
Overwatch's Pride Event Broke My Heart Then Mended It
Lifeweaver lore is always welcome, even if it kills a years-long dream
Scientists stunned: a hidden Earth mechanism may reveal how continents were born - Futura-Sciences
The Great Puzzle of Plate Tectonics Our planet’s lithosphere—the robust outer shell—hasn’t led a quiet life. Broken into multiple rigid plates, these vast rafts of rock incessantly jostle and drift, thanks to two mighty geological engines: subduction and oceanic accretion. At mid-ocean ridges, plates pull apart, creating new lithosphere from...
Michael Clinton examines aging and its impact on health and the economy
Michael Clinton, a former Hearst executive, discusses his book "Longevity Nation," which explores the implications of longer life expectancy for individuals and society.
Wednesday, May 27th: Harper Bree, Humane Society of Eastern Carolina, Entertainment Report, Be Our Guest: Encino
Eastern Lifestyle
World’s First 8.1L Big Block C8 Corvette Finally Hits the Freeway
Three and a half years of engineering have brought this beast to life with direct injection, variable valve timing, and way more.
NASA Spaceline Current Awareness List #1,202 29 May 2026 (Space Life Science Research Results)
The abstract in PubMed or at the publisher's site is linked when available and will open in a new window
10 Shows and Movies Like 'Backrooms' You Should Watch Next
'Backrooms' had the biggest opening for an original horror movie ever. If you're into liminal hellscapes, here are 10 more movies exploring existential terror.
ESCP Business School Publishes First Live, Learn & Love in Europe Survey Revealing Strong Optimism and Emerging European Identity Among Young People
ESCP Business School has published the results of the first edition of its Live, Learn & Love in Europe survey, offering a candid portrait of how young people experience, navigate, and envision life on the continent.
Take Pride in learning CPR: You may save the life of someone you love
DALLAS, June 1, 2026 — According to the American Heart Association, research shows that experiences related to stigma, discrimination and chronic stress can influence long‑term cardiovascular health.[1] The Association’s scientific statement on...
Clemson biologist leads global study on how flowers beat the heat
The research funded by a grant from the Human Frontier Science Program focuses on the flowering stage, one of the most vulnerable stages in a plant's life cycle.
Life Sciences Investment Opportunities Accelerate as AI and Genomics Drive $200+ Billion Market Expansion
“Covering more than 25 recently published reports, the review provides a consolidated view of growth opportunities across healthcare technologies, biologics, diagnostics and therapeutic markets.”Boston, June 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global life sciences industry is experiencing unprecedented growth momentum across multiple therapeutic and diagnostic segments, with cumulative market opportunities exceeding $200 billion by 2030, according to BCC Research's latest comprehensive analysis. Th
Flannery O’Connor book probes how mother grew author’s legacy on family farm
Flannery O'Connor is a central figure in Southern fiction whose work has been oft dissected. But “Flannery and Regina” focuses on a novel angle: her Andalusia domestic life.
Coral Reefs in French Polynesia Are Stuck Between Life and Death
Scientists’ discovery of hollowed coral skeletons after a 2019 bleaching event reveals a reef that isn’t coming back.
Former Red Wings Player Chooses a Life of Seclusion
The post Former Red Wings Player Chooses a Life of Seclusion appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now. The last time the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup, winger Johan Franzen was front and center. The spotlight […] The post Former Red Wings Player Chooses a Life of Seclusion appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.
Clouded Leopard Entertainment Announces New 'J-Anime Style' for Moonlight Peaks
Source: CLEK Moonlight Peaks image ©CLEKClouded Leopard Entertainment (CLEK) announced on the 1st that it is adding a new 'J-Anime Style' to the fantasy life simulator Moonlig...
Iran’s Internal Tensions in the Shadow of the Ceasefire
Trump’s remarks “there are alternative leadership options within the regime” & “we are in contact with reasonable figures” hinted to Galibaf.
Today's NYT Strands Hints (and Answer) for Monday, June 1, 2026
If you’re looking for hints and answers for Monday, June 1, 2026 with the theme “Shall we gather for lunch?,” read on.
Dan Aykroyd's daughter Belle appears in his place at Eddie Murphy AFI tribute event: 'Life got in the way'
With Dan Aykroyd unable to honor Eddie Murphy in-person, his daughter read his prepared tribute, where Aykroyd credited Murphy's 'power' for the success of 'Trading Places.'
Kurt Russell proved Hollywood wrong by ditching LA decades before the celebrity exodus began
Kurt Russell opened up about choosing Colorado ranch life over Hollywood, saying the mountains offer everything he and Goldie Hawn want in daily life.
Dave Chappelle honors Eddie Murphy with stories of his late brother Charlie: 'He always said how proud he was of you'
During Netflix's 'AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Eddie Murphy,' Dave Chappelle fondly reflected on his relationship with late 'Chappelle's Show' costar Charlie Murphy.
Glyco Harmony Drops [URGENT REPORT 2026] GlycoHarmony Shocking Complete Scientific Breakdown of Benefits Everyone Is Talking
Explore the science behind Glyco Harmony. Get a detailed explanation of its ingredients, benefits, potential effects, and how the formula may support healthy glucose metabolism. Glyco Harmony Glyco Harmony New York City, NY, May 31, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As awareness of metabolic health continues to rise worldwide, consumers are increasingly searching for products that can help support healthy blood sugar levels, improve overall wellness, and complement healthy lifestyle choices. Learn what’s
I reinvented myself by losing 300 pounds and moving to Spain
Erin Vlack moved to Spain in mid-life after losing 300 pounds. She wanted to quit the rat race to enjoy time with her son. She has never been happier.
Science reveals the one simple habit that keeps couples together for life
You probably did something small for your partner today. Maybe you made coffee before they woke up, or handled an errand they forgot about. And chances are, it went completely unnoticed. We tend to assume that love is sustained by grand gestures – the vacations, the surprise gifts, the big declarations. But what if the...
Konate expresses sadness over Liverpool goodbye
France defender Ibrahima Konate says he will leave Liverpool with "lifelong memories" after experiencing "highs and lows" during his time at Anfield.
Mel Brooks, 99, makes rare appearance in award special honoring Eddie Murphy
Comedy legend Mel Brooks made a special appearance in honor of Eddie Murphy in 'The 51st AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Eddie Murphy.'
Video: 11 Exciting New Games Coming To Switch 1 & 2 In June 2026
Star Fox, Final Fantasy and more!
Sturgeon's personal life and politics collide in BBC interview
BBC Scotland's political editor Glenn Campbell gives his take on Nicola Sturgeon's first media interview since her estranged husband admitted embezzling £400,000 from the SNP.
Round Up: Minecraft Live (May 2026) - Chaos Cubed Drop, New Biome, Minecraft Dungeons II And More
Here's everything announced
What would proof of alien life look like? Here's what scientists are really looking for | BBC Sky at Night Magazine
The scientific community tends to employ ‘confidence of life’ detection scales: a multi-step ‘ladder’ that begins with biosignatures.
Meet Lynette Reiner. She brings science to life at McKinley Museum
In this week's "Five questions with" feature, meet Lynette Reiner, science director at the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum.
Meet Lynette Reiner. She brings science to life at McKinley Museum
In this week's "Five questions with" feature, meet Lynette Reiner, science director at the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum.
Reality TV can be unserious and dramatic. It's also training political candidates
Reality shows are an escape with characters who can be larger than life. But some stars use the experience of fame as a stepping stone toward another challenge: running for political office.
Dykes relishing 'once-in-a-lifetime' World Cup experience
Scotland's Lyndon Dykes says getting to the World Cup is "massive" for him and admits he "can't wait to get out there." The striker missed out on the European Championship in Germany two years ago through injury.
Meet Google's New Screenless Gemini Smart Glasses
Discover Google's new audio-only smart glasses, offering all-day battery life, cross-platform compatibility, and advanced Gemini AI features.