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Can consciousness be explained by quantum physics?

Can consciousness be explained by quantum physics?

Some scientists believe consciousness is generated by quantum processes, but the theory is yet to be empirically tested. vitstudio/Shutterstock By Cristiane de Morais Smith, Utrecht University One of the most important open questions in science is how our consciousness is established. In the 1990s, long before winning the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for his prediction of black holes, physicist Roger Penrose teamed up with anaesthesiologist Stuart Hameroff to propose an ambitious answer. They claimed that the brain’s neuronal system…

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‘What I wanted is what they wanted,’ Trump said of the Capitol rioters

‘What I wanted is what they wanted,’ Trump said of the Capitol rioters

Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker write: Trump started the interview by pointing out his enduring and unrivaled power within the Republican Party. He explained that he didn’t intend to follow the path of former presidents, who largely bowed out of the nitty-gritty of party politics. He was proud to say he genuinely enjoys this sport he found so late in life, and believes he plays it better than anyone else. The parade of Republican politicians flocking to Mar-a-Lago all spring…

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‘Assaulting the United States Capitol and impeding the democratic process … will have consequences,’ says federal judge

‘Assaulting the United States Capitol and impeding the democratic process … will have consequences,’ says federal judge

Politico reports: A federal judge has handed down the first felony sentence in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, sending a Tampa man to prison for eight months for obstructing Congress’ effort to tabulate and certify the electoral vote. The sentence Paul Hodgkins, 38, received Monday for marching onto the Senate floor with a Trump flag during the chaotic Capitol takeover was less than half of what prosecutors recommended, but U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss also declined the…

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How a powerful U.S. lobby group helps big oil to block climate action

How a powerful U.S. lobby group helps big oil to block climate action

Chris McGreal reports: When Royal Dutch Shell published its annual environmental report in April, it boasted that it was investing heavily in renewable energy. The oil giant committed to installing hundreds of thousands of charging stations for electric vehicles around the world to help offset the harm caused by burning fossil fuels. On the same day, Shell issued a separate report revealing that its single largest donation to political lobby groups last year was made to the American Petroleum Institute,…

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Saudis behind NSO spyware attack on Jamal Khashoggi’s family, leak suggests

Saudis behind NSO spyware attack on Jamal Khashoggi’s family, leak suggests

The Guardian reports: In the wake of the brutal murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the NSO Group emphatically denied that its government clients had used its hacking malware to target the journalist or his family. “I can tell you very clear. We had nothing to do with this horrible murder,” Shalev Hulio, the chief executive of the Israeli surveillance firm, told the US TV news programme 60 Minutes in March 2019. It was six months after Khashoggi, a Washington…

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Huge data leak shatters the lie that the innocent need not fear surveillance

Huge data leak shatters the lie that the innocent need not fear surveillance

Paul Lewis writes: Billions of people are inseparable from their phones. Their devices are within reach – and earshot – for almost every daily experience, from the most mundane to the most intimate. Few pause to think that their phones can be transformed into surveillance devices, with someone thousands of miles away silently extracting their messages, photos and location, activating their microphone to record them in real time. Such are the capabilities of Pegasus, the spyware manufactured by NSO Group,…

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How Ben Shapiro is using Facebook to create an empire built on outrage

How Ben Shapiro is using Facebook to create an empire built on outrage

NPR reports: In 2021, Ben Shapiro rules Facebook. The conservative podcast host and author’s personal Facebook page has more followers than The Washington Post, and he drives an engagement machine unparalleled by anything else on the world’s biggest social networking site. An NPR analysis of social media data found that over the past year, stories published by the site Shapiro founded, The Daily Wire, received more likes, shares and comments on Facebook than any other news publisher by a wide…

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Humans started growing cannabis 12,000 years ago

Humans started growing cannabis 12,000 years ago

ZME Science reports: A new study traced back the origin of cannabis agriculture to nearly 12,000 years ago in East Asia. During this time cannabis was likely a multipurpose crop — it was only 4,000 years ago that farmers started growing different strains for either fiber or drug production. Although it’s largely understudied due to legal reasons, cannabis is one of the first plants to be domesticated by humans. Archaeological studies have found traces of cannabis in various different cultures…

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Regulate business to tackle climate crisis, urges former Bank of England chief

Regulate business to tackle climate crisis, urges former Bank of England chief

The Guardian reports: Governments must step up their regulation of businesses to tackle the climate crisis, the former Bank of England governor Mark Carney has urged, because the financial free markets will not reduce greenhouse gas emissions alone. Carney, who left the Bank of England last year before the first Covid-19 lockdown, is now one of the most influential figures working on Cop26, the vital UN climate talks to be held in Glasgow in November. He is a UN envoy…

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Across Siberia, extreme summer heat is feeding enormous fires, thawing the permafrost

Across Siberia, extreme summer heat is feeding enormous fires, thawing the permafrost

The New York Times reports: For the third year in a row, residents of northeastern Siberia are reeling from the worst wildfires they can remember, and many are left feeling helpless, angry and alone. They endure the coldest winters outside Antarctica with little complaint. But in recent years, summer temperatures in the Russian Arctic have gone as high as 100 degrees, feeding enormous blazes that thaw what was once permanently frozen ground. Last year, wildfires scorched more than 60,000 square…

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For Napa winemakers, climate change spells calamity

For Napa winemakers, climate change spells calamity

The New York Times reports: Last September, a wildfire tore through one of Dario Sattui’s Napa Valley wineries, destroying millions of dollars in property and equipment, along with 9,000 cases of wine. November brought a second disaster: Mr. Sattui realized the precious crop of cabernet grapes that survived the fire had been ruined by the smoke. There would be no 2020 vintage. A freakishly dry winter led to a third calamity: By spring, the reservoir at another of Mr. Sattui’s…

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In the West, baby hawks, too young to fly, are leaping from their nests to escape the extreme heat

In the West, baby hawks, too young to fly, are leaping from their nests to escape the extreme heat

The Washington Post reports: One wildlife rehabilitation center in rural Oregon says it got “three months’ worth of birds” in three days. Another, in northern California, declared a “hawkpocalypse” in June. And earlier in the summer, Portland Audubon, a nonprofit environmental organization, took in more than 100 Cooper’s hawks over four days as temperatures soared to record highs in the 110s. Normally they might get a dozen in a year. Around the West, young birds of prey have been jumping…

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How Covid-19 has upended life in undervaccinated Arkansas

How Covid-19 has upended life in undervaccinated Arkansas

The New York Times reports: When the boat factory in this leafy Ozark Mountains city offered free coronavirus vaccinations this spring, Susan Johnson, 62, a receptionist there, declined the offer, figuring she was protected as long as she never left her house without a mask. Linda Marion, 68, a widow with chronic pulmonary disease, worried that a vaccination might actually trigger Covid-19 and kill her. Barbara Billigmeier, 74, an avid golfer who retired here from California, believed she did not…

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Leak uncovers global abuse of cyber-surveillance weapon

Leak uncovers global abuse of cyber-surveillance weapon

The Guardian reports: Human rights activists, journalists and lawyers across the world have been targeted by authoritarian governments using hacking software sold by the Israeli surveillance company NSO Group, according to an investigation into a massive data leak. The investigation by the Guardian and 16 other media organisations suggests widespread and continuing abuse of NSO’s hacking spyware, Pegasus, which the company insists is only intended for use against criminals and terrorists. Pegasus is a malware that infects iPhones and Android…

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