Semaglutide delivered dramatic weight loss and health benefits in adults over 65, offering new hope for healthier aging. A new analysis of data from the STEP clinical trial program suggests that semaglutide remains both effective and generally safe for older adults living with obesity. The research, conducted by Prof. Luca Busetto of the University of [...]
Consciousness may arise in systems far different than the biology on Earth we are used to, according to University of California, Riverside (UCR) researchers, who argue that many forms of conscious experience may be possible in alien lifeforms.
Eric Schwitzgebel of UCR worked with Jeremy Pober, a former graduate student, not to understand what consciousness is, but rather, to explore whether it could arise in beings that differ radically from Earth’s biological standards.
At a time when questions about the possibility of alien life visiting Earth are on many minds, their work examines what unexpected forms might achieve consciousness—the first step toward intelligence.
Central to the pair’s work is the idea of “substrates,” from the Latin for “the level below,” referring to the underlying material base from which something is made. Although the term may be most familiar from geology, it can be applied conceptually across many disciplines, from biology to linguistics, to describe an underlying structure or form.
The researchers framed their core question around what they call “substrate flexibility”: can a specific property be achieved across many substrates, or is it more limited? One example they use is computer data storage. Information can be stored in many ways, including optical, magnetic, and solid-state media, indicating that storage exhibits a high degree of substrate flexibility.
But what about consciousness? Can it also be achieved flexibly? Perhaps the answer depends on the specificity of the question and whether we are considering human consciousness or a broader concept of consciousness itself.
The researchers began by considering the scale and nature of our universe as it is presently understood. That includes roughly a trillion galaxies containing countless planets unlike our own, which they estimate may have given rise to more than a thousand alien civilizations during the 13.8 billion years since the Big Bang. Notably, they do not focus solely on Earth-like planets that might theoretically harbor biological life recognizable to us.
“With that many draws from the lottery, some of these life forms will be strange indeed,” the pair writes in their paper.
This idea is not far-fetched, as astrobiologists have long hypothesized that life in the cosmos may take forms radically different from those on Earth, composed of available local materials, possibly including entirely different chemical structures.
The pair does not argue that such exotic lifeforms definitely exist in some corner of the universe, only that, in such a large and diverse universe, it is relatively unlikely that the same building blocks would commonly arrange themselves in precisely the same way as on Earth.
Taking inspiration from the idea of Nicholas Copernicus, the researchers argue that since the Earth, and thereby humanity, are not the center of the universe, it is likely that consciousness is also not a unique feature of our planet, or even recognizable biology.
However, the authors are quick to note that simply because consciousness may exist in multiple substrates does not mean it must exist in every substrate. AI systems, for example, may represent a form of silicon-based life, but they are not necessarily conscious at present. Additionally, perhaps how they are conscious should be considered more broadly, taking into account the variety of possible substrates, rather than simply assessing how well AI models the human brain.
That broader perspective is a crucial element of the pair’s conclusions. Consciousness should be considered in terms wider than simply assessing how well something replicates the human mind. While the authors concede that a similar substrate may be required to perfectly reproduce human consciousness, a broader view of the phenomenon may be necessary to recognize forms of consciousness that are fundamentally alien to our own.
The paper, “Substrate Flexibility and the Copernican Principle of Consciousness,” appeared in draft form on the University of California, Riverside website on May 28, 2026.
Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted at ryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.
With CO2 greening the planet, any possible harms are outweighed by the benefits of more trees and crops. And that's even before you subtract the monumental cost of Net Zero, says Matt Ridley.
The post Net Zero Can Never Be Worth it appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
SpaceX will acquire AI coding tool Cursor for $60 billion in an all-stock transaction, the companies announced today. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
It comes just two days after SpaceX's unprecedented IPO and a few months after the merger of SpaceX and xAI, which brought a significant restructuring of xAI.
Cursor was one of the first tools to fully bake features that leverage large language models into an IDE. It's a branch of Visual Studio Code with heavy AI integration. However, incumbent platforms and bigger AI companies have since rolled out comparable features.
© Cursor
Physicists report the discovery of new evidence for a mysterious quantum state in an unusual class of materials, in findings that could illuminate a long-running debate over how these systems transition into superconductivity.
In physics, symmetry breaking refers to processes in which a symmetric state collapses from its initial state of disorder into a more ordered one, albeit now possessing less symmetry.
The new research findings reveal evidence that time-reversal symmetry, a fundamental kind of symmetry in nature, appears to be broken at temperatures significantly higher than previously recognized.
The research was detailed in a recent study published in Nature Physics.
In their study, an international team of researchers led by a team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology focused on what are known as kagome metals—a variety of ferromagnetic quantum materials possessing unique qualities.
For their study, the researchers used a specific kagome metal called Cesium Vanadium Antimonide (CsV₃Sb₅), a novel material first discovered in 2021 by researchers at UC Santa Barbara’s NSF Quantum Foundry.
The researchers found that during experiments with the material, which is recognized as a candidate superconductor, CsV₃Sb₅ showed indications that time-reversal symmetry was broken at temperatures significantly higher than previously recognized.
This is significant because it is suggestive of an elusive phenomenon physicists call loop-current order, which describes a state in which the circulation of electrons throughout a material occurs in persistent microscopic loops.
Using an advanced photoemission technique, the team was able to uncover subtle differences in the way electrons respond to circularly polarized light, which is light that is produced using an electric field vector that rotates in a circle as the light wave propagates, equaling one complete rotation for each wavelength.
Based on the team’s measurements, a distinctive signal emerged, which they say is consistent with a time-reversal symmetry-breaking state, meaning that their observations provide what may be the best experimental evidence to-date for an exotic quantum state of matter known as loop-current order, wherein electrons spontaneously assume microscopic wave-like formations.
Loop-current order in kagome metals has been an ongoing area of study for physicists, and the team’s new findings offer what may be the best evidence yet uncovered.
One reason the team’s findings are so significant is that their results offer some clarity for the otherwise complex sequence of phase transitions that are known to occur within CsV₃Sb₅.
Based on their research, the team now believes loop-current order manifests as the temperature begins to decrease, which is then followed by a periodic rearrangement of electrons known as a charge density wave. Finally, superconductivity then follows, accompanied by the absence of electrical resistance altogether.
Fundamentally, the team’s work could offer new insights into the behavior and characteristics of strongly correlated quantum materials, which could hold promise for future studies involving the mechanisms that produce exotic states of matter.
“These insights deepen our understanding of the phase landscape in kagome metals and highlight connections with a correlated system exhibiting analogous transition hierarchy,” the team reports.
In the future, such studies may also help scientists finally attain the long-sought goal of high-temperature superconductivity, whereby materials capable of conducting electricity with zero resistance, and at temperatures above 30 K (-243°C), helping to reduce the current expenses associated with cooling systems required for superconducting, and ultimately helping to bring these high-power engineering technologies into commercial viability.
The team’s recent study, “Evidence of time-reversal symmetry breaking above the charge density wave order in a kagome metal,” was published in Nature Physics.
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. A longtime reporter on science, defense, and technology with a focus on space and astronomy, he can be reached at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow him on X @MicahHanks, and at micahhanks.com.
Men account for three in four suicides in the UK, yet this crisis is met with silence. Why does society care so much about women and girls, but so little about the wellbeing of men and boys?
The post Masculinity Isn’t Toxic, But Demonising it is, With Men Accounting For Three Suicides in Four appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Ozempic and similar weight-loss drugs were linked to a striking 30% reduction in breast cancer risk in a study of more than 110,000 women. Popular weight-loss and diabetes medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound may offer an unexpected benefit beyond helping people lose weight. A large new study found that women taking these [...]
Fifty years from now, academic treatises will be written about how the world was taken in by the climate madness of a pseudo-scientific doomsday cult, writes Princeton physicist Professor William Happer.
The post The Climate Cult appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Researchers identified a strong association between GLP-1 medications and reduced rates of multiple substance use disorders, raising new questions about how these drugs may affect the brain’s reward system. What if some of the world’s most popular weight loss drugs are affecting more than appetite? A new study suggests that GLP-1 medications, a class of [...]
Login