Gibraltar at the ‘Ignite the Cosmos’ Forum in Tenerife

The inaugural session of the 2025 'Ignite the Cosmos' Forum took place last Thursday, 13^th February, in front of a large audience and was entitled 'Extinctions in Life and the Universe'. It featured scientists Clive Finlayson (Gibraltar National Museum) and Montserrat Villar (Astrobiology Centre, CSIC), and was moderated by José María Fernández-Palacios (Universidad de La Laguna).

The eighth edition of the 'Ignite the Cosmos' Forum, organised by the Fundación CajaCanarias, features a number of persons from different scientific fields. It takes place over three sessions at the Cultural Space of the Fundación CajaCanarias in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The 2025 edition offers a journey through the scholarly knowledge of distinguished professionals from various disciplines of human knowledge. Through its three sessions, this initiative seeks to provide new perspectives from different approaches and themes: from large-scale extinctions to the importance of biodiversity and island ecosystems, as well as the ethical, philosophical, and scientific limits that emerge from the convergence of neuroscience and artificial intelligence. Could machines develop a form of self-awareness comparable to that of humans?

The speakers shed light on some of the questions we all ask about different extinctions, such as those of the Neanderthals, our closest relatives, or the dinosaurs. Why did they become extinct? Do all species go extinct? And we, Homo sapiens, will we also go extinct? On a much larger scale, great extinctions also occur in the Universe. Throughout its history, types of celestial bodies were formed that no longer exist and, as far as we know, will not exist again. The primordial stars and quasars were major protagonists in past eras, but, like the dinosaurs, they will not return either. So, are extinctions universal, do they always occur in the history of life and the Universe, or not? And why do they occur? Are they positive, negative, or neutral for the evolution of the Universe and life? Will stars like the Sun go extinct? Will the Universe go extinct?

Commenting on the occasion, Clive Finlayson said that it had been an honour to have been invited to such a prestigious event and to have participated alongside scientists at the cutting edge in their fields or research: “It was fantastic to have discussed scientific questions in front of a packed house, showing how much public interest there is in science. It was a special moment for me to have had the opportunity of showcasing the work being done in Gibraltar, which has now become internationally recognised, as the invitation to the event once again demonstrates. There was a strong media interest, which also allowed me to showcase Gibraltar to an even wider audience.”