The Neha Anwar Podcast

Lee Cronin is a Regius Chair of Chemistry in the School of Chemistry at the University of Glasgow. He is a prominent researcher in the field of chemistry, known for his work on the origins of life and the development of complex chemical systems. With over 20 years of experience in his field, Cronin has made significant contributions to the scientific community and is widely recognized for his expertise and achievements. He holds numerous awards and honors, and continues to play a leading role in advancing the understanding of life's origins and chemical evolution.

Andrew Gallimore is a computational neurobiologist, pharmacologist, chemist, and writer who has been interested in the neural basis of psychedelic drug action for many years and is the author of a number of articles and research papers on the powerful psychedelic drug, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and its effects on the brain and consciousness. In 2015, he collaborated with DMT pioneer Dr. Rick Strassman, author of DMT: The Spirit Molecule, to develop a pharmacokinetic model of DMT as the basis of a target-controlled intravenous infusion protocol for extended journeys in the bizarre worlds to which DMT gates access. His current interests focus on DMT and other psychedelic molecules as tool for gating access to otherwise inaccessible subjective worlds, their neuroscientific underpinning, and their possible ontological and metaphysical implications. He currently lives and works in Tokyo.

Abraham "Avi" Loeb a theoretical physicist who works on astrophysics and cosmology. Loeb is the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University. He had been the longest-serving chair of Harvard's Department of Astronomy (2011–2020), founding director of Harvard's Black Hole Initiative (since 2016) and director of the Institute for Theory and Computation (since 2007) within the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Loeb is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Physical Society, and the International Academy of Astronautics. In July 2018, he was appointed as chair of the Board on Physics and Astronomy (BPA) of the National Academies, which is the Academies' forum for issues connected with the fields of physics and astronomy, including oversight of their decadal surveys. In June 2020, Loeb was sworn in as a member of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) at the White House. In December 2012, Time magazine selected Loeb as one of the 25 most influential people in space. In 2015, Loeb was appointed as the science theory director for the Breakthrough Initiatives of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. In 2018, he attracted media attention for suggesting that alien spacecraft may be in our solar system, using the anomalous behaviour of ʻOumuamua as an example. In 2019, together with his Harvard undergraduate student, Amir Siraj, Loeb reported discovering a meteor that potentially originated outside the Solar System.

Dr Iain McGilchrist a Psychiatrist, neuroscience researcher, philosopher and literary scholar. Iain McGilchrist is a former Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, an associate Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford, a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Consultant Emeritus of the Bethlem and Maudsley Hospital, London, a former research Fellow in Neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins University Medical School, Baltimore, and a former Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies in Stellenbosch. He now lives on the Isle of Skye, off the coast of North West Scotland, where he continues to write, and lectures worldwide. He is committed to the idea that the mind and brain can be understood only by seeing them in the broadest possible context, that of the whole of our physical and spiritual existence, and of the wider human culture in which they arise – the culture which helps to mould, and in turn is moulded by, our minds and brains. He was a late entrant to medicine. After a scholarship to Winchester College, he was awarded a scholarship to New College, Oxford, where he read English. He won the Chancellor’s English Essay Prize and the Charles Oldham Shakespeare Prize in 1974 and graduated (with congratulated 1st Class Hons) in 1975 (MA 1979). He was awarded a Prize Fellowship of All Souls College, Oxford in 1975, teaching English literature and pursuing interests in philosophy and psychology, in particular the mind-body relationship, between 1975 and 1982. As a result he went on to train in medicine, and during this period All Souls re-elected him to a further Fellowship (1984-1991), and again in 2002 (to 2004). He was formerly a Consultant Psychiatrist of the Bethlem Royal and Maudsley NHS Trust in London, where he was Clinical Director of their southern sector Acute Mental Health Services. He trained at the Maudsley Hospital in London, working on specialist units including the Neuropsychiatry and Epilepsy Unit, the Children’s Unit and the Forensic Unit, as well as, at Senior Registrar level, the National Psychosis Referral Unit and the National Eating Disorder Unit. During this period he also worked as a Research Fellow in neuroimaging at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, USA. His clinical experience has been broad-based, and he has run a busy Community Mental Health Team in an ethnically diverse and socially deprived area of south London. He has published original research on neuroimaging in schizophrenia, the phenomenology of schizophrenia, and other topics, and contributed chapters to books on a wide range of subjects, as well as original articles in papers and journals.

Harvey A. Silverglate, an advocate for civil liberties since the 1960s, is an attorney, writer, and non-profit activist. Currently practicing law with the Boston firm Zalkind Duncan & Bernstein LLP, Silverglate specializes in criminal defense, civil liberties, and academic freedom/student rights cases. In addition to his legal work, Silverglate has led a parallel writing career as newspaper columnist and book author. Silverglate’s career as legal practitioner, spanning some four decades, has ranged widely and has included drug prosecutions, draft and riot cases in the '60s and '70s, bank and securities fraud, bribery and extortion, espionage, tax evasion, police misconduct, murder and manslaughter, habeas corpus proceedings, money laundering, and desertion (tried at a court martial). In one of his first cases, he served as trial counsel for students charged with taking over University Hall at Harvard during an anti-war demonstration in 1969. He has since done substantial defense against charges of business crime without becoming labeled a “white collar” (much less a “white shoe”) lawyer. He has represented alleged illicit drug dealers without becoming a “drug lawyer.” He has represented several alleged “organized crime figures” without being deemed a “mob lawyer.” Silverglate’s breadth of experience has given him perspective on the methods and techniques employed by police and prosecutors, and especially on the federal level, over the course of decades.

Tom Walters is a distinguished Rehab Scientist specializing in the treatment of musculoskeletal pain and movement disorders. With a solid foundation in kinesiology education, manual therapy, and personalized therapeutic exercise, he is a recognized authority in orthopedic rehabilitation. Based in Santa Barbara, California, Tom is a board-certified orthopedic physical therapist and strength and conditioning specialist. He also manages the influential social media account @rehabscience on Instagram, sharing valuable insights and promoting recovery. Formerly a dedicated kinesiology professor at Westmont College, Tom's extensive academic background includes a Doctor of Physical Therapy (D.P.T.) degree and specialized certifications in orthopedic manual physical therapy (OMPT) and lower quarter functional biomechanics. As a board-certified Orthopedic Clinical Specialist (OCS) and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), he has made impactful contributions to the field, fostering better movement and enhanced well-being for individuals seeking his expertise.

Hugo Mercier is a prominent cognitive scientist and researcher known for his groundbreaking work in the fields of psychology and philosophy. Mercier developed a passion for understanding the intricacies of human thought and reasoning from an early age. Most of his work so far has focused on the function and workings of reasoning. According to the argumentative theory of reasoning, the function of reasoning is argumentative: to find and evaluate arguments so as to convince others and only be convinced when it is appropriate. Accordingly, reasoning works well as an argumentative device, but quite poorly otherwise.

Anna Lembke is a professor of psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic. A clinician scholar, she has published more than a hundred peer-reviewed papers, book chapters, and commentaries. She sits on the board of several state and national addiction-focused organizations, has testified before various committees in the United States House of Representatives and Senate, keeps an active speaking calendar, and maintains a thriving clinical practice. In 2016, she published Drug Dealer, MD – How Doctors Were Duped, Patients Got Hooked, and Why It’s So Hard to Stop (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2016), which was highlighted in the New York Times as one of the top five books to read to understand the opioid epidemic (Zuger, 2018). Dr. Lembke recently appeared on the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, an unvarnished look at the impact of social media on our lives.

This episode is a fascinating debate between two distinguished guests who have dedicated their careers to unravelling the mysteries of the mind, Lee Cronin and Donald Hoffmann. The conversation will delve into the depths of human perception, consciousness, and reality itself. Lee Cronin is a renowned chemist and professor at the University of Glasgow. His groundbreaking work focuses on creating artificial life forms and developing complex chemical systems. He has been recognized for his innovative research in the field of chemical evolution and is a proponent of the hypothesis that life can be artificially created. Professor Cronin's interdisciplinary approach pushes the boundaries of scientific exploration, offering fresh perspectives on the origins and nature of life. Donald Hoffmann is a cognitive scientist and professor at the University of California, Irvine. He is known for his radical theory of perception and consciousness, challenging conventional wisdom in the field. Professor Hoffmann proposes that our perception of reality is not a direct reflection of the external world, but rather a constructed, evolutionary model that allows us to navigate and survive. His work draws upon evolutionary biology and neuroscience, shedding new light on the enigmatic relationship between the mind and the world.

Andrew Strominger is the Gwill E. York Professor of Physics at Harvard University and a founding member of the Black Hole Initiative. He is a renowned theoretical physicist who has made pathbreaking contributions to classical and quantum gravity, quantum field theory and string theory. These include his seminal work on Calabi-Yau compactification of string theory which provides a unified framework for quantum gravity and the theory of elementary particles, the statistical origin of the Bekenstein-Hawking black hole entropy and the conformal symmetry of astrophysical Kerr black holes. Recently Strominger has discovered an exact equivalence unifying three disparate phenomena which have been separately studied for the last half-century: quantum field theory soft theorems, asymptotic symmetries and the memory effect. In recognition of his accomplishments, Strominger has been awarded numerous prizes and honors, including the prestigious 2017 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, the 2016 Dannie Heineman Prize from the American Physical Society, the 2014 Oskar Klein Medal from the Swedish Royal Academy, the 2014 Dirac Medal from the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, the 2014 Physics Frontiers Breakthrough Prize from the Milner Foundation and the 2008 Leonard Eisenbud Prize from the American Mathematical Society.

Founder of the award-winning Kamalaya Koh Samui, Karina Stewart is a renowned authority on holistic health and wellbeing. An acclaimed speaker, and innovator, Karina has more than 40 years of experience in the study and practice of diverse Asian healing and spiritual traditions.   As the creative force behind the legendary Kamalaya, Karina's vision was to create programs and experiences that draw on many of the influences and healing modalities of the East and West. Kamalaya is undoubtedly unique because of how all the various healing elements have been curated and brought together in a truly holistic way. Kamalaya opened in November 2005, and from the very beginning, Karina's wellness concept has been based on the idea of synergy. Karina develops holistic wellness programs that access the healing power within and support harmonious integration of heart, body, mind and spirit.    With her passion for food and healing, Karina has established the philosophy of food for healing, Food as Medicine for Kamalaya.  The result is a multi-award-winning cuisine recognized not only for its health impact but also for its exceptional flavours.   Karina has a Master of Traditional Chinese Medicine from Yo San University in California, followed by training across structural therapies including Hellerwork and Cranial-Sacral Manipulation, yoga and Taoist philosophy and practice. She has a B.A. from Princeton University in Cultural Anthropology with a focus on Asian religions. 

Dr. Adam Gazzaley is a renowned neuroscientist and innovator in the field of cognitive neuroscience. With a profound passion for understanding the intricate workings of the human brain, Dr. Gazzaley has dedicated his career to exploring the intersection of technology, neuroscience, and medicine. Born with an insatiable curiosity, Dr. Gazzaley pursued his education at some of the world's most prestigious institutions. He obtained his bachelor's degree in physiology and neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and went on to earn his medical degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Continuing his pursuit of knowledge, he completed his residency in neurology at the University of Pennsylvania, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship in cognitive neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Gazzaley's groundbreaking research focuses on understanding the neural mechanisms underlying attention, memory, and perception. Through cutting-edge technologies such as neuroimaging, electrophysiology, and virtual reality, he strives to unravel the mysteries of the brain and unlock its incredible potential for enhancing human cognition.

Academic neurosurgeon Dr. Eben Alexander III, whose career includes decades as a physician and associate professor at Harvard Medical School and revered teaching hospitals, was once staunchly committed to the materialist world view -- the belief that the physical world is all that exists. His scientific belief system was altered by his 2008 transcendental near-death experience (NDE), an odyssey into another realm during a week-long coma. Despite a bleak medical prognosis, Dr. Alexander awoke to make an inexplicable return to full health. His medical case and recovery were validated in the peer-reviewed Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease. Since his NDE, Dr. Alexander has been reconciling his rich spiritual experience with quantum physics, cosmology and the philosophy of mind. Dr. Alexander speaks around the world to educate about the role that consciousness plays in wellness, healing and recovery. A pioneering scientist and modern thought leader, Dr. Alexander has been featured in more than 400 media interviews including for ABC-TV’s Good Morning America and 20/20, The Dr. Oz Show, Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday, Larry King Now, Fox and Friends, Discovery Channel, Biography Channel and numerous international radio, digital and podcasts. His books are available in more than 40 countries: Proof of Heaven: A Neurosurgeon's Journey into the Afterlife, The Map of Heaven: How Science, Religion, and Ordinary People Are Proving the Afterlife, and Living in a Mindful Universe: A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Heart of Consciousness, co-authored with Sacred Acoustics co-founder Karen Newell. http://ebenalexander.com/

Brian Sanders is a health and nutrition expert and host of the popular "Peak Human" podcast. With a passion for whole foods, regenerative agriculture, and sustainable living, Brian has become a leading voice in the movement towards a more holistic approach to health and wellness. As the founder of SAPIEN, a company dedicated to promoting the benefits of a nose-to-tail diet and a healthy lifestyle, Brian has helped countless people transform their health and well-being through personalized coaching, consulting, and education. Drawing on his background in engineering and computer science, Brian brings a unique perspective to the field of nutrition, using data-driven analysis and critical thinking to challenge conventional wisdom and uncover new insights into the complex relationship between diet, lifestyle, and human health.

Kevin Kelly is Senior Maverick at Wired magazine. He co-founded Wired in 1993, and served as its Executive Editor for its first seven years. His newest book is Excellent Advice for Living, a book of 450 modern proverbs for good living. He is co-chair of The Long Now Foundation, a membership organization that champions long-term thinking and acting as a good ancestor to future generations. And he is founder of the popular Cool Tools website, which has been reviewing tools daily for 20 years. From 1984-1990 Kelly was publisher and editor of the Whole Earth Review, a subscriber-supported journal of unorthodox conceptual news. He co-founded the ongoing Hackers’ Conference, and was involved with the launch of the WELL, a pioneering online service started in 1985. Other books by Kelly include 1) The Inevitable, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, 2) Out of Control, his 1994 classic book on decentralized emergent systems, 3) The Silver Cord, a graphic novel about robots and angels, 4) What Technology Wants, a robust theory of technology, and 5) Vanishing Asia, his 50-year project to photograph the disappearing cultures of Asia. He is best known for his radical optimism about the future.

J. Arvid Ågren is a Research Associate at the Lerner Research Institute at the Cleveland Clinic and an Affiliated Researcher at the Evolutionary Biology Centre at Uppsala University. His works focuses on the evolution of within-organism conflicts, including selfish genetic elements and cancers. He also works on foundations of selfish gene theory and is the author of The Gene’s-Eye View of Evolution (OUP 2021). He is the co-PI with Manus M. Patten of the Paradox of the Organism project funded by the John Templeton Foundation and an Associated Editor of Proceedings of the Royal Society B and BioScience. He studied evolutionary biology at the universities of Edinburgh and Toronto and was a postdoc at Cornell and Harvard. Website: https://arvidagren.com/  Twitter: https://twitter.com/arvidagren

Neil Shubin is a renowned American Palaeontologist, evolutionary biologist, and popular science writer. He is best known for his groundbreaking discoveries in the field of palaeontology and his contributions to our understanding of the evolutionary history of life on Earth. Shubin has dedicated his career to studying the fossil record and the processes that drive evolution, with a particular focus on the origin and evolution of vertebrates. He is also highly regarded for his ability to communicate complex scientific concepts to a general audience, through his popular science writing and public speaking. Shubin's work has been widely published in leading scientific journals, and he is widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists of his generation. With a passion for both research and education, Shubin continues to shape our understanding of life on Earth and inspire new generations of scientists and science enthusiasts.

Neil Fraser Johnson is a highly respected English physicist with a wealth of experience in complexity theory and complex systems. He is widely recognized for his pioneering work in a variety of interdisciplinary fields, including quantum information, econophysics, and condensed matter physics. Throughout his career, Johnson has been at the forefront of exploring and explaining the intricate relationships that exist within complex systems, including the behaviour of quantum particles, economic systems, and various materials. He has authored numerous papers, articles and book chapters on these subjects, making a significant contribution to our understanding of the complex and interconnected systems that shape our world. With a passion for advancing the field of physics, Johnson continues to be a thought leader in the area of complexity theory and complex systems.

N.J. Enfield is a prominent linguist and Chair of Linguistics at the University of Sydney. He is known for his research in linguistic anthropology, exploring the relationship between language, culture, and social interaction. Enfield has conducted extensive fieldwork in various parts of the world and has published his work in numerous scholarly journals and edited volumes. He has received several awards and honors for his contributions to the field, including a fellowship from the Australian Academy of Humanities and a prestigious grant from the European Research Council. He is head of a Research Excellence Initiative on The Crisis of Post-Truth Discourse. His research on language, culture, cognition and social life is based on long term field work in mainland Southeast Asia, especially Laos. His recent books include Natural Causes of Language, The Utility of Meaning, Distributed Agency, and How We Talk.

Michael Levin is an American biologist and a leading figure in the field of regenerative medicine. He received his undergraduate degree from Tufts University in 1988. Levin went on to earn a PhD in Genetics from Harvard University in 1995. He is currently the director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University and a professor in the Department of Biology. Levin's research focuses on understanding the mechanisms that control cell behaviour and tissue repair, with a particular interest in studying how electrical signalling can be used to guide regeneration. Levin has authored more than 300 scientific papers and has received numerous awards for his contributions to the field of biology. He is also a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Biotechnology. His work has been featured in Nature, Science, and Scientific American publications.