Send us a text How internal states like hunger and hormones shape instinctive behaviors, particularly parental care Episode Summary: Dr. Johannes Kohl explains instinctive behaviors in mammals, emphasizing how states like hunger and hormonal cycles modulate actions such as parental care; they discuss hypothalamic circuits, hormone integration, and pregnancy-induced brain changes, highlighting the balance between motivations like feeding and nurturing offspring. About the guest: Jonny Kohl, Ph...
Send us a text How mitochondria travel between cells and how this hidden communication shapes metabolism, immunity, and even potential therapies. Episode Summary: Dr. Jon Brestoff talks about mitochondrial dynamics inside cells, their transfer between unrelated cells (distinct from inheritance during division), and its roles in adipose tissue communication, macrophage cleanup, and systemic metabolic signaling; they explore how high-fat diets disrupt this process, potential hormetic benefits, ...
Send us a text A biophysical rethink of life, health, and disease through the lens of the Energy Resistance Principle (ERP). Episode Summary: A reframe of biology as energy flow through resistance rather than mere molecular machinery, introducing the Energy Resistance Principle (ERP): life requires a Goldilocks balance of electron flow from food to oxygen via mitochondria; too much or too little resistance drives aging, disease, and death. Explain mitochondria as energy transformers, link ERP...
Send us a text How artificial light impacts female menstrual cycles and their relationship to lunar cycles of the moon. Summary: Dr. Förster talks about how biological clocks, including circadian, tidal, lunar, and annual cycles, regulate behaviors in various species, with a focus on lunar cycle effects on human menstrual cycles. They explore historical and modern data suggesting that menstrual cycles may synchronize with lunar phases, a phenomenon potentially disrupted by modern artificial l...
Send us a text The genetic & developmental changes behind bipedalism & human anatomy. Wide release date: October 15, 2025. Episode Summary: Dr. Terence Capellini talks about the evolution of bipedalism in humans, exploring when and why it emerged, the anatomical changes required, and the genetic mechanisms behind these adaptations. They discuss how environmental shifts, like shrinking forests, drove the need for upright walking, the gradual skeletal changes in the pelvis and limbs, an...
Send us a text The biological roots of sleep are tied to mitochondrial metabolism. Episode Summary: Dr. Gero Miesenböck discusses the evolutionary and metabolic basis of sleep, exploring how mitochondrial energy production in neurons, particularly in fruit flies, drives the need for sleep to manage harmful byproducts like reactive oxygen species and lipid peroxides. They discuss how sleep-inducing neurons sense these byproducts, the role of mitochondrial dynamics, and the broader implications...
Send us a text The surprising link between oral bacteria and heart disease. Episode Summary: Dr. Pekka Karhunen explains the connection between oral bacteria, cholesterol, and cardiovascular disease, discussing how oxidized LDL cholesterol triggers inflammation in arteries, how bacteria from the mouth can infiltrate arterial plaques to form biofilms, and the implications for heart disease prevention through lifestyle changes like better oral hygiene. About the guest: Pekka Karhunen, MD, PhD i...
Send us a text How nutrition and medications impact mitochondrial health. Episode Summary: Dr. Chris Masterjohn talks about the intricate relationships between nutrition, prescription drugs, and mitochondrial health; how molecules like acetaminophen & SSRIs affect the body; broader implications of serotonin outside the brain; side effects of commonly used medications; the importance of personalized nutritional strategies to optimize mitochondrial function. About the guest: Chris Masterjoh...
Send us a text Genetic & environmental factors that affect brain health, including why people age faster in outer space. (Note: technical difficulties affected the audio quality of this recording somewhat) Episode Summary: Dr. Jacob Raber explains how apolipoproteins, particularly ApoE, influence brain health and disease risk; their role in cholesterol metabolism, Alzheimer’s disease, and responses to environmental stressors like radiation and viral infections; interplay between genetics,...
Send us a text How maternal obesity epigenetically reprograms liver metabolism in offspring, predisposing them to metabolic disease. Episode Summary: Dr. Elvira Mass talks about macrophages, specialized immune cells that vary by tissue and play crucial roles beyond fighting infections, such as supporting organ function; Kupffer cells (liver macrophages) and how maternal obesity during pregnancy reprograms these cells in offspring, leading to fatty liver disease, fibrosis, and even cancer late...
Send us a text Aging, tissue repair, and the longevity benefits of psilocin. Episode Summary: Dr. Louise Hecker discusses her research on tissue repair and regeneration, explaining how fibroblasts drive wound healing by forming scar tissue but fail to resolve properly with age, leading to fibrotic diseases like pulmonary fibrosis and liver cirrhosis; they discuss aging hallmarks such as oxidative stress and telomere shortening, and highlight Hecker's study showing psilocybin's active metaboli...
Send us a text The effects of protein restriction on metabolism, liver hormones, brain, and behavior. Episode Summary: Dr. Christopher Morrison talks about how animals sense and prioritize nutrients like protein, discussing defense mechanisms for essentials such as oxygen, water, sodium, and energy; the brain's role in detecting protein deprivation via signals like FGF21; trade-offs between growth, reproduction, and longevity under protein restriction; and reconciling high-protein diets for s...
Send us a text Where does biological complexity come from and how is it generated? Episode Summary: Dr. Michael Levin talks about cognition manifesting at scales beyond brains, including in cells and tissues via bioelectric networks; analog vs. digital coding in biology; how bioelectric patterns guide development and regeneration (e.g., in planarians); creation of novel life forms like xenobots and anthrobots; philosophical ideas on a "platonic space" of mathematical patterns influencing biol...
Send us a text Cellular clean up by immune cells and how early-life fructose exposure leads to neurodevelopmental problems. Episode Summary: Dr. Justin Perry talks about the body's constant cellular turnover—about 3 million cells die per second in adults (double in children and women)—handled by phagocytes like macrophages that engulf and digest debris to prevent diseases like lupus. They explore phagocytosis steps, macrophage adaptations in tissues like the brain (microglia), and how high fr...
Send us a text The potential link between acetaminophen (Tylenol) and autism, with a surprise phone call from RFK partway through. Episode Summary: Dr. William Parker talks about autism spectrum disorder (ASD), its rising prevalence since the 1980s, and the controversial hypothesis that acetaminophen exposure in susceptible infants and children triggers most cases via oxidative stress. They discuss ASD's clinical definition; historical misconceptions like the "refrigerator mother" theory; gen...
Send us a text Wide release date: August 25, 2025 Episode Summary: Dr. Uffe Ravnskov talks about his decades-long career challenging the idea that high cholesterol causes heart disease, discussing LDL's protective role in the immune system by binding to bacteria, the harms and biases in statin research influenced by pharmaceutical companies, evidence that high cholesterol benefits the elderly and reduces infection/cancer risks, and how mental stress or infections elevate cholesterol as a resp...
Send us a text The appendix's hidden role and how "good" parasites like helminths shape immune health. Episode Summary: Dr. William Parker discusses gut anatomy, the appendix's role in harboring beneficial bacterial biofilms and immune tissue, and how modern hygiene depletes helminths (intestinal worms), causing immune overreactions like allergies, autoimmunity, and psychiatric conditions. He explores helminth self-therapy for treating relapsing MS, depression, and allergies; challenges in cl...
Send us a text What is the core evolved function of the endocannabinoid system? Episode Summary: Dr. Giovanni Marsicano is a neuroscientist based in Bordeaux, France, where he leads a research group at INSERM focusing on the endocannabinoid system. About the guest: Giovanni Marsicano, PhD discusses the endocannabinoid system, starting with its core components like CB1 receptors and lipid-based molecules derived from omega-6 fatty acids; its cellular signaling, evolutionary role in energy stor...
Send us a text Overview and alternative interpretation to the mainstream view on how dietary fat and cholesterol relate to cardiovascular disease. Episode Summary: Tucker Goodrich is an engineer by training who has become a prominent independent researcher and blogger on nutrition and metabolic health, focusing on the harms of seed oils and polyunsaturated fats. About the guest: Nick Jikomes and Tucker Goodrich explore atherosclerosis and heart disease, critiquing the standard model that blam...
Send us a text Human metabolism, primate evolution, and modern health challenges with evolutionary anthropologist Herman Pontzer. Episode Summary: Anthropologist Dr. Herman Pontzer discusses human evolution and metabolism, comparing humans to primates like chimps and gorillas to explain our higher energy use, bigger brains, and longer lives despite trade-offs in reproduction and activity; they discuss dietary shifts from plant-based to hunting-gathering, metabolic adaptations, and modern issu...