humanOS Radio

In this episode of the humanOS Radio podcast, we welcome Hannah Went, a visionary in the realm of longevity and disruptive health technologies. With a lifelong passion for breakthrough innovations that improve the human condition, Hannah's journey began at the University of Kentucky, where she earned her degree in Biology. Her early research internships in cell signaling and cell biology laid the...

Taurine is often associated with energy drinks and pre-workout supplements, although ironically, it is not a stimulant and may have the opposite effect. While taurine is not considered an essential nutrient for adults, as our bodies can produce it from other amino acids, recent evidence suggests that it offers numerous health benefits. These include improved blood sugar regulation, reduced oxidati...

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "The eyes indicate the antiquity of the soul." But we now know that your eyes may also provide a remarkably accurate measure of the true age of your body. Indeed, perhaps more accurate than the number of years that you've been alive (i.e., your chronological age). How can this be? Well, it has been known for some time that the microvasculature of the retina can offe...

In our previous interview with Dr. Kapahi, we discussed his work examining how advanced glycation end products (also known as AGEs) drive the aging process. Since we last spoke, Pankaj has been hard at work trying to identify compounds that can rein in the deleterious impact of AGEs, primarily by lowering levels of methylglyoxal. Methylglyoxal is formed as a side product of the breakdown of sugars...

On this episode of humanOS Radio, I speak with Lynda Frassetto. Lynda is a Professor Emeritus of Medicine in the Division of Nephrology at UCSF. During her research career, she and her colleagues investigated regulation of acid-base balance in both healthy and older people, as well as dietary influences on acid-base balance.  In particular, she has explored how the ratios of potassium to sodi...

On this episode of humanOS Radio, Dan speaks with Paul Spagnuolo. Dr. Spagnuolo has a PhD in Applied Health Sciences from the University of Waterloo, and is currently a Professor at the Department of Food Science at the University of Guelph in Ontario Canada. His lab has been focused on identifying and developing nutraceuticals as novel therapeutic agents, and figuring out the molecular and cellul...

On this episode of humanOS Radio, Dan speaks with Brad Dieter. Brad has a PhD in Exercise Physiology from the University of Idaho, and did further training in biomedical research examining how metabolism and inflammation regulate molecular mechanisms of disease. He is a scientist, a coach, an entrepreneur, a writer, and a speaker, so he wears a lot of different hats. Brad has been leading research...

Within our gut resides a vast ecosystem that guides countless facets of health and performance. Emerging research shows that your gut microbiota may impact many different and seemingly unrelated aspects of health and bodily function, including appetite and body weight regulation, lifespan, mood, cognition, and even athletic performance. We also know that the gut plays a role in the immune system....

In this episode of humanOS Radio, Dan speaks with Jennifer Goldschmied. Jennifer has a Ph. D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Michigan, and is currently faculty at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research explores how altering aspects of sleep can produce changes in mood and emotional regulation, particularly in those with major depression. Jennifer’s work has led her to investig...

The market for dietary supplements to enhance sports performance has exploded in recent years. In fact, you may have tried some of these supplements yourself to improve your workouts. Many common supplements, like caffeine, have been studied in the context of immediate performance enhancement, and are used with that goal in mind. But the effect of chronic supplementation, particularly in endurance...

When you hear the word superfood, what do you think of? Probably kale. Goji berries. Green tea. Turmeric. Countless others. But what about mushrooms? Mushrooms have historically not held a prominent place among the list of superfoods. But if you take a closer look, I think you’ll find that the humble mushroom actually has a lot going for it. A single cup of whole white mushrooms - like the kind yo...

In this episode of humanOS Radio, Dan welcomes Dr. Jamie Zeitzer back to the show. Jamie is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, as well as at the VA Aging Clinical Research Center at Stanford. In our previous interview, we discussed his research on light and timing of biological rhythms. He and his colleagues determined that brief,...

In this episode of humanOS Radio, Dan speaks with Julie Andersen. Julie has a Ph. D in neurobiological chemistry from UCLA, and subsequently did her post-doctoral fellowship in the department of neurology at Harvard. Presently, she is a professor and researcher at the Buck Institute, an independent biomedical research institute that is dedicated to investigating aging and age-related disease. Her...

On the surface, sleep looks like a colossal waste of time. Think about it. We spend about a third of our lives lying down with our eyes closed...basically doing nothing! It’s easy to see why high-achieving people throughout history - like Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin - aspired to get by with less of it. Even today, people who are trying to maximize productivity are prone to shortchanging sl...

For much of our history as a species, the threat of chronic food shortage and malnutrition has loomed over us. Fortunately, due to global economies and remarkable advances in technology and agriculture, most of us living today in industrialized countries will probably never need to worry about starvation. But ironically, we now must battle the consequences of excessive abundance of readily accessi...

Have you ever wondered what your great-great-grandparents would think of the world today - and how we live - if they were transported here via a time machine? Our lives have changed drastically in too many different ways to recount here (and most of these changes are, arguably, pretty great to be honest). But for those of us who study health and human biology, our patterns of physical activity is...

Why do so many people struggle to stick to a healthy lifestyle? Health-related goals are largely the product of long term modifications to how we live. And we generally don’t see an immediate payoff from these individual choices, at least not in the moment. To paraphrase James Clear, it is only after your efforts have compounded over time that you start to see the payoff of these behaviors, for be...

All of us have heard the aphorism, “Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” This maxim, of course, is usually attributed to ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. However, if you’ve ever spent time looking at health-related content on Twitter and Instagram, you’ll realize that conflating diet and medicine is a modern phenomenon. We like to think of certain foods and combinations of food...

On this episode of humanOS Radio, Dan welcomes Aly Orady - founder and CEO of Tonal - to the show. Aly’s story is an all too common example of the price of success in the modern world. Aly was excelling professionally, but in the process his health was falling apart. He was overweight, and had developed type 2 diabetes and sleep apnea. And he was only in his mid-thirties. He was moving on a danger...

Light is essential to life as we know it. Plants rely upon sunlight to generate chemical energy, which is stored in their tissues and fuels various life processes. In turn, animals like us convert the energy from the food that we eat into mechanical energy. Given its fundamental role in our biology, perhaps it makes sense that specific types of light are connected to our health in some surprising...

Insomnia is a uniquely vexing medical problem. It is the most common sleep-related issue, thought to affect around 10-40% of the population in the US. So it is a challenge that affects a whole lot of us. Yet despite its prevalence, treatments for the condition are lackluster at best. Why is this the case? Perhaps because it remains poorly understood. Insomnia has been known and documented for thou...

On this episode of humanOS Radio, Dan welcomes Nicola Bondonno to the show. Her research has been examining the effects of bioactive compounds occurring naturally in plant-based foods and beverages, and how they are linked to the cardiovascular health benefits associated with a plant-rich diet. It has become axiomatic that fruits and vegetables are protective against disease. Humans have intuitive...

On this episode of humanOS Radio, Dan welcomes Daniel Gartenberg to the show. Dan has dedicated his life to helping people sleep better (a calling that we here at humanOS can certainly relate to). Daniel has a Ph. D in Human Factors and Applied Cognition from George Mason University, and is an adjunct assistant professor at Penn State University. He has conducted grant-funded research from the Nat...

In this episode of humanOS Radio, Dan speaks with Sander Kooijman. Sander is a post-doctoral researcher at Leiden University Medical Center, where he is investigating brown adipose tissue activation as a therapeutic target to attenuate obesity, type 2 diabetes, and atherosclerosis in humans. He and his colleagues recently published a paper examining how light exposure and environmental temperature...

In this episode of humanOS Radio, Dan speaks with Pamela Maher. Dr. Maher has a Ph. D. in biochemistry from the University of British Columbia. She was formerly an associate professor at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. In 2004, she moved to her current position as a research scientist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Her research has centered on understanding responses of...