Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show

Send us Fan Mail We spend billions of dollars each year funding scientific discovery - but what happens if the people making those discoveries can't communicate them? Today we're exploring why communication may be just as important as innovation itself, and why some of the world's brightest scientists never receive the recognition their work deserves. Nancy Ancowitz ( https://www.na...

Send us Fan Mail For most of human history, scientists believed that once a cell became a skin cell, a neuron, or a heart cell, that identity was permanent. Then a group of researchers discovered something extraordinary: cells could be reset. My guest today was there when that discovery happened. Dr. Koji Tanabe, Ph. D. is Founder and CEO of I Peace ( https://ipeace.com/en/ ), one of the world&apo...

Send us Fan Mail What happens when you step back from individual biotech companies and look at the entire industry? Today's guest has spent decades connecting biotech CEOs, investors, pharmaceutical leaders, and innovators from around the world - giving her a rare front-row seat to the trends shaping the future of medicine. From AI and TechBio to venture capital, partnering, and breakthrough...

Send us Fan Mail Heart disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, and one of its most important modifiable risk factors is elevated LDL cholesterol - the so-called "bad cholesterol." While statins have transformed cardiovascular care for decades, and newer therapies like injectable PCSK9 inhibitors have provided additional options, millions of patients still struggle to achiev...

Send us Fan Mail What if I told you there is a major genetic risk factor for heart attacks and strokes that affects roughly one in five people worldwide - but most people have never heard of it, and it isn't measured on a standard cholesterol test? Today we're exploring Lp(a), the hidden cardiovascular risk factor that could reshape the future of heart disease prevention. Dr. Paul Burton...

Send us Fan Mail For decades we've measured obesity using one simple number on a scale - but what if that's the wrong metric? Today, one of the world's leading experts in genetics explains why the future of obesity medicine may not be about losing more weight, but about losing the right kind of fat while preserving the muscle that keeps us healthy. Dr. Erik Ingelsson, MD, PhD is a p...

Send us Fan Mail When most people hear the word "nuclear," they think of power plants and clean energy production. But every day, nuclear science is helping diagnose and treat millions of cancer patients around the world. Today, we're exploring one of the powerful new tools in our fight against cancer: medical isotopes.  Our guest today is James Scongack, Chair of the Canadian Nucle...

Send us Fan Mail Every year, nearly 700 million people around the world are infected by norovirus. Most people know it as a miserable few days of vomiting and diarrhea - but for transplant patients, cancer patients, and other immunocompromised individuals, it can become a chronic and potentially life-threatening infection. And despite decades of research, we still have no approved antiviral treatm...

Send us Fan Mail What if one of the most intriguing Alzheimer’s interventions isn’t a drug…but light? Light has long been recognized as essential for vision, sleep, and circadian rhythms - but could certain wavelengths of light actually influence the biology of the brain itself? Recent research into photobiomodulation is exploring whether carefully delivered near-infrared and red light can improve...

Send us Fan Mail For decades, getting to space has largely meant one thing: launching vertically atop massive rockets from fixed launch pads. But what if the future of space access also includes aircraft capable of flying at more than twice the speed of sound, launching payloads from the edge of the atmosphere, and providing researchers with affordable access to hypersonic flight and microgravity?...

Send us Fan Mail Today on Progress, Potential and Possibilities, we're exploring one of the most fundamental challenges facing human performance: heat. Whether it's soldiers operating in desert environments, firefighters battling infernos, police officers wearing heavy body armor, construction crews working under extreme summer temperatures, or elite athletes pushing the limits of endura...

Send us Fan Mail We spend billions of dollars developing drugs to fight cancer - but what if one of the most powerful therapies begins before treatment even starts? Today we're exploring the rapidly growing field of cancer rehabilitation and the science showing that exercise, nutrition, and personalized recovery plans can dramatically improve life before, during, and after cancer. Today'...

Send us Fan Mail For decades, the war on cancer has focused on destroying cancer cells directly - with chemotherapy, radiation, and targeted drugs. But what if the future of cancer treatment is not about attacking cancer ourselves...but teaching our own immune system to do it for us? Today we're exploring a new generation of immunotherapies designed to turn the body's own defenses into a...

Send us Fan Mail We tend to think of menopause as a personal health issue - but in the workplace it quietly shows up as one of the largest unmodeled productivity shifts in the modern economy. Recent data from the Korn Ferry Institute, in collaboration with Vira Health, suggests nearly half of women report that perimenopause or menopause symptoms impact their work performance. And research cited by...

Send us Fan Mail Every cup of coffee, every chocolate bar, every loaf of bread has a hidden ingredient you probably never think about: water. But as climate change reshapes where and how we grow food, water is becoming one of the biggest risks facing our global supply chains. We often talk about climate change through the lens of rising temperatures, extreme weather, or carbon emissions — but behi...

Send us Fan Mail We usually think of health ministers as politicians. Dr. Evis Sala, MD, PhD is something entirely different. She's one of the world's leading cancer imaging researchers who helped pioneer AI in radiology - and now she's responsible for the healthcare of an entire nation. What happens when a scientist takes the helm of public health? Our guest today is one of the wor...

Send us Fan Mail Imagine a world where a child with a rare disease in a rural hospital could benefit from the collective intelligence of 500 of the world's best children's hospitals - not years later, but in real time. What if artificial intelligence could connect medical expertise globally while keeping every patient's data private? That is the ambitious vision behind the Pediatric...

Send us Fan Mail For decades, women undergoing mastectomy have largely faced the same choice: reconstruct with permanent implants or use tissue transplanted from another part of the body. But what if there was a third option - not replacing what's been lost, but actually regenerating it? Today we're exploring one of the most ambitious ideas in regenerative medicine: a 3D-bioprinted scaff...

Send us Fan Mail What if radiation could become one of the most precise medicines ever invented? Long before radiopharmaceuticals became one of the hottest areas in biotech, today's guest was helping pioneer targeted radiation therapies that seek out cancer cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue. Today, the field is attracting billions in investment and reshaping oncology. Our guest...

Send us Fan Mail For decades we've treated autoimmune diseases by suppressing the immune system - but what if we've been approaching the problem all wrong? What if, instead of lifelong immunosuppression, we could selectively eliminate the immune cells causing disease and allow the immune system to rebuild itself? Today we're exploring one of the hottest areas in biotechnology: T-cel...

Send us Fan Mail Can artificial intelligence really think like a physician - or is it simply predicting words? This week we're joined by Dr. Michal Tzuchman-Katz, MD, physician, AI entrepreneur, pediatrician, and Chief Innovation & Research Officer at Maccabi Healthcare, one of the world's most advanced healthcare organizations. We explore why the future of medicine isn't just b...

Send us Fan Mail Everyone talks about getting humans to Mars. But almost nobody talks about the harder question - how do you keep them alive once they get there? My guest today says the answer isn't bigger rockets - it's plants. Mark Ciotola is CEO and Co-Founder of Sustain Space ( https://www.sustainspace.com/ ), a company focused on developing regenerative life-support technologies for...

Send us Fan Mail For decades, fusion researchers were chasing a single goal: ignition. But what if ignition isn't the finish line? What if it's only the starting gun? Today we're joined by Dr. Will Regan, Founder and Chief Scientist of Pacific Fusion, a company betting that the future of fusion won't be won by building bigger machines - but by solving one of engineering's...

Send us Fan Mail What if a device small enough to fit in your pocket could detect a potentially fatal heart rhythm before symptoms even appear? My guest today helped make that possible. Dr. David Albert, MD - Founder of AliveCor, pioneered smartphone ECG technology and transformed how millions of people monitor their hearts. Dr. David Albert, MD is a physician, inventor, and serial entrepreneur wh...

Send us Fan Mail We often assume confusion after surgery is temporary. But what if those few days of delirium are actually a major turning point in the aging brain? New research from Harvard and Hebrew SeniorLife suggests postoperative delirium may be the strongest predictor of long-term cognitive decline - and what we're learning could fundamentally change how we think about dementia and hea...