Razib Khan's Unsupervised Learning

Today, Razib talks to  Chris Masterjohn , a nutritional scientist and leading expert in mitochondrial biology who believes hidden energy bottlenecks underlie much of modern disease. After years of work as a professor and researcher, he founded  Mitome , the first mitochondrial analysis designed for everyday health, and serves as its Scientific Director. His mission is to make mitochondrial testing...

On this episode of Unsupervised Learning, Razib talks to  Mike White , a Genetics professor at the Washington University in St. Louis. White has a position at the School of Medicine in St. Louis, where he leads a research team focused on understanding the biophysical architecture of regulatory DNA. He earned a B.A. in music before pivoting to the sciences, receiving his Ph. D. in Biochemistry from...

On this episode of  Unsupervised Learning  Razib talks to  Aaron Renn . Renn is a  writer , consultant, and  urban analyst  known for his work on the challenges facing American cities and religious institutions in the 21st century. He is a contributor to  The American Reformer  and the author of  Life in the Negative World , a book exploring the cultural shifts regarding Christianity in America. R...

On this episode of  Unsupervised Learning  Razib talks to  Daniel Tabin , a 5th-year Ph. D. student in  David Reich's lab  in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology. His research focuses on using ancient and modern DNA to answer questions about human history. Tabin completed a degree in Computer Science and Math and Master's in Computer Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He Ph. D...

On this episode of  Unsupervised Learning  Razib talks to  Peter Nimitz  about  the rise of the Slavs . His Substack, titled  Nemets , explores world history through the lenses of archaeology, paleogenetics, and historical processes. His writing focuses on "deep history," such as the Bronze Age Collapse and the migration of Indo-European peoples, while connecting these ancient shifts to broader pa...

On this episode Razib talks to  Jesse Arm , VP of external affairs at the Manhattan Institute. His writing and commentary have appeared in the  New York Times ,  Wall Street Journal ,  The Atlantic ,  New York Post , Fox News,  City Journal  and  Jerusalem Post . Arm graduated with honors from the University of Michigan, where he majored in international political economy, and studied language and...

On this episode of  Unsupervised Learning ,   Razib talks to  Davide Piffer , whose Substack examines genetic differences between populations. Piffer  has been publishing  on human genetic variation for a decade, and recently started a Substack,  Piffer Pilfer , exploring similar issues in detail over a series of posts. Razib asks Piffer about the difficulties in analyzing polygenic scores from qu...

Today Razib talks to  Aneil Mallavarapu , a scientist and technology leader based in Austin, Texas, whose career bridges the fields of biochemistry, systems biology, and software engineering. He earned his doctorate in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from the University of California, and has held academic positions at Harvard Medical School, where he contributed to the Department of Systems Biology...

On this episode Razib, talks to  Richard Hanania , a  returning   guest   to the   podcast . Hanania holds a Ph. D. from UCLA, a J.D. from the University of Chicago, and an undergraduate degree from CU Boulder in linguistics. He is a regular contributor to the  Boston Globe  and  UnHerd , and has  his own newsletter . Hanania is also the author of  The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate...

On this episode, Razib talks to  returning guest ,  Francis Young , a historian who teaches at Oxford. Young specialises in the history of religion and belief from ancient times to the present day, and provides expert indexes for academic books and translates medieval and early modern Latin. He holds a PhD from Cambridge University and is the author, editor or co-author of  over 20 books . On his...

On this episode of  Unsupervised Learning,  Razib  again   talks  to George Washington University archaeologist  Eric Cline . The author of  1177 B.C. - The Year Civilization Collapsed  and  After 1177 B.C. - The Survival of Civilizations , Cline has a new book out,  Love, War, and Diplomacy: The Discovery of the Amarna Letters and the Bronze Age World They Revealed . While  1177 B.C.  closed with...

On this episode of  Unsupervised Learning  Razib talks again with  Washington Post  columnist  and repeat guest Shadi Hamid (listen to  previous   episodes ). A native Pennsylvanian of Egyptian ethnic background and Islamic faith, Hamid completed his Ph. D. in politics at Oxford University. He is co-host of the  Wisdom of Crowds   podcast  and  website  with  Damir Marusic , and now the author of...

On this episode, Razib talks to  Vishal Ganesan  and  Anang Mittal , two Indian-American Hindus who have been thinking about the role of their faith in the present, and past, of the American social landscape. Ganesan is a California-based attorney and writer who focuses on the history, identity, and representation of the Hindu diaspora in the United States. He is best known for his project  "Hindo...

On this very special episode, Razib talks to paleoanthroplogists John Hawks and Chris Stringer.  Hawks  is a paleoanthropologist who has been a researcher and commentator in human evolutionary biology and paleoanthropology for over two decades. With a widely read  weblog  (now on Substack), a book on  Homo naledi , and highly cited  scientific papers , Hawks is an essential voice in understanding...

Today Razib talks to  Sean Trende . He is a prominent American political analyst who currently serves as the Senior Elections Analyst for  RealClearPolitics , a position he has held since 2010. He is also a Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and a lecturer at The Ohio State University, where he earned his Ph. D. in political science in 2023. Before transitioning to full-time politic...

This week on the  Unsupervised Learning Podcast , Razib talks to r eturning guest   Alex Young  of UCLA and  Herasight . Trained originally as a mathematician, Young studied statistics and computational biology at the University of Cambridge before doing a doctorate in genomic medicine and statistics at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, University of Oxford, under Peter Donnelly. He al...

Today on  Unsupervised Learning  Razib talks to  Zineb Riboua , a research fellow and program manager of Hudson Institute's Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East. She specializes in Chinese and Russian involvement in the Middle East, the Sahel, and North Africa, great power competition in the region, and Israeli-Arab relations. Riboua's pieces and commentary have appeared in the  Wall S...

Today Razib talks to Ed West, a British journalist and author. He has served as deputy editor of  UnHerd  and  The Catholic Herald , and has written columns for  The Spectator  and  The Daily Telegraph . He runs the Substack newsletter  Wrong Side of History , where he explores culture, politics, and the longue durée of Western history. West is the author of books including  Small Men on the Wrong...

Today Razib talks to  Noah Smith , an American economist-turned-blogger known for his commentary on economics and public policy. His blog,  Noahpinion , is one of the most popular on Substack. He earned a PhD in economics at University of Michigan and served as an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook  University before leaving academia to become a full-time writer. He wrote a column for B...

Today, Razib talks to  Coltan Scrivner , a behavioral scientist, horror entertainment producer, and author, whose work centers on the psychological and evolutionary roots of our fascination with darkness, horror, and true crime. He is affiliated with the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University. Scrivner also serves as the executive director of the  Nightmare in the Ozarks  Film Festiv...

Today Razib talks to Nate Soares the President of the Machine Intelligence Research Institute (MIRI). He joined MIRI in 2014 and has since authored many of its core technical agendas, including foundational documents like  Agent Foundations for Aligning Superintelligence with Human Interests . Prior to his work in AI research, Soares worked as a software engineer at Google. He holds a B.S. in comp...

On this episode of  Unsupervised Learning,  Razib talks to  Alexander Cortes . Cortes is a trainer, fitness influencer and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder, along with his wife, of  Ferta , a company that aims to "optimize your reproductive health and conceive naturally." Born and raised in California, Cortes began his career in the fitness industry as a personal trainer in 2010. Over the next f...

Today on  Unsupervised Learning , Razib talks to  Kat Rosenfield . She is an American novelist, journalist, and culture critic known for both her fiction and commentary on contemporary political debates. She began her career in publishing and as a reporter for MTV News before branching out into broader cultural criticism, contributing to outlets such as  The New York Times ,  Wired ,  Vulture ,  R...

Today Razib talks to  Eric Kaufmann , a Canadian professor of politics at the University of Buckingham, where he directs the  Centre for Heterodox Social Science . He earned his BA from the University of Western Ontario and his MA and PhD from the London School of Economics. Prior to his current role, he held positions at the University of Southampton and Birkbeck, University of London, which he l...

Today Razib talks to  Ryan P. Williams . He is  president  of  The Claremont Institute , a position he has held since 2017. He is also a contributor to  The Claremont Review  of Books  and started  The American Mind .   Williams earned a B.A. in political science and Economics from Hillsdale College and an M.A. in politics from Claremont Graduate University.   He has taught American politics and p...