Mind & Matter

Send us Fan Mail The complex science of dietary lipids (fats) and inflammation, with actionable advice for managing health through dietary choices. Note: Full episodes are available to paid subscribers on the M&M Substack and are free on YouTube . Partial versions are available elsewhere. About the guest: Tim Yeatman, MD is a surgical oncologist and professor of surgery at the University of So...

Send us Fan Mail Podcast episodes are fully available to paid subscribers on the M&M Substack and freely on YouTube . Partial versions are available elsewhere. About the guest: Ben Potter, PhD is an archaeologist & Professor of Anthropology at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. James Chatters, PhD is a retired archaeologist and paleontologist. They recently published a paper on the diet o...

Send us Fan Mail Podcast episodes are fully available to paid subscribers on the M&M Substack and full video versions are free on YouTube . This episode will not be posted on YouTube due to the controversial nature of the content. About the guest: Jessica Rose, PhD is a computational biologist who has been studying and analyzing data from the Vaccine Adverse Event Responding System (VAERS) rel...

Send us Fan Mail Full episodes are available to paid subscribers on the M&M Substack and free on YouTube . This is a free, partial version. About the guest: Andrew Cutler, PhD is a machine learning engineer who has studied natural language processing, psychometrics & personality using quantitative methods. He writes about the origins of consciousness on his Substack, "Vectors of Mind&...

Send us Fan Mail Full episodes are available to paid subscribers on the M&M Substack and free on YouTube . This is a free, partial version. About the guest: Rosemary Bagot, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at McGill University and the Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Neurogenomics. Her lab studies the neurobiology of stress at the molecular, circuit, and behavi...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Jibran Khokhar, PhD is Associate Professor of Anatomy & Cell Biology at Western University in Ontario. His lab studies the neurobiology of the co-occurrence of psychiatric illnesses like schizophrenia with substance use disorders. Episode summary: Nick and Kevin discuss high comorbidity among mental illness, the dopamine reward system, antipsychotics & oth...

Send us Fan Mail Full episodes are available to paid subscribers on the M&M Substack and free on YouTube . This is a free, partial version. About the guest: Kevin McKernan is the founder and Chief Science Officer of Medicinal Genomics. He has worked in biotechnology since the early 1990s, when he was involved in the Human Genome Project. Episode summary: Nick and Kevin discuss: components of t...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Andrzej Slominski, MD, PhD is a dermapathologist and skin biologist who has spent decades studying skin biology, especially regarding endocrinology (hormones), stress response, photobiology, and more. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Slominski discuss: hormone production in the skin; vitamin D photobiology; risks and benefits of UVB light; skin cancer & sunscreen...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Joshua Siegel, MD, PhD is a psychiatrist & systems neuroscience at New York University. He uses functional imaging to study the effects of psychedelics and other drugs on the human brain. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Siegel discuss: fMRI and how it works; relationship between neural activity and blood flow; functional connectivity & the default mode netwo...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Richard Cytowic is a neurologist, poplar science writer and professor at the George Washington University.  Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Cytowic discuss: the effects of smart phones and social media on the developing and adult brain; artificial blue light vs. broad spectrum natural light; attention & addiction to technology; sensory overstimulation & “vir...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Thomas Weimbs, PhD is a biologist at UC-Santa Barbara whose lab studies kidney function in health and disease. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Weimbs discuss: basic kidney biology; kidney stones and their causes, including dietary oxalates and fructose; the kidney damaging effects of common pharmaceuticals like Ibuprofen; the beneficial effects of BHB and ketosis fo...

Send us Fan Mail Full version available on Substack and YouTube . About the guest: Nick Norwitz, PhD received his PhD in Physiology at Oxford University and is finishing his MD degree at Harvard Medical School. He is also an independent content creator focused on making metabolic health mainstream. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Norwitz discuss: blood lipids & cholesterol; high cholesterol leve...

Send us Fan Mail Full version available on Substack and YouTube . About the guest: Nicole Avena, PhD is a neuroscientist at Mount Sinai. She studies the effects of sugar and diet on animal behavior and the brain. She is also the author of, “Sugarless.” Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Avena discuss: drug addiction vs. food addiction; glucose, fructose & artificial sweeteners; the extent to which...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Angel Nadal, PhD is a biologist in Spain whose lab studies endocrine disruptors (e.g. microplastics), hormones (estrogen, insulin), and the endocrine functions of the pancreas in health & disease. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Nadal discuss: endocrine biology of the pancreas; insulin and estrogen signaling in the pancreas; BPA, microplastics, and other xenoest...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Gary Churchill, PhD is a statistician & geneticist at the Jackson Research laboratory in Maine. His lab uses a systems approach to investigate the genetics of complex biological traits in health & disease. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Churchill discuss: his recent papers looking at the effects of caloric restriction & intermittent fasting on nearly 1,...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Ev Fedorenko is a neuroscientist at MIT. Her lab studies the neural basis of language, speech, and thought in the human brain. *Full episode available free on Substack & YouTube . Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Fedorenko discuss: the relationship between language and thought; the extent to which language is for thinking vs. communication; Noam Chomsky’s Univers...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Nir Lipsman, MD, PhD is a neurosurgeon and neuroscientist at the University of Toronto. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Lipsman discuss: neurosurgery; the blood-brain barrier and how it works; using focused ultrasound technology to non-invasively treat patients; regulatory impediments to clinical research; costs, constraints, and future applications of ultrasound te...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Marcelo Dietrich, MD, PhD is an associate professor in Comparative Medicine & Neuroscience at Yale University, where his lab studies the neural basis of behavior in mammals. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Dietrich discuss: maternal care behavior, mother-infant bonding, and feeding in infant mammals; neural circuits regulating hunger & satiety; brain develop...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Maxime Aubert, PhD is a geochemist & archeologist at Griffiths University in Australia. He specializes in the application of advanced analytical techniques to date the age of ancient rock art and hominin fossils. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Aubert discuss: the oldest known cave art and what it depicts; human evolution & interbreeding with different human...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Nick Jikomes, PhD is the creator and host of the podcast. You can read more about him here . Episode summary: Nick answers questions from listeners on topics such as: his scientific background & interests; staying up-to-date on research & selecting guests; thoughts on psychedelic science & drug use; questions related to diet, metabolic health & fat...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: June Round, PhD is a microbiologist whose lab at the University of Utah studies microbiome-host interactions, gut microbiota, immunity, metabolism, obesity, and other disorders. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Round discuss: how the immune system and gut microbiome interact; dietary fiber & short-chain fatty acid production by gut microbes; nutrient absorption;...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Gregory Scherrer, PharmD, PhD is a neuroscientist whose lab at the University of North Carolina studies the neural basis of pain, including its sensory, emotional, and cognitive components.  Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Scherrer discuss: the neural basis of pain sensation & pain perception; opioids & the opioid system; cognitive modulation of painful expe...

Send us Fan Mail Episode summary: Nick and Steven discuss ancestral vs. modern foods; seed oils & polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs); inflammation, allergies, and immunity; PUFAs, free radicals, and oxidative stress; the corrupting influence of private industry on food science; the history of seed oils; animal vs. plant fats; Steven’s food startup; and more.  About the guest: Steven Rofrano b...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Gary Taubes is a researcher, science historian, and science journalist. He has written several books, including “Rethinking Diabetes.” Episode summary: Nick and Gary Taubes discuss: the field of nutrition epidemiology and why it’s filled with so much junk science; social factors influencing scientific research; the history of obesity & diabetes research; the e...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Austin Argentieri, PhD is a researcher in the Analytic & Translational Genetics Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital with academic appointments at Harvard & the Broad Institute. His research focuses on large-scale analyses to to understand human aging. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Argentieri discuss: chronological vs. biological age; DNA methylation...