Mind & Matter

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Sean Hartig, PhD is an associate professor at the Baylor College of Medicine, where is lab studies adipose (fat) tissue, metabolic regulation, and obesity & energy balance disorders. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Hartig discuss: visceral vs. subcutaneous fat; white, brown, and beige adipose tissue; physiology of fat cells; obesity, insulin resistance, and lept...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD is a neuroscientist & psychopharmacologist. His lab at the University of California-San Francisco studies the effects of psychedelics and other drugs on the human brain, using neuroimaging and other approaches. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Carhart-Harris discuss: psychedelics & the human brain; functional connectivity & entro...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Caetano Reis e Sousa, DPhil is an immunologist and Principal Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London. His lab studies immune system function, including its ability to fight infection and cancer. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Reis e Sousa discuss: dendritic cells & innate immunity; how the immune system recognizes pathogens, damaged cells, and can...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Robert Barton, PhD is an evolutionary anthropologist and Professor at Durham University. He studies the evolution of the brain and behavior across species, including humans. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Barton discuss: mammalian brain evolution; how brain and body size scale across mammals; how metabolism relates to brain size and function; the evolution of the n...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Melissa Herman, PhD is a neuroscientist and associate professor at the University of North Carolina. Her lab studies the effects of drugs on the brain and behavior in rodents. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Herman discuss: sex differences in the brain between males and females; behavioral variability among individuals; the effects of psychedelics like psilocybin on...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Giulia Santoni, PhD is a neuroscientist who obtained her PhD at the EPFL in Switzerland, where she studied epigenetic influences on memory formation. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Santoni discuss: transcription & gene regulation; synaptic plasticity; learning & associative memory; epigenetics, histones, DNA methylation, and mechanisms of gene regulation; c...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Luis de Lecea, PhD is a neurobiologist whose lab at Stanford University studies the neural basis of sleep & wakefulness in animals. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. de Lecea discuss: the neural basis of sleep; sleep architecture & sleep phases (NREM vs. REM sleep); orexin/hypocretin neurons & the lateral hypothalamus; cortisol & stress; circadian rhyt...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Iain Oswald, PhD is an organic chemist and Director of Research & Development at Abstrax Tech. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Oswald discuss: plant chemistry; marijuana strains and their aroma; the chemical basis of cannabis aroma; terpenes vs. non-terpene volatile organic compounds; and more. Related episodes: Marijuana, Plant Chemistry, Terpenes, Volatile Sul...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Rudyard Lynch is a history and anthropology scholar and host of the popular YouTube channel, whatifalthist. Episode summary: Nick and Rudyard discuss: history of agriculture, diet & food; population density, social structure, and social behavior; the rise and fall of civilizations; history and future of religion & spirituality; and more. Episodes in this p...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Michael Lynch, PhD is an evolutionary biologist at Arizona State University who studies the origins of genomic and cellular complexity. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Lynch discuss: natural selection vs. genetic drift; genetic mutations & the speed of evolution; origin of life; the evolution of cellular complexity; epigenetics & the inheritance of acquired...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Richard Bazinet, PhD is neurochemist and nutritional scientist at the University of Toronto. His lab studies brain lipid metabolism in health and disease. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Bazinet discuss: lipid metabolism in the liver and brain; dietary fatty acids (saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated); fatty acids in brain health & disease; endocannabino...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Tucker Goodrich is an independent researcher and self-described “seed oil zealot” who credits many of his own health improvements with minimizing his consumption of industrial seed oils. He runs a Substack page, and provides interesting commentary about scientific research on seed oils, metabolic health, and related topics. Episode summary: Nick and Tucker discuss...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Melissa Sharpe, PhD is a neuroscientist. Her lab at the University of Sydney studies reinforcement and reward learning in rodents. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Sharpe discuss: dopamine and its association with reward learning and motivation; reinforcement learning & the brain; the lateral hypothalamus and feeding behavior; and more. Related episodes: Drugs, A...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Boris Heifets, MD, PhD is an anesthesiologist and researcher at Stanford University. His lab studies non-ordinary states of consciousness and psychoactive drugs like MDMA, ketamine, and psychedelics. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Heifets discuss: anesthesia and how anesthetics work; placebo effects & expectations in clinical research; ketamine as an antidepres...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Robert Malenka, MD, PhD is psychiatrist & neuroscientist. He has spent most of his career at Stanford University, where his lab studies synaptic plasticity, mechanisms of drug action in the brain, and the neural basis of behavior. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Malenka discuss: mechanisms of synaptic plasticity in the brain, such as LTP & LTD; addiction &am...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Christoffer Clemmensen, PhD is scientist running the Metabolism & Molecular Pharmacology group at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. His lab studies the biological basis of obesity & other metabolic disorders. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Clemmensen discuss: GLP-1 & gut hormones; obesity & metabolic disease; GLP-1 agonists and weight loss dr...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Eugene Morin, PhD is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Trent who studies Paleolithic humans and animals. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Morin discuss evolution of Paleolithic humans; Neanderthal diet & cultural capacity; key human adaptations related to endurance and stamina; hunter gatherer hunting strategies; evolution of human digestion; and m...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Monique Smith, PhD is an assistant professor of neurobiology at the University of California-San Diego, where her lab studies the neuroscience of social behavior, pain, and emotion. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Smith discuss: the neurobiology of pain perception; social & empathy-like behavior in animals; emotion; brain mechanisms of MDMA; serotonin; and more....

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Dominic D'Agostino, PhD is a researcher and professor at the University of South Florida, where his lab studies metabolism, human biology, and related subjects. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. D'Agostino discuss: ketosis and the ketogenic diet; effects of ketosis on diabetes, insulin resistance & metabolic health; effects on brain & mental health;...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Robert Lufkin, MD is a radiologist and professor at UCLA. His new book is called, " Lies I Taught in Medical School ." Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Lufkin talk about: the history of medicine in the United States; diet & lifestyle vs. pharmaceuticals in acute vs. chronic disease; diabetes, metabolic syndrome & insulin resistance; health instituti...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Stephen Sideroff, PhD is a clinical psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UCLA. His new book is, " The 9 Pillars of Resilience ." Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Sideroff discuss: childhood & developmental psychology; clinical & Gestalt psychology; stress & resilience; pharmaceuticals, talk therapy, and p...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Andrew Dillin, PhD is Professoer of Molecular & Cell Biology at UC-Berkeley and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. His lab studies mechanisms of aging, mitochondrial biology, and related subjects. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Dillin discuss: cell biology; mitochondria & the endoplasmic reticulum; aging & autophagy; mitochondrial biology in...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Eske Willerslev, PhD is an evolutionary biologist and Professor of evolution at both the University of Copenhagen and University of Cambridge. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Willerslev discuss: human evolution out of Africa; the origins of modern Europeans; hunter gatherers, early farmers, and pastoralists; genetics of human disease risk; evolution of diet & me...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Georgia Ede, MD is a psychiatrist and author of, "Change Your Diet, Change Your Mind: A Powerful Plan to Improve Mood, Overcome Anxiety, And Protect Memory for a Lifetime of Optimal Mental Health." Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Ede discuss: glucose vs. ketones for brain energy; metabolic health & insulin resistance; animal vs. plant-based foods; nutr...

Send us Fan Mail About the guest: Ryan Vandrey, PhD is a Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, where his lab studies the behavioral pharmacology of cannabis (marijuana), nicotine/tobacco, and other substances. Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Vandrey discuss: marijuana; cannabinoids like THC; terpenes like limonene, myrcene, and pinene; the entourage effect; a...