STEM-Talk

Today we have Dr. Dominic D’Agostino, who over the past 10 years has been a frequent guest on STEM-Talk. Today Dom joins us to give us an update on his recent research into ketogenic metabolic therapies, ketone supplements as well as hyperbaric oxygen therapy for traumatic brain injuries. Dom and his lab at the University of South Florida have published more than 20 papers since his last appearanc...

Our guest today is Doug Cooke, an aerospace consultant who spent 38 years at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.   STEM-Talk host and IHMC founder Dr. Ken Ford, a former Associate Director of NASA’s Ames Research Center and Director of NASA’s Center of Excellence in Information Technology, interviewed Doug just four days after the astronauts of NASA’s A...

Neuroscientist and frequent STEM-Talk guest Dr. Tommy Wood rejoins us today for part two of our interview about Tommy’s book that is fresh off the press and now available in bookstores and Amazon, “The Stimulated Mind: Future-Proof Your Brain from Dementia and Stay Sharp at Any Age.” Tommy is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience at the University of Washington, where his laborator...

Today we have Dr. Tommy Wood, a neuroscientist and frequent STEM-Talk guest who joins today on the eve of the publication of his first book, “The Stimulated Mind: Future-Proof Your Brain from Dementia and Stay Sharp at Any Age.” Tommy is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neuroscience at the University of Washington, where his laboratory focuses on brain health across human lifespan. Tommy i...

  ChatGPT has been in the news a lot lately and, as a result, quite a few STEM-Talk listeners have tossed us questions about the reliability and limitations of generative-artificial intelligence chatbots as well as large-language models more broadly.  Ken and Dawn tackle this question and a number of others in today’s Ask Me Anything episode. We have listeners wondering why astronauts train in und...

Today we have Dr. Francisco Gonzalez-Lima, a behavioral neuroscientist who was our guest in episodes 106 and 107 back in 2020. Since those 2020 interviews, Francisco and his colleagues at the Gonzalez-Lima Lab have produced dozens of more studies and papers that have advanced their work on methylene blue, transcranial lasers, memory enhancement, neuroprotection and neurocognitive disorders. Franci...

Dr. Judith Curry, a climatologist known for her criticism of alarmist, doomsday rhetoric about climate change, returns to STEM-Talk for her second appearance. Judy most recently was one of five researchers commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy to draft a Climate Assessment Report summarizing the current state of climate science with a focus on how it relates to the United States. In this i...

Today’s episode of STEM-Talk features a timely and wide-ranging discussion with Drs. Michael Griffin and Lisa Porter about NASA’s plans to return humans to the Moon, the history of lunar missions, and how China’s advances in space technology pose a serious threat to U.S. national security. IHMC founder and CEO Emeritus Ken Ford’s interview with Griffin and Porter came 10 days before Griffin appear...

Today we have Dr. Marina Walther-Antonio, a Mayo Clinic researcher who investigates the role of the microbiome in cancer and reproductive health, particularly endometrial and ovarian cancers. According to the World Cancer Research Fund International, endometrial and ovarian cancers are among the top 10 most prevalent cancers in women worldwide, and there are still no standard screenings for early...

Today Ken interviews his co-host Dr. Dawn Kernagis about her new position as the Director of Scientific Research for DEEP, a UK startup that is pioneering a new era of ocean exploration. For listeners unfamiliar with Dawn’s background, she is a NASA-trained NEEMO Aquanaut, a Fellow of the Explorer’s Club Fellow and has been inducted into the Women Divers Hall of Fame. In addition to co-hosti...

Today we have Dr. Mari Dezawa, one of the world’s leaders in stem-cell research and regenerative medicine. Mari is a pioneer in this emerging field and is known worldwide for her discovery of MUSE cells, a unique type of stem cell with exciting clinical potential. MUSE is short for Multilineage-Differentiating Stress-Enduring Cells. The discovery of the MUSE cell in humans has many biological and...

Today we have our good friend and colleague Dr. Andrew Koutnik on the show. Andrew is a research scientist who studies the influence of nutrition and metabolism on health, disease and performance. He specializes in Type 1 diabetes and works with a wide range of people to improve their metabolic health and athletic performance. Andrew is a visiting research scientist at IHMC and has worked with Har...

It’s time for another episode of Ask Me Anything. Dawn and Ken answer listener questions that range from generative AI to whether grip strength is a biomarker for longevity and the potential of ketamine as a treatment for depression. Dawn also gives a brief overview of work she is doing with the deep-sea technology company Deep. As a special treat at the end of today’s episode, Dawn plays a record...

Today we have the second installment of our interview with Dr. Michael A. Schmidt, the founder, CEO, and Chief Scientific Officer of Sovaris Aerospace, a company focused on assessments and solutions applied to humans in space and extreme environments on Earth. In today’s interview, we talk to Michael about NASA’s plans to send humans to Mars and build permanent colonies on the Moon and Mars. We al...

Today we have Dr. Michael A. Schmidt, the founder, CEO, and Chief Scientific Officer of Sovaris Aerospace, a company focused on assessments and solutions applied to humans in space and extreme environments on Earth.  Michael is also a professor of aerospace medicine at the University of Central Florida College of Medicine, one of the few programs in the U.S. that offers a medical residency in aero...

Our guest today is Dr. Ken Forbus, the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Computer Science and a Professor of Education at Northwestern University. Joining Dr. Ken Ford to co-host today’s interview is Dr. James Allen, who was IHMC’s associate director until he retired a few years ago. James is a founding fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and a perfect fit for today’s discus...

Today we have planetary scientist Dr. Pascal Lee and STEM-Talk host Dr. Ken Ford in a wide-ranging conversation about NASA’s ambitions to return humans to the Moon as a stepping stone to sending astronauts to Mars. Pascal is making his third appearance on STEM-Talk. Much of his research focuses on asteroids, impact craters, and the future human exploration of Mars. Pascal and Ken have a lively dis...

Today we have JP Errico, a scientist and inventor whose work focuses on neuroimmunology and the many ways it impacts cellular metabolism, inflammation, mental health and how we age. He recently joined IHMC as a Senior Research Scientist. JP is particularly known for his research on vagus-nerve stimulation and is the author of the book, The Vagus-Immune Connection: Harness Your Vagus Nerve to Manag...

Today we have Dr. Karl Herrup, a neurobiologist known for his investigations into the roles that DNA damage and noncoding genetic variants have in Alzheimer’s disease. Joining Ken today to interview Karl is Dr. Tommy Wood, a visiting scientist here at IHMC.  Tommy also is an associate professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at the University of Washington, where he focuses on brain health across...

Today we have Dr. Frank Butler, a retired Navy Undersea Medical Officer and an ophthalmologist who served as a Navy SEAL platoon commander prior to attending medical school. Just a few weeks after our interview, President Joe Biden awarded Frank a Presidential Citizens Medal during a White House ceremony. The medal is one of the highest honors a civilian can receive and recognized Frank’s many con...

Today our guest is Dr. JoAnn Manson, an endocrinologist, epidemiologist, and Principal Investigator of several research studies, including the landmark Women’s Health Initiative. She is a highly cited researcher and was one of the physicians featured in the National Library of Medicine’s exhibition, History of American Women Physicians. Her primary research interests include clinical prevention tr...

Today we have Dr. Hans Van Dongen, director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University in Spokane. Dr. Kevin Gluck, a senior research scientist at IHMC, joins Dr. Ken Ford to interview Hans about his studies on inter-individual differences in vulnerability to fatigue as well as the cumulative cognitive deficits that follow chronic sleep restriction. Hans is known f...

Today we have Dr. Rudolph E. Tanzi , who is perhaps best known for co-discovering all three familial early-onset Alzheimer’s disease genes. In addition, Rudy’s lab was the first to use human stem cells to create three-dimensional human brain organoids and three-dimensional neural-glial culture models of Alzheimer’s disease, which became known as “Alzheimer’s-in-a-Dish.” These models were the...

Our guest today is Dr. Anurag Singh, the chief medical officer at Timeline Nutrition, a Swiss life-science company that focuses on ways to improve mitochondrial and cellular health. Anurag is particularly known for his research into the gut metabolite, urolithin-A, which has been shown to improve muscle strength, protect immune systems and optimize mitochondrial efficiency. Anurag is an MD in inte...

Few people know as much about inflammation and neuroscience as Dr. Kevin Tracey does. In this episode of STEM-Talk, we learn much from Tracey, who was the first to identify the inflammatory reflex, a physiological mechanism that regulates the body’s immune response to injury and invasion. He is a neurosurgeon, a pioneer in bioelectrical medicine and president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes fo...