The LIVING Room Podcast | Inside The WNDR Lab

What if one of the strongest predictors of a longer, healthier life isn't hiding in your bloodwork, but in the quality of your relationships? After following 724 people for 87 years, the world's longest-running study of adult development uncovered a finding that continues to reshape how we think about longevity. Description Robert Waldinger, MD—Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard...

Your brain starts changing earlier than most people realize. A Stanford neuroscientist explains how emerging technology could reshape the future of cognitive health. What if protecting your brain has less to do with chasing the next breakthrough, and more to do with taking action on the science we already know. In this episode of The LIVING Room Podcast , host Chris Wharton sits down with Walter G...

Before she made the world laugh, Tiffany Haddish had to use humor just to survive . Growing up, Tiffany navigated homelessness and childhood trauma that would have broken most people. But it didn't break her, it built her. In this episode of The LIVING Room Podcast, Chris Wharton sits down with one of Hollywood's most fearless voices for a conversation that goes far beyond the punchlines...

“The sleep people are getting in the real world predicts how long they live better than almost anything else.” According to Dr. Michael Grandner, sleep isn't just rest. It's one of the strongest predictors of how long you'll live. Yet most people fundamentally misunderstand what sleep is, why we need it, and what happens when we don't get enough of it. The consequences reach fa...

In this episode of The LIVING Room Podcast, host Chris Wharton sits down with Dr. Paul Mischel for a fascinating exploration of what causes cancer, and the future of preventive medicine. A pioneer in precision oncology, Dr. Mischel's groundbreaking research revealed how extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA)—small circles of DNA that exist outside our chromosomes—can fuel tumor growth, accelerate evolu...

Why is losing weight—and keeping it off—so difficult? A leading neuroscientist explains the biology of hunger, the rise of GLP-1 medications, and what science is revealing about the brain's role in body weight regulation. In this episode of The LIVING Room Podcast , Chris Wharton sits down with Dr. Zachary A. Knight, PhD — Professor of Physiology at UC San Francisco, Howard Hughes Medical Ins...

Most anti-aging skincare is focused on the surface — but the real story of skin aging starts much deeper. Mayo Clinic dermatologist Dr. Saranya Wyles breaks down what’s actually happening beneath your skin, why up to 75% of skin aging may be modifiable, and what science really says about retinol, SPF, red light therapy, collagen, peptides, GLP-1s, and more. Saranya Wyles, MD, PhD, is the Director...

What does it really look like to evolve into the best version of yourself? Robert Downey Jr. sits down with Chris Wharton for an honest conversation about discipline, self-awareness, taking control of one’s health, and what happiness truly means after living one of Hollywood’s most extraordinary lives. In this episode, Robert Downey Jr. opens up about the daily rituals that keep him grounded, why...

Dr. Courtney Peterson runs one of the world's largest labs studying intermittent fasting in humans  at Harvard,  and her research shows most people are fasting at the wrong time of day. Here's what the clinical data actually says. Chris Wharton sits down with Dr. Peterson — Harvard researcher and member of the international scientific committee that formally defined intermittent fasting...

Can your environment cause more disease than your genes? Columbia University exposome researcher Gary Miller, PhD, has spent his career answering exactly that — and his findings will change how you live your daily life… As founder of the first exposome center in the United States, Dr. Miller studies how toxins, air quality, plastics, food, and stress silently accumulate in the body over a lifetime...

Most people focus on living longer . Stanford geriatrician Deborah Kado says that’s the wrong goal — the real goal is living well for longer by protecting strength, mobility, and independence, and the research helps explain why. Deborah Kado is a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine, co-director of the Stanford Longevity Center, and board-certified geriatrician, specializing in bone...

Everything you think you know about weight loss may be wrong — and one of the world’s  leading Nutrition professors has the science to prove it. Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, PhD — Dean Emeritus at the Tufts University School of Nutrition and Director of the Food Is Medicine Institute — has spent decades studying why we get sick, why we gain weight, and why so much of what we've been told about fo...

What if the way you live today is (scientifically) changing how fast you age? In this episode, Chris Wharton sits down with Dr. William Mair, PhD — Professor at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health — to break down the real science of aging, what actually works, and how to truly live better, longer. Most of us think of aging as something that just happens to us. Dr. William Mair thinks differe...