Brains Byte Back

Did you know that 4-year-old kids ask an average of 390 questions a day? In light of this, children can be considered the research and development of the human race, according to Moodi Mahmoudi, who previously gave a speech title “Act like a child” at Tech Day, a 2 day hackathon in Amsterdam.

Mahmoudi is also the founder and CEO of NEXT, a company that focuses on design thinking and provides businesses with digitally guided processes, challenging the way they traditionally approach problems and solutions.

We invited Mahmoudi to join us on the show to discuss how NEXT works, what their digital guide process looks like, and what makes it different from traditional problem-solving approaches.

In this episode, you will learn how NEXT helped tackle Amsterdamn’s overcrowded bike parking problem and why out of the box thinking was so important to solve this issue.

Mahmoudi also explains the motivation and meaning behind his “Act like a child” speech, why learning is not necessarily a linear process, and the top three most thought-provoking questions asked by children. We’ll give you a quick peek at the first one, “What are shadows made of?” so stay tuned to hear the top two.

The hype surrounding CBD, one of over 100 chemical compounds known as cannabinoids found in the cannabis or marijuana plant, has exploded in recent years. In fact, the global CBD oil market is estimated to reach around $3.5 billion by 2027. But the benefits of CBD are nothing new for many cultures around the world, especially in Eastern medicine.

In this episode, Brains Byte Back co-host Mags Tanev explores the benefits, uses, and history of CBD. She is joined by Dr. Jenelle Kim, the founder, and formulator for JBK Wellness Labs.

Dr. Kim is an expert in East Asian ancient medicine, she completed a doctorate in acupuncture and Chinese medicine and has been working to preserve the medical history of her family lineage while also training with leading doctors and herbologists. Dr. Kim has been formulating with CBD since 2012 and created the first luxury CBD skincare line in the world.

In the episode, they discuss Dr. Kim’s professional background and family history, the properties of CBD and how it has been historically used in East Asian medicine, how Dr. Kim reconciles ancient traditions with western medicine, why and how people are using CBD today, industry malpractices and how to choose a good quality CBD product.

Kim also shares with us why CBD was considered among the top 50 most important herbs 4,000 years ago in ancient Eastern medicine, how it was used, and what properties make it so beneficial for skincare products.

You will also find out why Kim initially refused to work with CBD when approached by an external company, and what changed her mind.

It has been a stressful year and we are living in stressful times. In these moments, it is vital for us to exhibit strong emotional regulation to deal with the challenges of daily life. But what if this wasn't a skill we developed as adults but instead as children through the use of video games. That is the mission of Mightier, a biofeedback video game platform designed to help children regulate their emotions.

Joining me to discuss how this technology works and how it was developed, we speak with developmental psychologist Jason Kahn, who is the founder and chief scientist at Mightier.

In this episode, we discuss how the company handles data and what it is showing us, how the technology was tested at Havard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, and how data and video games can help us develop better habits in other areas of our lives.

We also discuss what games are available on the app, what is on the horizon for Mightier, and why Kahn believes a family first approach is key to successfully utilize this technology, before rolling it out in schools,

Advertising is a multibillion-dollar industry, with everyone in the industry competing to grab your attention. With so much money at stake, it probably comes as no surprise that there is a large body of research into the psychology of advertising. This is known as neuromarketing. In its simplest, neuromarketing is the practice of studying the brain to predict and potentially manipulate consumer behavior and decision making.

To discuss this topic we are joined by Brett Frieman, the director of marketing at Marpipe, a company that conducts creative experiments for brands. In addition to Frieman's work at Marpipe, he also studied economics and psychology at Rutgers University and has closely followed the industry for many years.

In this episode, you will learn how the gaze of a model in an ad impacts our purchasing decisions, how fear-based ads evoke mirror neurons triggering an emotional response, and how the famous "Nudge Theory" can influence the decisions we make.

We also discuss the work of famous behavioral economists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman and their popular book "Thinking Fast and Slow" which won them the noble prize in economics. In addition to Tversky and Kahneman, Friedman shares with us how the psychology and marketing research of Nick Kolenda helped him develop his own knowledge and understanding of these subjects.

Furthermore, Friedman also shares what further research he believes needs to be done to advance our understanding of how to effectively use neuroscience to improve advertising.

Loneliness and isolation is a topic we have covered before on the show, however, given these difficult times, it is now more important than ever to discuss as a society. With everything that has happened this year, many of us can understand what it feels like to be alone, isolated, or even just depressed. But sometimes a simple conversation with someone to discuss how you are feeling can make all the difference.

Many of us have probably interacted with chatbots, perhaps even without knowing, when interacting with businesses, but what if chatbots were not just designed to help businesses, but also our mental health. That will be the topic of today’s show as we explore how advanced chatbots can provide conversation and psychological assistance for those who need it.

To discuss this topic I am joined by DJ Das, the Founder, and CEO of Third Eye Data, a company that leverages Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning & Big Data technologies to build higher value technical solutions for customers worldwide.

On this show, we discuss why individuals may prefer a chatbot over a human, how Third Eye Data is working to produce a hybrid system using humans and chatbots together, and what we can expect to see from this technology over the next 10 years.

In 2014, Marcia Moran, a business co-founder, blogger, and columnist suffered a stroke which left her with aphasia, a language disorder that affects a person's ability to communicate.

For years following the incident, Moran worked with numerous speech therapists and specialists looking for an answer to helper regain her speech and her life back. After a chance encounter with a former doctor of Moran's, she was recommended Neurofeedback, a treatment that would change her life.

In its simplest form, Neurofeedback is a type of biofeedback that uses real-time displays of brain activity with the aim of teaching self-regulation of brain function. In this episode, we will explore how Neurofeedback works, what it can treat, and how it has changed the life of Moran.

To discuss this I am joined by Moran, who now works as a writer, public speaker and author of "Stroke Forward," a book designed to help those who have suffered strokes, and the people around them, navigate the path ahead of them to a better life.

Alongside Moran, we are also joined bt Dr. James Giordano, a Professor of Neurology and Biochemistry at Georgetown University, who has over 290 publications in neuroscience and neuroethics, seven books, and 15 government whitepapers on neurotechnology, ethics, and biosecurity.

Dr. Giordano will be joining us to discuss how this technology works and who it can help.

Sleep is incredibly important for all of us considering we spend roughly one-third of our lives sleeping, and in today's episode, we will be looking at sleep science and technology.

If you are a true fan of Brains Byte Back, you will know that we have covered sleep and technology before in our previous episode "Sleeping with technology," where we looked at how modern tech hinders our sleep. However, today's episode will be different as we will look at how technology can help our sleep, specifically through the use of smart mattresses.

Joining me to discuss this is Matteo Franceschetti, the co-founder and CEO of Eight Sleep -- a technology company based in New York City that specializes in developing and manufacturing smart mattresses.

In this episode, you will learn how smart mattresses can produce an optimal environment for sleep, what the data tells us, and how this type of technology could replace trips to the doctor.

In addition to this, you will also learn what your body needs to fall asleep, why your circadian rhythms are so important, and how temperature can help you fall asleep faster.

We’re diving straight back into the topic of ethical user experience design with the second installment of the two-part series. Tech’s diversity problem has implications for many aspects of society, even with a task as simple as dispensing soap in public toilets. However, some members of the tech community refuse to wash their hands of the responsibility of inclusion in tech. But, as we find out in this episode, tech is riddled with biases, and some of them are more subtle than you may realize.

On today's show, we speak with Valentina Berois, a principal UX designer at digital transformation company, intive. Valentina describes herself as fiercely passionate about anything that sits in the intersection of creativity, technology, and business strategy, which is exactly why she has found herself working in UX design.

We dove deep into the realm of inclusive design, and discuss why digital products need to have a cross-cultural design to be able to have impact and how this can be achieved. We also explored how UX designers can build accessible products that cater to users with a diverse range of needs, how these solutions often end up being useful for everyone, and how UX teams can build a mindset of inclusion into their foundations.

If you are unfamiliar with dark pattern design, then you might be thinking, as TechCrunch put it - "WTF is dark pattern design?" To put it simply, dark pattern design is when a user interface is carefully constructed to trick users into doing things they might not otherwise do.

Today’s episode is the first installment in a two-part series that explores ethical user experience design - commonly known as UX design. In this interview, Brains Byte Back co-host Mags Tanev, is joined by Claudia Cabrera, a UX designer at a global digital transformation company, intive.

Claudia strives to make better products through user-centered design and learning how these digital solutions create an impact in people’s lives. In this episode, Tanev and Cabrera dive deep into dark pattern design techniques, what they are, how they’re used, what kind of impact they can have on us, and how UX relates to issues surrounding data privacy and the growing dominance of Big Tech companies in our lives. Hope you enjoy the show.

Furthermore, you will also learn why airline companies use timers when you are booking flights, how Facebook experiments on their users, and how eCommerce websites sneak extra purchases into your basket.

Addiction of any form can be a hard demon to battle with, but it is made even more difficult when amoral companies use tactics to prey on those struggling with addiction. This is best demonstrated in the murky world of online gambling.  In this episode of the podcast, we will take a look at the insidious psychological tactics used by some online casinos to keep addicts playing, and we will also explore what happens in the brain when an addict engages in gambling.

Joining me on the podcast to better understand the types of tactics used by these online casinos is Daniel Dolejsi, a former online casino employee and the Social Media and Community Manager of Casino Guru, a company that provides honest information about online gambling, 

In addition to Daniel, I am also joined by Dr. Aaron Weiner, a clinical psychologist who runs his own private practice and has served as the director of the addiction service line for a psychiatric hospital, to discuss the psychological and physiological pathways that lead to gambling addictions.