Hey everybody! Welcome back to the Curious About Cannabis series on Isn’t Life Curious? On this episode we connect with Alex Eckman, a scientist and curious mind that inadvertently discovered that disposable vape pens may be leaching substantial amounts of plastics – possibly exposing users to unique health risks that are currently unmonitored in the industry.

But don’t fret – there is good news at the end of this story!

Along the way we explore Alex’s background, his experience with LSSU’s collegiate cannabis science program, and the unique obstacles and challenges the encountered when navigating the world of academia and scientific publishing.

To learn more about Alex, visit: https://www.alexeckman.com/

In this episode we are joined once again by extraction technologist Murphy Murri – but this time we focus on mushroom extraction and the diversity of extracts that can be obtained from functional mushrooms like Reishi, Cordyceps, Oyster, Shiitake, and Lion’s Mane mushrooms. We take a look at what some of these extracts look like, how they smell and how they taste while chatting about some of the differences between cannabis and mushroom extraction.

Stay tuned for a follow up episode where Murphy Murri and Tess Eidem, PhD will be sharing results from research they have conducted on workplace safety and allergen exposure in cannabis labs!

To learn more about Murphy’s work, visit: https://www.murphymurri.com

Check out the video for this episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrD58JPQhCg

Here’s what I have been up to lately and why you may have a hard time finding me on social media these days. Recently CAC in collaboration with Train with Mary Jane released a first of its kind multi-accredited endocannabinoid science course for sports clinicians! At the end of March I had the opportunity to host the ElSohly Award Symposium at the American Chemical Society Conference in Atlanta. Beyond that I have been teaching Cannabis science and pharmacognosy at Beal University while also helping labs and developing software tools at Tagleaf. I have been busy like usual, but the truth is – I have not been well (for a long time). Let’s talk about it.

Accredited cannabis education for athletic trainers and sports clinicians is here!

In this episode we drop in with our friends Drs. Elizabeth Thompson and Patrick Neary to get updates on the million dollar NFL-funded cannabinoid research project that they have been working on as well as share an exciting announcement about a collaboration between Curious About Cannabis and Train with Mary Jane to provide accredited cannabis and cannabinoid education to sports clinicians and athletic trainers through a new course available through the Natural Learning Academy. Accredited in both the United States and Canada, and being the first course of its kind accredited by all of the accrediting bodies that reviewed it, this learning experience blazes a new trail in cannabis education!

Our mission is to impact the health of athletes and their families by empowering clinicians, therapists and trainers with the critical understanding necessary to support them.

To learn more about the course visit www.trainwithmaryjane.com

In this episode you’ll get to hear two extended excerpts from a long conversation that myself and several of my Cannabis science colleagues had about Cannabis quality, chemistry, and beyond at the end of the American Chemical Society Spring Conference on March 27th, 2025.

The conversation was recorded at Abstrax Headquarters in Irvine, CA with Evan Friedmann, Kyle Boyar, TJ Martin, and Iain Oswald.

Catch the rest of the conversation on The Noid Knowledge podcast with Evan Friedman and be on the lookout for the full extended edit whenever we find the time to put it together!

How closely have you examined your deeply held beliefs? How confident are you that your beliefs are true? What are the reasons you have that give you your level of confidence in your belief?

In this throwback episode we take a critical look at beliefs. Beliefs of all kinds. Belief in God, karma, the law of attraction, ghosts, spirits – anything. In this episode of Isn’t Life Curious? I had the chance to sit down for a conversation with Anthony Magnabosco – a leader in a movement that seeks to critically examine and question deeply held beliefs through repeated non-confrontational questioning known as Street Epistemology. Anthony has spent the past eight years or so engaging strangers in short respectful conversations that challenge the participant to pick a deeply held belief and explain why they believe what they believe is true. In Socratic fashion, Street Epistemology relies on repeated questioning to peel away the “baggage” that is stacked on top of a belief so that the core ideas at the center of the belief can be exposed and examined.

Anthony has had several hundred chats (many of them on camera and uploaded to his YouTube channel) on a variety of claims including Gods, ghosts, karma, law of attraction, and a variety of social and political topics. He is a Founder and the current Executive Director of the new nonprofit organization Street Epistemology International. Anthony has given dozens of talks and workshops on Street Epistemology at conferences and events domestically and internationally in an attempt to spread practice of this method far and wide in hopes that it will help lead to a more reasonable and thoughtful society.
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Learn more about Street Epistemology at http://www.streetepistemology.com

In this throw back episode from the very beginning of the Isn’t Life Curious? series we join farmer and permaculturist Mark Shepard to discuss practical solutions to surviving and thriving on planet Earth. Mark is the CEO of Forest Agriculture Enterprises LLC, founder of Restoration Agriculture Development LLC and award-winning author of the book, Restoration Agriculture: Real-World Permaculture for Farmers. Mark has also been a farmer member of the Organic Valley cooperative, the worlds largest Organic Farmer’s marketing co-op, since 1995. He is most widely known as the founder of New Forest Farm, the 106-acre perennial agricultural savanna considered by many to be one of the most ambitious sustainable agriculture projects in the United States.

Throughout our conversation we talk about Mark’s journey to build New Forest Farm, lessons he has learned along the way, practical challenges to implementing permaculture and restorative agriculture techniques at scale, his experience studying permaculture under Bill Mollison, what modern permaculturists often misunderstand about permaculture, and much more!

You can learn more about New Forest Farm here: https://newforestfarm.us/
You can learn about Forest Agriculture Enterprises here: https://www.forestag.com/
You can learn about Restoration Agriculture Development here: http://www.restorationag.com/

Is life really all that special? Or is it just a happy accident that we are here?

Neil Manson, PhD is a philosopher and professor of philosophy specialized in tackling these very questions. An expert on philosophy of science and philosophy of religion, Dr. Manson and I dive down a metaphysical wormhole to explore the ways humans have tried to wrestle with our place in the universe. If there is a multiverse, what does that mean for our traditional concepts of God? If we live in a simulation, then what ethical obligations do I have to you or anyone else?

Take a deep breath and let’s have an existential crisis together on this episode of Isn’t Life Curious?!

Enjoy! Stay curious, and take it easy!

Do we even test for the right things?

Now that medical and adult-use cannabis programs have been around for some time, and with them mandated lab testing of products – we have a lot of data that we can begin to review in order to assess how well we are managing the quality of cannabis in the market.

In this episode we are joined by microbiologist and analytical technologist Kyle Boyar to confront the idea that there may be some things that regulators require testing for that will almost never show up in a sample, while there are certain toxins that show up more often than we might expect which are NEVER required for testing in any state in the country.

What’s going on? Let’s dive in and find out!

Continuing our series on the issues facing the Cannabis testing industry, we sit down with Josh Swider of Infinite Chemical Analysis Labs to discuss the ways that he and his lab have felt the effects of potency inflation and lab shopping over the past several years. One by one Josh has watched clients disappear after complaints that his THC potency numbers were not high enough compared to his competitors. This is a story all too familiar to most labs that have ever operated in the space. Eventually the requests to boost THC results became much more direct as clients started offering bribes including outright briefcases full of cash. When he denied these advances, he began receiving death threats.

In an effort to understand just how bad the problem was, Josh and his team began collecting products off the shelf and testing them in the lab to see how the results compared to the original test results on record for the product. The results were alarming. Not only did he find evidence of potency fraud, but he also ended up finding evidence of various contaminants in products that somehow originally tested “clean.”

In this episode Josh and I take time to discuss his journey, how the industry has gotten into the situation it is in, and some potential solutions for moving the industry in a positive direction.

Learn more about iCAL: https://infinitecal.com/