Mind & Matter

By Nick JikomesSociety & Culture Science Education

Mind & Matter episodes

October 11, 2024Hunger and Fullness Come From Two Opposing Sets of Brain Cells | Marcelo Dietrich | Episode 180
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About the guest: Marcelo Dietrich, MD, PhD is an associate professor in Comparative Medicine & Neuroscience at Yale University, where his lab studies the neural basis of behavior in mammals.
Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Dietrich discuss: maternal care behavior, mother-infant bonding, and feeding in infant mammals; neural circuits regulating hunger & satiety; brain development & early social learning; behavioral variability among individuals; and more.
Related episode:
M&M #108: Monogamy, Sexual & Parental Behavior, Social Attachment, Oxytocin, Sex Hormones, Childhood Psychosis, Menopause & Brain Development | Devanand Manoli
*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

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1 hr 21 min
October 08, 2024The Oldest Dated Cave Art Is at Least 51,200 Years Old | Maxime Aubert | Episode 179
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About the guest: Maxime Aubert, PhD is a geochemist & archeologist at Griffiths University in Australia. He specializes in the application of advanced analytical techniques to date the age of ancient rock art and hominin fossils.
Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Aubert discuss: the oldest known cave art and what it depicts; human evolution & interbreeding with different human sub-species; the origins of anatomically modern humans & advanced cognition; and more.
Related episodes:
M&M #126: Evolution of Human Behavior, Anatomy & Diet, Homo naledi & the Cave of Bones | John Hawks
*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

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Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
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For all the ways you can support my efforts.
1 hr 20 min
September 27, 2024Ask Me Anything 1 | Nick Jikomes
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About the guest: Nick Jikomes, PhD is the creator and host of the podcast. You can read more about him here.
Episode summary: Nick answers questions from listeners on topics such as: his scientific background & interests; staying up-to-date on research & selecting guests; thoughts on psychedelic science & drug use; questions related to diet, metabolic health & fat loss; controversial ideas worth considering; and more.
*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

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Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
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For all the ways you can support my efforts.
33 min
September 20, 2024Mice Missing Certain Gut Bacteria Gained Weight Faster | June Round | Episode 178
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About the guest: June Round, PhD is a microbiologist whose lab at the University of Utah studies microbiome-host interactions, gut microbiota, immunity, metabolism, obesity, and other disorders.
Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Round discuss: how the immune system and gut microbiome interact; dietary fiber & short-chain fatty acid production by gut microbes; nutrient absorption; obesity & metabolic syndrome; type I diabetes; cleanliness, development & the “hygiene hypothesis”; and more.
Related episode:
M&M #133: Infant Microbiome & Breast Milk, Oral Microbiome & Cavities, Gut Health, Fiber, Probiotics, Diet, Sex Hormones, Soy Foods & Estrogens | Carolina Tropini
*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

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Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
Affiliate Partners: Visit this link to see my affiliate partners and get discounts codes for products & services to support health.
For all the ways you can support my efforts.
1 hr 22 min
September 15, 2024Blocking Opioid Receptors Shrinks the Placebo Effect | Gregory Scherrer | Episode 177
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About the guest: Gregory Scherrer, PharmD, PhD is a neuroscientist whose lab at the University of North Carolina studies the neural basis of pain, including its sensory, emotional, and cognitive components.
Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Scherrer discuss: the neural basis of pain sensation & pain perception; opioids & the opioid system; cognitive modulation of painful experiences; neural basis of placebo effects; endogenous opioid system; and more.
*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Support the show
Support my work:
Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
Affiliate Partners: Visit this link to see my affiliate partners and get discounts codes for products & services to support health.
For all the ways you can support my efforts.
1 hr 19 min
September 11, 2024Crisco Began as a Use for Cottonseed, a Cotton Industry Waste | Steven Rofrano | Episode 194
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Episode summary: Nick and Steven discuss ancestral vs. modern foods; seed oils & polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs); inflammation, allergies, and immunity; PUFAs, free radicals, and oxidative stress; the corrupting influence of private industry on food science; the history of seed oils; animal vs. plant fats; Steven’s food startup; and more.
About the guest: Steven Rofrano became interested in human health & food, including ancestral vs. modern diets, from personal experiences in diet & allergies during college. He is co-founder and CEO at Ancient Crunch, Inc., which provides alternatives to widely consumed ultra-processed snack foods. Before becoming an entrepreneur Steven studied mathematics at Yale University and worked as a software engineer.
Related episodes:
M&M #136: Seed Oils, Omega-6 PUFAs, Inflammation, Obesity, Diabetes, Chronic Disease & Metabolic Dysfunction | Chris Knobbe
*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Support the show
Support my work:
Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
Affiliate Partners: Visit this link to see my affiliate partners and get discounts codes for products & services to support health.
For all the ways you can support my efforts.
1 hr 53 min
September 06, 2024Obesity May Be Driven by Insulin, Not Just Excess Calories | Gary Taubes | Episode 176
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About the guest: Gary Taubes is a researcher, science historian, and science journalist. He has written several books, including “Rethinking Diabetes.”
Episode summary: Nick and Gary Taubes discuss: the field of nutrition epidemiology and why it’s filled with so much junk science; social factors influencing scientific research; the history of obesity & diabetes research; the energy balance vs. carbohydrate-insulin models of obesity; fats, carbs & insulin resistance; and more.
Related episodes:
M&M 140: Obesogens, Oxidative Stress, Dietary Sugars & Fats, Statins, Diabetes & the True Causes of Metabolic Dysfunction & Chronic Disease | Robert Lustig
*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Support the show
Support my work:
Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
Affiliate Partners: Visit this link to see my affiliate partners and get discounts codes for products & services to support health.
For all the ways you can support my efforts.
1 hr 43 min
September 03, 2024Your Blood Proteins Can Reveal Your Biological Age | Austin Argentieri | Episode 175
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About the guest: Austin Argentieri, PhD is a researcher in the Analytic & Translational Genetics Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital with academic appointments at Harvard & the Broad Institute. His research focuses on large-scale analyses to to understand human aging.
Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Argentieri discuss: chronological vs. biological age; DNA methylation and aging clocks; proteomics and protein measurements in aging research; health, longevity, and human healthspan; and more.
Related episodes:
Aging, mTOR, Sirtuins, Rapamycin, Metformin, the Truth of Resveratrol & Longevity Supplements, David Sinclair & Anti-Aging Myths | Matt Kaeberlein | 151
*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Support the show
Support my work:
Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
Affiliate Partners: Visit this link to see my affiliate partners and get discounts codes for products & services to support health.
For all the ways you can support my efforts.
1 hr 34 min
August 29, 2024Brown Fat Burns Energy. Most of Your Fat Just Stores It | Sean Hartig | Episode 174
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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 leptin resistance; hormones & fertility; GLP-1 drugs for weight loss; and more.
Related episodes:
Obesogens, Oxidative Stress, Dietary Sugars & Fats, Statins, Diabetes & the True Causes of Metabolic Dysfunction & Chronic Disease | Robert Lustig | #140
GLP-1, Weight Loss Drugs, Ozempic, Obesity, NMDA Receptors, Metabolism & Brain Health | Christoffer Clemmensen | #161
*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Support the show
Support my work:
Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
Affiliate Partners: Visit this link to see my affiliate partners and get discounts codes for products & services to support health.
For all the ways you can support my efforts.
1 hr 44 min
August 24, 2024Psychedelics Raise the Brain's Entropy, His Theory Says | Robin Carhart-Harris | Episode 173
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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 & entropy in brain patterns; the “entropic brain” hypothesis of psychedelic drug action; psychiatry & depression; psychology, Carl Jung & Sigmund Freud; the FDA’s rejection of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD; latest research on psychedelics; and more.
Related episode:
Anesthesia, Placebo Effects, Consciousness, Subjectivity, MDMA, Ketamine, Opioids, Psychedelics | Boris Heifets | 163
*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Support the show
Support my work:
Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
Affiliate Partners: Visit this link to see my affiliate partners and get discounts codes for products & services to support health.
For all the ways you can support my efforts.
1 hr 58 min

About Mind & Matter

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Whether food, drugs or ideas, what you consume influences who you become. Learn directly from the best scientists & thinkers alive today about how your mind-body reacts to what you feed…