Mind & Matter

By Nick JikomesSociety & Culture Science Education

Mind & Matter episodes

March 10, 2024An Omega-6 Fat That Rises During Fasting Dampened Inflammation | Clare Bryant | Episode 144
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About the Guest: Clare Bryant, DVM is a Professor of Innate Immunity at Cambridge University. Her lab studies the innate immune system, pathogen detection, inflammation, and chronic disease.
Episode Summary: Nick and Dr. Bryant discuss: mechanisms of inflammation; inflammasomes & fatty acids; infection & disease; innate vs. adaptive immunity; chronic inflammation; allergies & allergens; the evolution of the immune system; anti-inflammatory effects of fasting; and more.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

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1 hr 33 min
March 05, 2024Sugar and Fat Activate Separate Sets of Vagus Nerve Cells | Will de Lartigue | Episode 143
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Dr. Guillaume (Will) de Lartigue is a neuroscientist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center. His lab studies the neurobiology of eating, including how the vagus nerve senses internal stimuli in the gut. They discuss: gut-brain communication; the vagus nerve; gut hormones like leptin & GLP-1; weight loss drugs like Ozempic; glucose vs. fructose vs. non-caloric sweeteners; how the vagus nerve connects the gut to the dopamine reward system in the brain; the sensation of fats and sugars in the gut; food addiction & obesity; and more.

*Not medical advice.

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Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
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1 hr 28 min
February 29, 2024DMT Rose About Sixfold in Rat Brains After Cardiac Arrest | Nicolas Glynos | Episode 142
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Dr. Nicolas Glynos received his PhD in Molecular & Integrative Physiology from the University of Michigan, where he studied the psychedelic drug DMT in the mammalian brain. They discuss: the history of DMT research; the use of DMT in ayahuasca; whether DMT is found endogenously in animals; why plants produce DMT; pineal gland, DMT & melatonin; the latest research looking at the presence and effects of DMT in the brain; and more.

*Not medical advice.

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Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
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1 hr 37 min
February 24, 2024Domesticated Finches Sang More Variable Songs Than Wild Ones | Terrence Deacon | Episode 141
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About the Guest: Terrence Deacon, PhD is a Professor in the department of Anthropology at UC-Berkeley. He has written many papers and multiple books about the evolution of human language, origins of consciousness, and related topics.
Episode Summary: Nick and Dr. Deacon discuss various aspects of biological evolution, from natural vs. sexual selection to gene duplication and the consequences of domestication; the domestication of dogs and songbirds; human vs. non-human forms of vocal communication; ritual behavior & the origins symbolic cognition; artificial intelligence & large language models (LLMs); 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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2 hr 15 min
February 17, 2024Cold, High Places Have Less Obesity. He Says Lifestyle Isn't Why | Robert Lustig | Episode 140
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About the guest: Robert Lustig, MD is a physician-researcher and expert of metabolic health. He is Professor emeritus of Pediatrics, Division of Endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), specializing in neuroendocrinology with an emphasis on the regulation of energy balance by the central nervous system. His research and clinical practice has focused on childhood obesity and diabetes.

Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Lustig discuss the true causes of obesity and metabolic discussion; how the in utero environment during pregnancy leads to multigenerational effects on health; different forms of sugar like fructose vs. glucose; different dietary fats like omega-6 and omega-3 PUFAs, and saturated fat; oxidative stress & mitochondria biology; how temperature, altitude & oxygen affect obesity; processed foods and how industry influences public perception; body positivity & public education; insulin, diabetes & fatty liver disease; statins & cardiovascular health; 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.
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.
2 hr
February 14, 2024After 12 to 14 Hours Without Food, Your Body Switches to Ketones | Mark Mattson | Episode 139
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About the Guest: Mark Mattson, PhD is a semi-retired neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins who ran a research lab at the NIH for many years. He wrote the book, "The Intermittent Fasting Revolution."
Episode Summary: Nick and Dr. Mattson discuss: intermittent fasting & diet; ketosis & metabolic switching; aging & neurodegenerative disease; exercise, stress, and neuroplasticity; and more.

*This content is never meant to serve as medical advice.

Support the show
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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 42 min
February 09, 2024New Body Forms Evolve by Rewiring Gene Switches, Not New Genes | Sean B. Carroll | Episode 138
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Sean B. Carroll, PhD is an evolutionary developmental biologist at the University of Maryland, who recently stepped down as VP of Education at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He is the author of many popular science books, such as "Endless Forms Most Beautiful." They discuss: developmental biology & genetics; evolutionary biology; genetics, genome size & genetic mutation; animal diversity; snake venom; human brain evolution; and more.

*Not medical advice.

Support the show
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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.
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1 hr 54 min
February 06, 2024Some Psychedelics Fully Blocked Asthma Inflammation in Rats | David & Charles Nichols | Episode 137
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Dr. David Nichols is a retired chemist and father of Dr. Charles Nichols, a researcher studying psychedelics at Louisiana State University. They discussed: the history of psychedelics science from the 1970s to the present; DMT & 5-MeO-DMT; serotonin, inflammation, and psychedelics & anti-inflammatory drugs; psilocybin, ketamine, and other psychoactive drugs; and more

More M&M content about psychedelic science.

*Not 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.
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1 hr 38 min
January 23, 2024Omega-6 Rose From 1% to Nearly 12% of US Calories Since 1865, He Says | Chris Knobbe | Episode 136
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Dr. Chris Knobbe is a physician, diet & nutrition researchers, and author of, "The Ancestral Diet Revolution." He discusses: seed oils & their health consequences; different types of seed oils (soybean, corn, sunflower, etc.); omega-6 fats like linoleic acid; fatty acid metabolism and oxidation; obesity, diabetes & metabolic health; processed foods vs. whole foods; mitochondria & oxidative stress; and more.

*Not 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
January 10, 2024Ancel Keys Was Brilliant, but Made Enormous Mistakes, He Argues | Orrin Devinsky | Episode 135
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Dr. Orrin Devinsky is a neurologist and Professor at the New York University School of Medicine. They discuss: dietary consumption trends in the US; processed vs. whole foods; vegetable oils & polyunsaturated fats; relationship between saturated fat, dietary cholesterol & heart disease; history of medicine in the US; obesity & diabetes; sugars, fructose, and metabolic health; ketogenic diet & ketosis; whether or not we can trust our public health institutions; and more.

*Not 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 42 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…