Mind & Matter

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Nick talks to Dr. Amy Reichelt, a neuroscientist and expert on the effects of diet and nutrition on the brain. They discussed how the brain is wired to help us learn about food, how what we eat influences the function of circuits within the brain, how certain diets can actually cause damage to the brain and negatively impact learning, obesity, and other topics related to nutrition and feeding behavior in humans and animals. They also discuss the potential role that psychoactive drugs like psychedelics may have to play in treating food addiction.

*Not medical advice.

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Nick talks to Dr. Paul Barrett, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London, UK. Paul has spent nearly 30 years as a paleontologist studying the evolution and biology of dinosaurs and other extinct reptiles. He has authored over 200 scientific papers, and his speciality is in non-avian dinosaurs.

Nick talked to Paul about all things dinosaurs, including what a dinosaur actually is; how and when dinosaurs first evolved, changed over time, and eventually went extinct; what we know about dinosaur behavior, morphology, and physiology; which dinosaurs had feathers and what colors they had; Tyrannosaurus rex and Velociraptor; the evolution of mammals; the movie Jurassic Park; and why understanding the life's past is important for understanding life in the present.

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Nick talks to Dr. Reggie Gaudino, a molecular geneticist and expert in the phytochemistry, biochemistry, genomics, and breeding of commercial Cannabis. He is the former Chief Science Officer of Steep Hill, one of the first cannabis testing labs in the US, and is currently VP of Research & Development at Frontrange Biosciences.

Nick & Reggie discuss various topics related to the science of commercial Cannabis, including: it's botanical characteristics and history, the ecological reasons for why it produces psychoactive and other compounds, some of the major cannabinoids and terpenes found in Cannabis, and whether or not popular labelling systems in the legal cannabis industry (e.g. "Indica" vs. "Sativa") will tell you anything useful about the effects a product is likely to have. 

*Not medical advice.

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Nick Jikomes talks to Dr. David Roberson, a neuroscientist and co-founder of three ongoing biotech companies: Nocion Therapeutics, Blue Therapeutics, and Blackbox Bio. David is an expert in the neuroscience of pain and the conversation focuses mainly on pain: how does our brain sense and perceive pain? Why does pain sometimes become chronic, and last for a long-time? How do various classes of pain drugs work to relieve pain? 

They discuss NSAIDs and opioids, including oxycodone, heroin, and fentanyl, as well as some interesting novel pain drugs currently in development. 

A portion of the podcast has a visual component, where David shows some of the technology he has helped develop that allows for automated, high-throughput measurements of animal behavior to detect and measure pain. Towards the end, they also discuss how this tech could be used for the characterization of novel psychoactive drugs and psychedelics. 

*Not medical advice.

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• Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
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Nick talks to Alexandros Marinos, PhD, founder & CEO of the edge computing technology startup, Balena. They discuss the internal organization of complex human systems. 

Alex talked about how he thinks about the organizational structure of his own company and how organizational structures impact group dynamics, growth, conflicts of interest, and innovation. One interesting area Alex provided commentary and analysis on towards the end is how to make sense of the behavior of large institutional organizations, such as the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). 

If you’re interested in complex systems like human organizations, how the internal structures of different organizations influence what they do and how they behave, and why human organizations can sometimes behave in deranged ways, this episode will be of interest to you.

*Not medical advice.

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• Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
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Nick Jikomes talks to materials scientist Dr. Chris Weikart, who  is currently chief scientist at SiO2, an advanced materials science company that combines chemistry and engineering to create containers and surfaces for use by biotechnology, genomics, diagnostics, and consumer products companies. 

They discuss how SiO2 created a new kind of vaccine vial, which combines both glass and plastic that are superior for storing and transporting biologics, such as vaccines. SiO2 is currently producing an enormous number of these vials for Moderna’s mRNA vaccines for COVID-19. Chris described how the vials are made, and what they’re made of, as well as what materials science is and how important it is to society. This conversation also gives you a sense of different parts of the COVID-19 vaccine supply chain and how they fit together.

*Not medical advice.

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Nick talks to Dr. Jonathan Schaefer about the link between adolescent cannabis (marijuana) use and psychosis. 

Jonathan has a PhD in clinical psychology and he is currently a research psychologist at the University of Minnesota Institute of Child Development. His research focuses largely on the relationship between people’s environments that influence their mental health. He has conducted a number of longitudinal studies using cohorts of identical and fraternal twins, which allow him to tease apart the role of genetic vs. environmental factors in different psychiatric outcomes. 

The conversation  focuses mainly on recent twin studies Dr. Schaefer has done looking at the relationship between adolescent cannabis (i.e. marijuana) use, and psychosis. They talk about what psychosis is and what factors are linked to it, historical work on the relationship between cannabis use and psychosis, and the results of Jonathan's recent twin studies & what they mean.

*Not medical advice.

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Nick Jikomes talks to Sam Wang, PhD professor of neuroscience at Princeton University. Dr. Wong’s lab investigates how brains learn from sensory experience, in adulthood and development, with relevance for autism. A lot of their work focuses on a part of the brain called the cerebellum. 

They talk about the cerebellum and what we’re learning about its functions, as well as how it’s tied to autism, and what the causes and nature of autism actually are. This included both the genetic and environmental risk factors for autism, and how to think about treatment. Lastly, they talk about another side of his work, which is related to using data and science to help repair our democracy by combatting things like congressional gerrymandering.

*Not medical advice

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Nick Jikomes talks to Dr. Nathan Price, who has a Ph.D. in bioengineering and has been faculty at the University of Washington and the Institute of Systems Biology. He was also CEO of a health intelligence startup called Onegevity, which recently merged with Thorne HealthTech, where he is the Chief Science Officer. 

Nathan and Nick discussed various topics in personalized medicine, digital phenotyping, and systems biology, including metabolism and blood sugar monitoring, the microbiome and diet, aging and longevity, and more. They discussed the basic biology of these things as well as different emerging technologies related to health monitoring.

*Not medical advice.

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• Good Chemistry: Personalized, science-based health consulting. Work with Dr. Nick Jikomes directly.
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Nick Jikomes talks to medicinal chemist Dr. David Olson whose lab at the University of California-Davis studies a class of compounds called ‘psychoplastogens,’ which are small molecules capable of promoting neural plasticity. His lab is on the cutting edge when it comes to understanding the mechanisms by which psychedelics and other psychoactive drugs work in the brain. They touch on: latest research from his lab, new tools they're developing and using to understand these drugs, whether it’s likely that we'll be able to produce non-hallucinogenic drug variants of classic psychedelics, and microdosing.

*Not medical advice.

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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.