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About the guest: Robert Barton, PhD is an evolutionary anthropologist and Professor at Durham University. He studies the evolution of the brain and behavior across species, including humans.

Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Barton discuss: mammalian brain evolution; how brain and body size scale across mammals; how metabolism relates to brain size and function; the evolution of the neocortex & cerebellum in primates & humans; the concept of “intelligence” and whether it relates to brain size; and more.

Related episodes:

• Evolution of Complex Behavior, Perception, Cognition, Consciousness & the Brain | Paul Cisek | #107
• Organisms, Cities, Companies & the Science of Scale | Geoffrey West | #12

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

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About the guest: Melissa Herman, PhD is a neuroscientist and associate professor at the University of North Carolina. Her lab studies the effects of drugs on the brain and behavior in rodents.

Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Herman discuss: sex differences in the brain between males and females; behavioral variability among individuals; the effects of psychedelics like psilocybin on the amygdala and hypothalamus; effects of alcohol and vaporized nicotine; and more.

Related episode:

• Sex Differences in the Brain, Endocannabinoid Biology, Purpose of Juvenile Play Behavior, Cannabis & Pregnancy | Margaret McCarthy | #81

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

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About the guest: Giulia Santoni, PhD is a neuroscientist who obtained her PhD at the EPFL in Switzerland, where she studied epigenetic influences on memory formation.

Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Santoni discuss: transcription & gene regulation; synaptic plasticity; learning & associative memory; epigenetics, histones, DNA methylation, and mechanisms of gene regulation; chromatin plasticity & the neural basis of memory formation; and more.

Related episodes:

• Emotion, Cognition, Consciousness, Behavior & Brain Evolution | Joseph LeDoux | #73
• Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive Flexibility & Control, Attention, Working Memory, Multitasking & Behavior | Tobias Egner | #130

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

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• KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + potassium, calcium & magnesium, formulated with kidney health in mind. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)
• Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for 10% off
• Readwise: Organize and share what you read. 60 days FREE through link
• Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase.
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About the guest: Luis de Lecea, PhD is a neurobiologist whose lab at Stanford University studies the neural basis of sleep & wakefulness in animals.

Episode summary: Nick and Dr. de Lecea discuss: the neural basis of sleep; sleep architecture & sleep phases (NREM vs. REM sleep); orexin/hypocretin neurons & the lateral hypothalamus; cortisol & stress; circadian rhythms; neuromodulators (norepinephrine, dopamine, etc); sleep across animal species; sleep drugs; ultrasound technology; and more.

Related episodes:

• Sleep, Dreaming, Deep Neural Networks, Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence, Overfitted Brain Hypothesis, Evolution of Fiction & Art | Erik Hoel | #43
• Consciousness, Anesthesia, Coma, Vegetative States, Sleep Pills (Ambien), Ketamine, AI & ChatGPT | Alex Proekt | #101

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

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• KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + potassium, calcium & magnesium, formulated with kidney health in mind. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)
• Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for 10% off
• Readwise: Organize and share what you read. 60 days FREE through link
• Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase.
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About the guest: Iain Oswald, PhD is an organic chemist and Director of Research & Development at Abstrax Tech.

Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Oswald discuss: plant chemistry; marijuana strains and their aroma; the chemical basis of cannabis aroma; terpenes vs. non-terpene volatile organic compounds; and more.

Related episodes:

• Marijuana, Plant Chemistry, Terpenes, Volatile Sulfur Compounds, Cannabis Industry, What Pungent Weed Smells Like & Why | Iain Oswald | #114
• Endocannabinoids, Stress, Exercise, Cortisol, Anxiety, Cannabis & Effects of Marijuana on Brain Development | Matthew Hill | #123

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

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• KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + potassium, calcium & magnesium, formulated with kidney health in mind. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)
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• Readwise: Organize and share what you read. 60 days FREE through link
• Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase.
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About the guest: Rudyard Lynch is a history and anthropology scholar and host of the popular YouTube channel, whatifalthist.

Episode summary: Nick and Rudyard discuss: history of agriculture, diet & food; population density, social structure, and social behavior; the rise and fall of civilizations; history and future of religion & spirituality; and more.

Independent Scholars Series: Episodes in this podcast sub-series are freely available in partial form to all listeners. The full conversation is available to paid subscribers on Substack or channel members on YouTube.

Related episodes:

• Organisms, Cities, Companies & the Science of Scale | Geoffrey West
• Psychedelics, Civilization, Religion, Death & Plant Medicine | Brian Muraresku

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

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All episodes, show notes, transcripts, and more at the M&M Substack

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• KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + potassium, calcium & magnesium, formulated with kidney health in mind. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)
• Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for 10% off
• Readwise: Organize and share what you read. 60 days FREE through link
• Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase.
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About the guest: Michael Lynch, PhD is an evolutionary biologist at Arizona State University who studies the origins of genomic and cellular complexity.

Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Lynch discuss: natural selection vs. genetic drift; genetic mutations & the speed of evolution; origin of life; the evolution of cellular complexity; epigenetics & the inheritance of acquired characteristics; and more.

Related episodes:

• Evolution & Animal Development: How Nature Builds & Changes Bodies | Sean B. Carroll | #138
• Evolution, Language, Domestication, Symbolic Cognition, AI & Large Language Models | Terrence Deacon | #141

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

Support the show

All episodes, show notes, transcripts, and more at the M&M Substack

Affiliates:

• KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + potassium, calcium & magnesium, formulated with kidney health in mind. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)
• Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for 10% off
• Readwise: Organize and share what you read. 60 days FREE through link
• Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase.
• MASA Chips—delicious tortilla chips made from organic corn and grass-fed beef tallow. No seed oils or artificial ingredients. Use code MIND for 20% off

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About the guest: Richard Bazinet, PhD is neurochemist and nutritional scientist at the University of Toronto. His lab studies brain lipid metabolism in health and disease.

Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Bazinet discuss: lipid metabolism in the liver and brain; dietary fatty acids (saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated); fatty acids in brain health & disease; endocannabinoids; omega-3 PUFAs, seed oils & diet; and more.

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

Support the show

All episodes, show notes, transcripts, and more at the M&M Substack

Affiliates:

• KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + potassium, calcium & magnesium, formulated with kidney health in mind. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)
• Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for 10% off
• Readwise: Organize and share what you read. 60 days FREE through link
• Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase.
• MASA Chips—delicious tortilla chips made from organic corn and grass-fed beef tallow. No seed oils or artificial ingredients. Use code MIND for 20% off

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About the guest: Tucker Goodrich is an independent researcher and self-described “seed oil zealot” who credits many of his own health improvements with minimizing his consumption of industrial seed oils. He runs a Substack page, and provides interesting commentary about scientific research on seed oils, metabolic health, and related topics.

Episode summary: Nick and Tucker discuss: what seed oils are and their history; differences between omega-6 and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs); seed oils, sunburn, and oxidative stress; Seventh Day Adventism and the relationship between religion, ideology, and diet; paleobiology of human diet; and more.

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

Support the show

All episodes, show notes, transcripts, and more at the M&M Substack

Affiliates:

• KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + potassium, calcium & magnesium, formulated with kidney health in mind. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)
• Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for 10% off
• Readwise: Organize and share what you read. 60 days FREE through link
• Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase.
• MASA Chips—delicious tortilla chips made from organic corn and grass-fed beef tallow. No seed oils or artificial ingredients. Use code MIND for 20% off

For all the ways you can support my efforts

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About the guest: Melissa Sharpe, PhD is a neuroscientist. Her lab at the University of Sydney studies reinforcement and reward learning in rodents.

Episode summary: Nick and Dr. Sharpe discuss: dopamine and its association with reward learning and motivation; reinforcement learning & the brain; the lateral hypothalamus and feeding behavior; and more.

Related episodes:

• Drugs, Addiction & Neuroplasticity: Psychedelics, MDMA, Opioids, Cocaine, Amphetamine (Adderall), Nicotine, Marijuana & Alcohol | Robert Malenka | #162
• Neuroscience of Pleasure, Reward, Liking vs. Wanting, Motivation, Food vs. Drug Addiction & Emotion | Kent Berridge | #94

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

Support the show

All episodes, show notes, transcripts, and more at the M&M Substack

Affiliates:

• KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + potassium, calcium & magnesium, formulated with kidney health in mind. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)
• Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for 10% off
• Readwise: Organize and share what you read. 60 days FREE through link
• Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase.
• MASA Chips—delicious tortilla chips made from organic corn and grass-fed beef tallow. No seed oils or artificial ingredients. Use code MIND for 20% off

For all the ways you can support my efforts