Welcome to April of 2020 and episode 256 of the show, with the guest duo of Daniel James Smith and Krystall Schott, who make up the band “Untitled Social Experiment”, also known as “USE”. With songs like “Sugar Rush” and “Psycho“, this pairing has brought solid production quality into the content they put out, with messages to understand underneath.

Daniel has been making music for some years under the moniker of T.O.L.D, and brings his experience and skills to Untitled Social Experiment. Krystall has done painting, sang in choir early on, and after modeling in recent years, she made her return to music when teaming up with Daniel to form creative art. Synths and melodies and singing tones abound in the music made by USE.

Show notes:

• how the group and duo originated, and who they are inspired by
• the production of art in a light nature, but keeping a focus on content creation
• how introductions and key moments in life can seem blurry
• what it takes to get along with someone, based on similarities
• some bands the group would work with or like to emulate in some form
• the pandemic and quarantine, and where it leaves each person to self-process, and looking toward how it leaves society
• what age the members started doing music at, and what types of instruments or singing they have done
• how support at the right time in life can lead to quicker results
• switching from one goal to another once it seems too readily available, versus sticking to one thing at a time
• the way that the members complement one another for production
• a book called “The Dao of Capital” being read at the current time, and what it represents for temporal understanding
• the qualities that each band members looks for in others
• the song Adam & Eve Meet Snake, Say No to apple, Stay in Paradise Forever mentioned in the episode
• other types of content being put out, whether on Tik Tok or elsewhere
• periods of flow and lack of flow, and how to think about them
• a couple of questions back to me about me and my show
• messages from each member about life

Glad to have Daniel and Krystall on the show~. You can check out their content on Spotify and other audio platforms online, along with some of their content featured on T.O.L.D. You can also check them out on Instagram at @untitledsocialexperiment.

When it comes to applied mathematics, guest Michael Wilt is both a teacher and interested in its usage. He professes math to the youth, and joins us on episode 255 of the show, discussing his career, people-based elements of society, and more.

Michael got his Masters in Applied Math at California State University of Los Angeles, and has taught various levels of math to high school students, high-risk students, middle school students, and community college students. He also has his own product line of merchandise called “Unicorns and Stuff”.

Show notes:

• how Michael progressed through the development of his career
• the kind of teaching that Michael does, and what he hopes to impart on his students
• development of a curriculum, and how that is the key element of education, with a blueprint for the students
• the feel around the pandemic before it was a situated item here in Los Angeles, and discussion about the numbers behind it
• why it is good to understand exponential growth and other graph-based concepts
• the difference between small and big picture view
• how Los Angeles and San Francisco differ in status-related mindset
• energy transfer between people to others who they interact with
• how people view people in terms of pretty or smart
• a great singing rendition from Michael, along with an attempt on my end, as well as rapping on both of our parts
• where Michael is working now, and how it is going with students who are labeled as Twice Exceptional
• working with students who have ADHD or Autism Spectrum Disorder
• comments on rolled-up sleeves and sense of fashion
• a bit of reverse interview from Michael to me
• a mug-plug by Michael about his mug and merchandise brand

This episode was recorded earlier in the month, prior to mass spreading of COVID-19. You can check out Michael’s merchandise at Unicorns and Stuff. Glad to have him on~.

Welcome Dr. John Marzluff, Professor of Wildlife Sciences at the College of the Environment at the University of Washington in Seattle, to episode 254 of The Armen Show. Dr. Marzluff “studies how humans affect birds through habitat fragmentation and increased urbanization, as well as the challenges of conserving birds on islands.

Most of his focus is on ravens, crows, and jays, which are in the bird grouping known as “corvids”, and he looks at how birds affect people, such as with our art or language. Many of his books have focused on birds, including his latest book In Search of Meadowlarks: Birds, Farms, and Food in Harmony with the Land.

“In recognition of his work, he has been awarded the H.R. Painton Awards from the Cooper Ornithological Society, as well as the Washington State Book Award for general non-fiction.” In this episode, we discuss his latest non-fiction piece.

Show notes:

• the current moment, with the world slowing down due to the pandemic
• the career trajectory that Dr. Marzluff took to getting into decades of ornithological work
• how we can take a look around our world with a relaxed pace, so as to maintain our Earth in good condition
• the kind of research that Dr. Marzluff does, and places he has performed bird analysis at
• what birds can represent about the impact that humans have had
• the impact of corn and soybean subsidies, and what the farmland in the US would look like without those subsidies
• why meadowlarks were chosen for the title of the book
• farming as related to water consumption and planning
• a closing message

Thanks to Dr. Marzluff for joining on this episode. You can check out In Search of Meadowlarks on Amazon, or take a look at his faculty page.

With the world in a state of rapid adaptation due to health concerns, I discuss some of the elements connected to the scenario in episode 253.

There are the straightforward health concerns, along with financial impacts, social impacts, relationship-based impacts, and impacts between countries. Though it has been a bit disturbing to see the current moment arising from a couple of months ago, based on much I had read from scientists I follow, it is worth knowing how it will go.

Show notes:

• the current viral scenario, and what it means for the globe
• how rapidly it is changing, and what adaptation to the moment really means
• some of the global impacts of a virus that has no current cure, and transfers readily, silently, and with a lagging period of symptoms
• the social impacts of such a virus, and how it can affect creation of new relationships
• the direction of our global society over the next couple months
• the power of resilience and character in these key months, separating people by power-of-will
• how the good and bad of preparation before such an event are both amplified once the event arises
• and more

Glad to have you check out this episode. The virus has thrown off a lot of the routine of the world, but we as people are resilient and respond to whatever comes our way. To more.

As Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Allan Ropper is able to relayed his decades of neurology experience to students, and as deputy editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, he is able to help edit, guide, and shape the selection of articles that meet the criteria for one of the top science journals of our time. He is also lead editor for one of the top neurology textbooks of current time, Principles of Neurology, now in its 11th edition.

Dr. Ropper joins on episode 252 to discuss his recent book How the Brain Lost Its Mind: Sex, Hysteria, and the Riddle of Mental Illness. It covers a history of hysteria, syphilis, and conditions that represent the deviation between the brain and the mind. Our discussion includes topics in the book, Dr. Ropper’s career, neurology as a whole, and how past responses to mental illness have functioned.

Show notes:

• how Dr. Ropper got to be in the field of neurology
• how the mind and brain are connected, and why the book relates the two
• the way that Dr. Ropper influenced the field of neurological intensive care
• what it is like being an editor for the New England Journal of Medicine, including some details about the editing process
• the field of research that is in its current moment, with an increase in research and published papers
• how individuals would like to get control of their aging or life conditions, but how we have only come so far
• the difference between neurology and neurosurgery, including some of the disorders of each
• what separates a brain disorder from a mind disorder
• the potential over-medicalization of every-day life
• the issues of syphilis and hysteria as detailed in the book
• how people come into the doctor with a broad description, and a neurologist has to reverse engineer the nervous system issue
• what Moya Moya is, and the details of this specific condition
• why many conditions of neurology do not have a known source
• how so much is described as though A or B is wrong with a person
• a message regarding the theme of the book and Dr. Ropper’s link of that to brain conditions

It was great to have Dr. Ropper on the show. He is an educating individual who is receptive and perceptive. You can check out How the Brain Lost Its Mind on Amazon.

From his start as a pediatrician, to serving as Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister of New Zealand for nearly a decade, Sir Peter Gluckman has represented category of science and society. He joins on this episode to discuss his career, along with his recently released book Ingenious: The Unintended Consequences of Human Innovation.

As President-elect of the International Science Council, Sir Gluckman will continue to provide value in the fields of science, health, global impacts, and more. His book Ingenious focuses on how our innovation has led to impacts we did not plan for, and how we can work with these consequences, and help to prevent unwanted future consequences.

Show notes:

• how Sir Gluckman’s career has panned out over time, and how he started out as a pediatrician
• his experience as Chief Science Advisor for the Prime Minister of New Zealand
• what it means to be a “knowledge broker”, and how connecting people to the right people is an important skill
• the ways that Sir Gluckman has written about or focused on reduction of obesity, as well as being co-chair of the Commission on Ending Childhood Obesity
• partnering writing books with his co-author Mark Hanson, and what each brought to the table across the decades
• how the early experience between parent and child affects so much of a person’s life
• the important of psychological resilience, and how it separates segments of individuals
• how evolutionary thinking is a unifying element of biology
• the global impacts we are facing now, which we did not have in place 200 years ago
• the belief or non-belief by citizens that their governments can help to take care of basic societal needs
• dealing with misinformation that is released, and how governments or public companies can adapt
• the level of research put out by smaller countries, versus the percentage put out by some of the larger countries, along with some specific examples
• whether a centrally-situated response wins out against solutions around the world, to global issues
• a message about how to cope with rapid environmental, social, and technological changes which are taking place

You can check out Sir Peter Gluckman’s Wikipedia page, University of Auckland page, or Ingenious on Amazon. Glad to have him on~.

Welcome to episode 250 of the show~. This returns to the style of me speaking by myself, doing some impressions, telling some story, and updating on recent content.

There is great material to cover in March, and we look towards continued growth and improvement.

Show notes:

• the interconnection between guests and episodes
• using Zoom for recordings, and how it has been
• the Kobe memorial, and what he represents as related to what I do
• the fun of getting books in the mail
• made up stories
• impressions of various podcast types

When it comes to cancer treatment, Dr. Azra Raza of the MDS Center at Columbia University has been working with patients for decades. She is an expert on myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), which are disorders caused by poorly formed or otherwise nonfunctional blood cells, and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which affects 1/3 of MDS patients. This type of cancer, along with the stories of many patients and the progressions of their treatment, is detailed in Dr. Raza’s book The First Cell: And the Human Costs of Pursuing Cancer to the Last.

Dr. Azra Raza is the Chan Soon-Shiong Professor of Medicine and Director of Myelodysplastic Syndrome Center at Columbia University. She has previously held positions at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, University of Cincinnati, Rush University, and the University of Massachusetts, and has been published in numerous notable journals like The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Blood, and Cancer.

One of the items I found most interesting was that Dr. Raza has collected a repository of over 50000 tissue samples from MDS and acute leukemia patients, beginning in the early 1980s. We talk about this in the episode, but I find a lot of value in being the firsthand resource in some specific category or field.

Show notes:

• how Dr. Raza got into her career in the first place, and specifically into the field of MDS treatment
• the 50000+ patient tissue samples that Dr. Raza has collected, and what they mean to potential research that can be done today
• why mouse models do not provide a good representation of how a treatment will work in people
• how Dr. Raza’s tissue sample data compare with the collection of samples presented in a Nature article/study of many types of cancer
• the search for valid biomarkers that represent an issue or non-issue
• how being the individual who does the most in one specific category makes you the prime source
• what the reductionist philosophy can do if it is taken too far in responding to a health-disturbing pathogen
• cancer not being of one type, but instead quickly altering generation by generation, leads to a variety of cancer cells showing up
• why the first cell is the most important one in the production of cancer
• the likelihood of treating an average cancer patient in 2020, and the associated mortality
• how there is much value in early testing for cancers
• the difference between something working in spite of something or because of something
• some of the experience shared with fellow lab mate Siddhartha Mukherjee, and a message from his research insight
• a great closing poem by Dr. Raza

It was wonderful to have Dr. Raza on the show. You can check out The First Cell on Amazon, Dr. Azra’s Columbia University page, or a talk she gave with fellow lab mate researcher Siddartha Mukherjee.

In the Department of Biology at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Dr. Nicholas P. Money brings his expertise to teaching about the world of fungi/mushrooms, as well as related organisms like yeast and microbes.

In his book, The Selfish Ape: Human Nature and Our Path to Extinction, Dr. Money leads us through some of what has led humans to where they currently are, and as well, to our potential positive or negative paths down the line.

Show notes:

• how Dr. Money got into mycology in the first place, and what kind of work he has done with fungi and mushrooms in recent decades
• the way that fungi and mushrooms relate with the lives of humans, and what kinds of takeaways we can take from their evolution
• what it means that food comes from entropy and ends with sugar
• some of the evolution that has occurred in a non-linear fashion, along with features passed on for different future functions than original
• information about some of the high-speed camera work Dr. Money worked on early on to see fungi releasing spores in slow detail
• how we are more closely related to fungi than we are to plants or other animals
• whether we have a potential good path out of upcoming extinction, due to global warming and related industrial pollution
• what population growth means to the potential of human success on Earth
• some of the scientists that Dr. Money liked or worked with

Glad to have Dr. Money on the show. You can check out his faculty page, personal page at The Mycologist, or The Selfish Ape on Amazon.

Episode 247 is on the scene with science journal Lydia Denworth, author of Friendship: The Evolution, Biology, and Extraordinary Power of Life’s Fundamental Bond. It covers the basis behind why we as people become friends, and how it can be so powerful. Some of the greatest things done by people came from strong friendships.

Lydia Denworth has contributed to Scientific American, and writes the ‘Brain Waves’ blog for Psychology Today. Her work is regularly across such publications as Scientific American Mind, Parents, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg News. Regarding Friendship, Dr. Nicholas Christakis of episode 232 said “If you care about what really matters in life, read this fantastic natural history of human friendship.”

Show notes:

• what led to Lydia getting into the field of science journalism
• analyzing and discussing the concept of friendship
• how science benefits from reaching out to other work in related fields
• why friendship is the piece of the relationship story that was left out for a long time
• where long-running research in field sites is done on animals like macaques to see their social patterns
• how neuroscientists can see differences in brain activity in early years of a person’s life, representing rapid growth/adjustment
• how empathy and theory-of-mind is developed at a certain age range
• what macaques do to subjugate other ones, and how stress responses are a part of the social win/loss paradigm
• the way that public speaking or math can be used to examine stress level
• what loneliness represents about the person in that position, regarding their mental health
• the lunch time that exists in middle school, and what it represents for socialization and internal battles
• some of the illumination on women in science in the book, as well as one way that expanded a direction of research
• the types of friendships that are more valuable in the long-term, and how many close friends the average person has
• how there needs to be back-and-forth in a successful long-term friendship
• what face-to-face interaction means for friendship and its growth

Having Lydia on the show was a nice opportunity to learn about friendship and its value. You can check out her TED Talk “The Science of Friendship”, her home page and updates, or look at Friendship on Amazon.