Mind & Matter

Send us Fan MailChristian Luscher, MD, PhD is a neuroscientist and neurologist who runs a research lab at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Dr. Lusher's lab studies the mechanisms that underlie drug reinforcement and addiction in the brain and he is an expert in the neuroscience of drug addiction. Christian talks to Nick  about: what is addiction is and what some key parts of the brain and neurotransmitter systems are involved in drug addiction; differences in the addictive potential of different types of drugs, ranging from stimulants (e.g. cocaine, nicotine, caffeine) to cannabinoids (e.g. THC), opioids, and psychedelics; the difference between addiction vs. dependency, habitual vs. goal-directed behavior; latest research on how dopamine & serotonin systems in the brain are both involved in drug-seeking behavior.*Not medical advice.Support the showHealth Products by M&M Partners:AquaTru: Water filtration devices that remove microplastics, metals, bacteria, and more from your drinking water. Through link, $100 off AquaTru Carafe, Classic & Under Sink Units; $300 off Freestanding models.KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + electrolytes formulated for kidney health. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)Seed Oil Scout: Find restaurants with seed oil-free options, scan food products to see what they’re hiding, with this easy-to-use mobile app.SporesMD: Premium mushrooms products (gourmet mushrooms, nootropics, research). Use code 'nickjikomes' for 20% off.Lumen device: Optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. MINDMATTER gets you 15% off.For all the ways you can support my efforts

Send us Fan MailNick Jikomes talks to writer and science journalist Nicholas Wade about the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and the COVID-19 pandemic. Nicholas describes how this story has evolved since the start of the pandemic, and contrasts the the two main hypotheses for the origins of COVID: wildlife spillover vs. lab leak. He describes how viruses in the past (e.g. SARS1) emerged, peculiarities of the SARS2 genome, Peter Daszak & EcoHealth Alliance, Wuhan Institute of Virology, and various conflicts of interest that people have had. He describes how we don't have proof whether a wildlife spillover or a lab leak explains the origins of COVID-19, what definitive evidence would look like, and whether we are likely to resolve this mystery.*Not medical advice.Support the showHealth Products by M&M Partners:AquaTru: Water filtration devices that remove microplastics, metals, bacteria, and more from your drinking water. Through link, $100 off AquaTru Carafe, Classic & Under Sink Units; $300 off Freestanding models.KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + electrolytes formulated for kidney health. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)Seed Oil Scout: Find restaurants with seed oil-free options, scan food products to see what they’re hiding, with this easy-to-use mobile app.SporesMD: Premium mushrooms products (gourmet mushrooms, nootropics, research). Use code 'nickjikomes' for 20% off.Lumen device: Optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. MINDMATTER gets you 15% off.For all the ways you can support my efforts

Send us Fan MailNick Jikomes talks to paleoanthropologist Dr. Lee Berger about human evolution. Dr. Berger is a professor of anthropology in South Africa, explorer-in-residence for National Geographic, and author of, "Becoming Human." Lee's team has mapped and explored caves all over South Africa, discovering a treasure trove of ancient human fossils. This includes the discovery of Homo naledi, an ancient human ancestor that had a much smaller brain than humans, but may have nonetheless appear to have had advanced cognitive abilities. Lee described the discovery of Homo naledi, human brain evolution, and why we are in a gold age of paleoanthropology.To learn more about evolution, check out these episodes: https://substack.com/search/evolution?focusedPublicationId=513528&searching=focused_postsSupport the showHealth Products by M&M Partners:AquaTru: Water filtration devices that remove microplastics, metals, bacteria, and more from your drinking water. Through link, $100 off AquaTru Carafe, Classic & Under Sink Units; $300 off Freestanding models.KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + electrolytes formulated for kidney health. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)Seed Oil Scout: Find restaurants with seed oil-free options, scan food products to see what they’re hiding, with this easy-to-use mobile app.SporesMD: Premium mushrooms products (gourmet mushrooms, nootropics, research). Use code 'nickjikomes' for 20% off.Lumen device: Optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. MINDMATTER gets you 15% off.For all the ways you can support my efforts

Send us Fan MailNick talks to physicist and neuroscientist Dr. Michael Crair. Michael runs a lab at Yale University studying mechanisms of brain development. He discussed research related to neural plasticity, learning & memory, sensory maps, and critical periods of plasticity. Dr. Crair also described recent findings from his lab show that parts of the developing brain can simulate future sensory experiences, before animals ever open their eyes and see the external world. *Not medical advice.Support the showHealth Products by M&M Partners:AquaTru: Water filtration devices that remove microplastics, metals, bacteria, and more from your drinking water. Through link, $100 off AquaTru Carafe, Classic & Under Sink Units; $300 off Freestanding models.KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + electrolytes formulated for kidney health. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)Seed Oil Scout: Find restaurants with seed oil-free options, scan food products to see what they’re hiding, with this easy-to-use mobile app.SporesMD: Premium mushrooms products (gourmet mushrooms, nootropics, research). Use code 'nickjikomes' for 20% off.Lumen device: Optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. MINDMATTER gets you 15% off.For all the ways you can support my efforts

Send us Fan MailApplying evolutionary principles to navigate modern challenges like health, culture, and society. Not medical advice.TOPICS DISCUSSED:Human niche as niche-switching: Humans uniquely adapt by changing behaviors and environments, enabling survival across diverse conditions, unlike specialized animals.Culture vs. consciousness: Culture encodes efficient, habitual behaviors passed down generations, while consciousness drives innovation in novel situations, creating a balance disrupted by modernity.Omega Principle: Cultural traits serve genetic fitness, being flexible but subordinate to genes, explaining why behaviors like traditions persist if beneficial.Mismatches in modern medicine & diet: Overuse of antibiotics harms microbiomes; processed foods and supplements often ignore evolutionary contexts, leading to health issues like deficiencies or imbalances.Chesterton’s Fence: Before removing traditions or biological features (e.g., appendix as microbiome reservoir), understand their function to avoid unintended harms.Childhood & education: Formal schooling is recent; pre-modern learning via observation and mixed-age groups fostered independence, unlike today’s systems that externalize motivation.Religion’s adaptive role: Religions are evolved packages of metaphorically true behaviors that aid group success, not literal truths, but essential for cohesion.Civilizational senescence: Societies accumulate innovations with early benefits but late costs (e.g., pollution), mirroring biological aging, requiring navigation to sustainable systems.ABOUT THE GUEST: Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying are evolutionary biologists who studied under renowned figures like Robert Trivers and Richard Alexander; Weinstein holds a PhD in evolutionary biology from the University of Michigan, while Heying, with an anthropology background, conducted fieldwork on poison frogs in Madagascar. They co-authored “A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century.”RELATED EPISODE:M&M 206 | Cultural Evolution, Religion & the Origins of WEIRD Psychology | Joseph HenrichSupport the showHealth Products by M&M Partners:AquaTru: Water filtration devices that remove microplastics, metals, bacteria, and more from your drinking water. Through link, $100 off AquaTru Carafe, Classic & Under Sink Units; $300 off Freestanding models.KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + electrolytes formulated for kidney health. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)Seed Oil Scout: Find restaurants with seed oil-free options, scan food products to see what they’re hiding, with this easy-to-use mobile app.SporesMD: Premium mushrooms products (gourmet mushrooms, nootropics, research). Use code 'nickjikomes' for 20% off.Lumen device: Optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. MINDMATTER gets you 15% off.For all the ways you can support my efforts

Send us Fan MailNick talks to Stanford psychiatrist and neuroscientist Dr. Karl Deisseroth. They discuss a range of topics about the brain, including autism, depression, bipolar disorder, dissociation, and more. They also talk about optogenetics, a technique Karl co-developed which uses light to control specific neurons in the brain, allowing neuroscientists to turn circuits in the brain on and off to reveal how the brain generates perception, emotion, and behavior. They also talk about Karl's new book, "Projections: A Story of Human Emotion."*Not medical advice.Support the showHealth Products by M&M Partners:AquaTru: Water filtration devices that remove microplastics, metals, bacteria, and more from your drinking water. Through link, $100 off AquaTru Carafe, Classic & Under Sink Units; $300 off Freestanding models.KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + electrolytes formulated for kidney health. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)Seed Oil Scout: Find restaurants with seed oil-free options, scan food products to see what they’re hiding, with this easy-to-use mobile app.SporesMD: Premium mushrooms products (gourmet mushrooms, nootropics, research). Use code 'nickjikomes' for 20% off.Lumen device: Optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. MINDMATTER gets you 15% off.For all the ways you can support my efforts

Send us Fan MailNick to talks to psychology student Rob Henderson about social status, social signaling, luxury beliefs, and related topics in social psychology and human behavior.*Not medical advice.Support the showHealth Products by M&M Partners:AquaTru: Water filtration devices that remove microplastics, metals, bacteria, and more from your drinking water. Through link, $100 off AquaTru Carafe, Classic & Under Sink Units; $300 off Freestanding models.KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + electrolytes formulated for kidney health. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)Seed Oil Scout: Find restaurants with seed oil-free options, scan food products to see what they’re hiding, with this easy-to-use mobile app.SporesMD: Premium mushrooms products (gourmet mushrooms, nootropics, research). Use code 'nickjikomes' for 20% off.Lumen device: Optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. MINDMATTER gets you 15% off.For all the ways you can support my efforts

Send us Fan MailNick talks to medicinal chemist Dr. David Nichols, who has spent decades studying the chemistry and pharmacology of psychedelics. Dr. Nichols shared his knowledge of psychedelic tryptamines, including LSD and DMT, as well as phenethylamines, such as mescaline and MDMA. He also discussed his relationship with the late Dr. Alexander "Sasha" Shulgin and how his thoughts on companies trying to make non-hallucinogenic drugs derived from psychedelics.*Not medical advice.Support the showHealth Products by M&M Partners:AquaTru: Water filtration devices that remove microplastics, metals, bacteria, and more from your drinking water. Through link, $100 off AquaTru Carafe, Classic & Under Sink Units; $300 off Freestanding models.KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + electrolytes formulated for kidney health. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)Seed Oil Scout: Find restaurants with seed oil-free options, scan food products to see what they’re hiding, with this easy-to-use mobile app.SporesMD: Premium mushrooms products (gourmet mushrooms, nootropics, research). Use code 'nickjikomes' for 20% off.Lumen device: Optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. MINDMATTER gets you 15% off.For all the ways you can support my efforts

Send us Fan MailNick talks with evolutionary biologist Dr. Sarah Otto about the evolutionary dynamics of SARS-CoV-2, the emergence of new variants, whether she thinks we will need shots every year (like with the flu), mRNA vaccines, and more.*Not medical advice.Support the showHealth Products by M&M Partners:AquaTru: Water filtration devices that remove microplastics, metals, bacteria, and more from your drinking water. Through link, $100 off AquaTru Carafe, Classic & Under Sink Units; $300 off Freestanding models.KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + electrolytes formulated for kidney health. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)Seed Oil Scout: Find restaurants with seed oil-free options, scan food products to see what they’re hiding, with this easy-to-use mobile app.SporesMD: Premium mushrooms products (gourmet mushrooms, nootropics, research). Use code 'nickjikomes' for 20% off.Lumen device: Optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. MINDMATTER gets you 15% off.For all the ways you can support my efforts

Send us Fan MailNick talks to neuroscientist Dr. Aaron Gruber about topics related to cognition and learning in the brain, including what we know about how the brain detects salience and assigns value, makes decisions, and constructs flexible models of the world, sometimes called ‘schemas.’ They also discuss how neuropsychiatric disorders like depression can influence the brain’s schemas, as well as how they can be impacted by psychoactive drugs, ranging from stimulants to psychedelics.*Not medical advice.Support the showHealth Products by M&M Partners:AquaTru: Water filtration devices that remove microplastics, metals, bacteria, and more from your drinking water. Through link, $100 off AquaTru Carafe, Classic & Under Sink Units; $300 off Freestanding models.KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + electrolytes formulated for kidney health. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime)Seed Oil Scout: Find restaurants with seed oil-free options, scan food products to see what they’re hiding, with this easy-to-use mobile app.SporesMD: Premium mushrooms products (gourmet mushrooms, nootropics, research). Use code 'nickjikomes' for 20% off.Lumen device: Optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. MINDMATTER gets you 15% off.For all the ways you can support my efforts