Finding Genius Podcast

Disinfectant compounds are touted as virus killing but what else can they do to our health? Are disinfectants and COVID-19 both cause for concern? An exposure scientist helps listeners untangle some of these issues. Listen and learn What are disinfectants and how they work, How studies indicate possible long-term development and reproductive effects from disinfectant exposures, and What safer alternatives to disinfectants exist including soap and water and masks. A Chemical Exposure scientist discusses EPA's List N, which is a list of over 400 compounds that meet the EPA's criteria for use to kill SARS-CoV-2 particles. Two hundred of those listed are actually harmful "quats," or quaternary ammonium compounds. She helps listeners understand what this means and brings her big-picture thinking to our current reactive climate of applying disinfectants uniformly. Her work includes researching chemicals in consumer products we come in contact with in our daily lives, including personal care products, disinfectants, and pesticides. She tells listeners that the disinfectants that are being used for COVID are actually considered pesticides, which is a cause for concern for our environment and health. She says the only requirement for a compound to be on List N is the ability to kill the virus. There are no considerations for the safety of repeated use of such disinfectants. She is especially concerned that such products are being applied to school settings when there are safer alternatives like using soap and water on hands and wearing masks. She adds that modes of exposure can be from non dietary ingestion like hand-to-mouth, but the main route of exposure is airborne, from fogging or spraying. Good ventilation can be key, but schools are often older buildings with bad ventilation systems. Listen in for what to consider in how we keep our communities safe, both short and long-term. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

One in every three bites you take are made possible by honey bee pollination. Keeping bees healthy and productive is essential. Honey bee reproduction depends on a queen's ability to have one mating session, store sperm for years, and lay about 1,000 eggs a day during the warmer months: an amazing honey bee characteristic among many. Brandon Hopkins shares fascinating honey bee behavioral adaptations in this discussion. Listen and learn How a queen's anatomy and sperm morphology work to make this reproduction effective, What storage methods are best for honey bees to make the large almond yield in California possible, and How these storage methods also work best to deter certain types of mites from overtaking colonies. Brandon Hopkins is an assistant research professor and the apiary and laboratory manager with the Washington State University Apiary Program. Studying reproductive biology across different animals led him to a honey bee obsession. "They're fascinating creatures and present lots of room for improvement in assisted reproductive techniques in honey bee breeding," he says. He gives listeners a primer on honey bee social behavior and reproduction, describing the sperm, the queen's spermatheca organ, which stores the sperm in a quiescence state over years, and the complex ability of the queen to continue laying eggs by releasing the sperm through a tube. He also gives us a glimpse into how this works over our geography. While he's worked on methods of cryopreservation of honey bee semen, he's now mainly focusing on practical aspects of beekeeping management. Over two million honey bee colonies have to be moved to California in January for February almond pollination, so the storage and transport of bees is a vital topic for research. Many beekeepers store their bees that will go to California in large warehouse-like buildings for the winter. He explains why this is an advantage, from saving their energy production to keeping mites and bee interaction at a lower state, and for a better quality of life for the keepers themselves. Listen in to understand more about the ways researchers like Brandon Hopkins are keeping bees healthy. For more about his work, see entomology.wsu.edu/directory/faculty/brandon-hopkins. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Better diabetes care includes more than nutrition and fitness facts or discussions on the relationship between obesity and type 2 diabetes. "If we empower people with their own data, how do they take and use it?" asks Dr. Sandra Indacochea Sobel. Her primary goal is to enable an individual to understand the disease process and what the numbers and variables mean. Listeners will get a helpful lesson in the numbers and technology in modern type 1 and type 2 diabetes treatments. Tune in and learn What exactly an A1C is as well as other measures doctors may list at a visit, How these number and tests determine labels like type 1, type 2, and prediabetes, and What cutting-edge technologies are getting the medical community closer to an artificial pancreas for a hands-off closed-loop system. Sandra Indacochea Sobel is an endocrinologist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She works in her clinical work to better explain the numbers and mechanics of diabetes to help individuals regulate their blood sugar within a certain range. It's complicated: there are so many factors that might affect these numbers, but Dr. Sobel carefully explains the major considerations in an accessible way. She also describes how doctors understand type 2 diabetes causes from a testing standing point, explaining what role C-peptide tests and antibody indications might explain. The Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) has taken many patients beyond finger-stick pictures as the best way to determine their type 2 diabetes diet or pump settings for type 1s. But Dr. Sobel says that we're getting closer to another huge leap, a closed-off loop which will give the patient a pump-like artificial pancreas. While not a type 1 or type 2 diabetes cure, it would mean a much improved hands-off lifestyle and care introducing insulin and glucagon independent of the patient needing to provide data. She describes the technology and work going in to such a move as well as an exciting proof-of-concept study involving aggressive early intervention for prediabetics and early type 2 patients. Listen in to better understand the variable behind diabetes and metabolism and for hopeful news in the medical community about treatment. For more about her work, see her page at the university: profiles.dom.pitt.edu/faculty_info.aspx/Sobel6136. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Bee keeping is an ancient practice: even prehistoric cave paintings in Spain depict a keeper reaching for a hive to collect honey while holding a smoker to calm the bees. Cameron Jack shares some of the more interesting details of this ancient art with lucky listeners. Tune in and hear How honey bee characteristics, bee anatomy, and evolution have led to optimal frame and hive size for beekeepers to follow, Why bees are considered a superorganism, which means a honey bee can't survive on its own, and is organized by queen, brooders, and workers, and Why Cameron Jack's prime interest is managing honey bee diseases and pests and what are the main areas of concern. Cameron Jack holds the unusual position of one-hundred percent lecturer at the University of Florida. He's still involved in research and extension work, but his full lecturer designation means his beekeeping course list at the University of Florida is probably the most extensive college-level beekeeping instruction out there. He teaches seven different beekeeping courses, covering everything from evolution, biology, the annual cycle involved in beekeeping, and more. The courses are complete enough to turn out people who can actively be beekeepers. In this interview, he describes everything from why 3/8 inches is a magic number to how bees find and maintain hives in the wild. Honey bee behavioral adaptations of course take center stage. For hive building, beekeepers who want to maximize honey production must learn such behaviors to know why they might, for example, sequester the queen in the lower level. Bees build their combs vertically and are considered a superorganism—"the whole animal is the whole colony," he adds. They are able to determine their hive sizing in multiple ways and if it gets too big, they swarm—one colony becomes two. Furthermore, the queen designation doesn't mean ruler. She's a producer, laying as many eggs as she can in a systematic spiral through her level of the comb. Cameron Jack's primary interest is the management of pests and diseases bees face like types of mites, beetles, and even wax-eating moths. While the interaction of mites and bees is the most concerning, diseases even involve microorganisms in honey bees' guts. Listen in to hear more about this amazing superorganism. For more see the University of Florida Honey Bee Research and Extension Lab page. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

We think about heart disease prevention, but what about bone health? Margie Bissinger brings listeners numerous bone health boosters and facts, keeping listeners flexible and stronger. Listen and learn What two components designate porous bones as well as the mechanics of bone structure, How to keep your bones healthy, from good bone health vitamins to ways to seek bone density testing, and Why it's important to identify the root cause of osteoporosis as you seek treatment. Margie Bissinger is the host of the Happy Bones, Happy Life podcast. She's a physical therapist, author, nutritionist, and health coach with an expertise in orthopedic physical therapy. Years ago, a group of doctors asked her to focus on struggling osteoporosis patients and the experience opened her eyes to how patients didn't even know where to start. She started working on a state level in New Jersey with osteoporosis outreach programs and wrote a book to reach a nationwide audience. As she continued researching, adding more knowledge about bone health nutrition, she realized the degree to which our actions can have an impact. Bone health actually starts in childhood, she says, by exercising, jumping, and getting forces through our bones with any type of resistance. This extends to exercise at all ages, especially moves that "load the bones." When we're older, it's important to seek bone health exercise guidance, however, as some studies show difference in flexion versus extension of the spine and fracture correlations. Margie also provides very helpful information about the kinds of testing and tools available to determine bone density and what questions to ask your doctor. She emphasizes finding out any root cause to bone loss and osteoporosis and describes how functional medicine can address such causes. For more, see margiebissinger.com. 2 Weeks to Better Posture Program - FREE PROGRAM Get the Improve Your Posture in Two Weeks Program with videos and exercises to help improve your posture: https://www.happyboneshappylife.com/gift Use the code genius1 and receive 20% off Happy Bones, Happy Life Program for optimal bone health - https://happyboneshappylife.com and the Happy Me, Happy Life Blueprint for increased happiness and resilience - https://tinyurl.com/2021happinessclass . Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

He set out to prove his wife wrong. That's what lead Physician Assistant Kevin Davis to first research keto diet plans and efficacy. But the more he researched, the more he found she might be on to something. Listen and learn Why while many turn to the ketogenic diet for weight loss, they stay for the long-term therapeutic effects, How practitioners like Kevin Davis work with clients on personalized keto diet plans and nutrition guidelines to achieve hormone balance, and What aspects of the ketogenic diet like fasting periods achieve for bodily health and wellbeing. Kevin Davis is the host of Our Ketogenic Life podcast and works with clients to craft an appropriate ketogenic diet meal plan to fit their needs through different life stages. He's worked as a Physician Assistant since 1994, and after his wife suffered unexplained inflammation and pain, he researched the ketogenic life style based on her own findings that it might help her issues. The more he researched it, the more the ketogenic diet food list and process made sense with how foods interact with our body, especially through hormone balance. After he and his wife both took on the ketogenic life style and he started helping patients do the same, he's continued studying it. The more research he does on chronic diseases like heart disease, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and diabetes development, the more he sees how the ketogenic diet addresses these long term conditions. So while clients find him for weight loss, he knows these potential underlying problems will also be addressed. "If I see they have joint pain or a family history of insulin resistance, I know this will also help those things," he says. He emphasizes that practicing the diet should not lead someone to feeling nonfunctional or too hungry to work: this should not be part of ketogenic side effects. Rather, through guidance, the diet will ultimately lead to more energy, less inflammation, and better overall health and wellbeing. For more, see ourketogeniclife.com. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

They're everywhere, even the trees. Petr Klimes researches the ecological roles of insects, especially ants in Papa New Guinea, where many species are less accessible for research. He shares interesting ant facts and tales along with questions he's pursing. Listen and learn How, despite both being social insects, ants interact with their food and world in much more diverse ways than their bee cousins, What interesting examples of parasitism, symbiosis, and mutualism exist in ant species, and What next steps Petr Klimes plans to take by researching how ants are responding to climate change and different habitat types available. Petr Klimes is the laboratory head of the Laboratory of Ecology and Evolution of Social Insects with the University of South Bohemia Biology Centre CAS. He's interested in ants that live in tropical trees and spread across the islands in the pacific, specifically their evolution and interaction with plants and other animals. One remarkable aspect of ants' life cycles and habits is the vast diversity among different species. Unlike bees, which are exclusively pollinators, or wasps, which are predators, ant interactions vary widely. Some are predators, some are omnivores. Some ant colony structures include more than one ant queen and some don't. Some are highly specialized in food and nest choice and some are opportunistic, eating whatever and living where ever is available. Petr Klimes spent time in Papa New Guinea comparing ground and arboreal ants. Ground ants are mostly predators, but tree ants tend to work with other insects like aphids. He shares many fascinating examples of ant interactions, from parasitism to symbiotic relationships with plants or other insects like aphids. Unlike ant species in the U.S., which look fairly similar to each other, the morphology in the tropics is extreme. One species, for example, lives in leaf litter and is about 1 millimeter long, has triangle-shaped "hats" and predates with sharp mandibles, eating tiny, fast-moving insects. In Borneo, another large species lives in trees and are dimorphic, with large soldiers and small foragers. He hopes to embark on a new project soon to study species interaction and biology in terms of how climate change and forest change is influencing ant communities. For more, see his lab's website: antscience.com. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

All light is not the same, and Eran Ben-Shmuel has produced a technology that will make that clearer than ever. They've remade how light is produced, resulting in a high-quality, high-functioning, and versatile smart light. Listen and learn How they use a silicon chip and its reflections to increase surfaces that produce light, How this evolves into an artificial intelligence lighting control, and What applications their light "foam" can be used for, including street lighting design, horticulture, medical use, office space, and home use. Eran Ben-Shmuel is the CEO and Founder of Juganu, which brings new light technology to multiple applications. They are transforming the infrastructure of light to a digitized area—marking multiple points and making that area "smart." They transform the colors with a different technology, taking a silicon chip and immersing it inside a light guide, causing total reflections to catch surfaces of light. This process allows them to highlight almost every aspect of light, from efficiency to quality. They can then control the different parameters of light such as the spectrum or gamut of light as their needs demand, modulating that light from daylight to sunset colors and more. An essential elements is their ability to maintain the "perfect" white—changing the colors while in what's called the "blackbody curve." This produces a very high quality of light by controlling almost every slice of the spectrum. They can use this technology for multiple applications, from street lighting projects to horticulture to medical needs. By choosing the right spectrum and controlling it, they can even stop the spread of viruses and other pathogens like bacteria. For more, see juganu.com. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Those tiny ants are actually heavy weights. In terms of biomass, ants make up about 10% of all animal weight on earth. That means if humans are on one side of the scale, ants can balance us out on the other. The ant life cycle is as interesting as this weight implies. Listen and learn How ant life cycles progress, including dramatic differences between male and female, reproduction by both parthenogenesis and sex, and why this offers an advantage, How the ant colony structure is organized, from ant queen to workers and foragers, and How researchers are able to tag and study these insects, including a discussion of their time-lapse photography efforts. Laurent Keller is a professor at the University of UNIL in Switzerland with the Department of Ecology and Evolution. He researches the social behavior of ants and describes some amazing elements of ant behavior. His lab has identified a supergene in two fire ant species. Found in cooperation with a colleague from the University of Georgia, this genetic difference between the species determines their different social organization structures. This supergene designates dispersal habits as well—the queen in one species is large and fat, and can travel far and start a new colony on her own. The other smaller ants can't travel as far because of their size and the queen begins her work in an already-established colony close by. Keller shares some amazing traits of an ant's life. Because they reproduce through parthenogenesis and sexual reproduction, the males are short-timers and only live long enough to mate. Meanwhile, the queen usually mates only once, but is able to store sperm and use it over 20 years in a special organ called a spermathecal. These two reproduction methods offer double benefits: both diversity and clonal reproduction. He offers several more interesting ant facts, including their nest types and the methods researchers use to painstakingly attach tags to each ant for tracking and observation purposes. For more, see the Keller Group, their lab's website. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

It's estimated that 20% of our food is dependent on honey bee pollination. Meanwhile, recent news has highlighted concerns like viral diseases of the honey bee to mites to invading "killer" bees. It's hard to keep straight where honey bee diseases and treatments stand. This conversation does the trick, leaving listeners with a clear and fascinating vision of what's up with the honey bee. Listen and learn Where do our current North American honey bee populations stand and where do they fit in the larger picture of bees worldwide, What pests and diseases of the honey bee and control measures are entomologists most involved with, and How do these concerns fit within agricultural, ecology, and the backyard beekeeper. Jamie Ellis is the Gahan Endowed Professor in the Entomology and Nematology Department at the University of Florida. Fascinated with bees since childhood, he took care of his first honey bee hive at age 12 and hasn't looked back since. He's not alone: humans have been interacting with honey bees for thousands of years. While there are 20,000 of bee species worldwide, only 9 of those species are honey bees. Even more daunting, 8 of those 9 are specific to Asia. That remaining species is the one we're familiar with and it inhabits Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and North America. Honey bees are actually not native to North America; rather, Europeans brought them over hundreds of years ago. Are the populations of this one honey bee species that inhabits such disparate regions the same? Well, while it is the same species, entomologists divide it into about 30 subspecies or races, such as the African bee, which the press has misnamed the "killer bee." North American honey bees have been facing population struggles lately because of a mite, and Ellis describes various pest control and pest management plans, including nature's own adaptation through honey bee evolution. He also helps listeners with the big picture of the many reasons to raise honey bees. While many are familiar with bee hives used for honey, pollination services are also a tremendous business. Others raise colonies to sell and some keepers specialize in raising queens. For more information, including resources on your own bee keeping, see the University of Florida Honey Bee Research and Extension Lab page. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK