Finding Genius Podcast

Not all body fat is the same. Scientists have identified the presence and significance of brown fat in adult humans. Shing Kajimura researches brown fat and how its presence curbs obesity and type 2 diabetes as well as other metabolic diseases. Listen and learn What mechanisms cause brown fat to produce heat for our bodies and become a "metabolic sink" for glucose and lipids, How the amount of brown fat we have depends on age, climate, and time of year, and How researchers hope to use this to produce therapeutics for metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes treatments. Shingo Kajimura is with Harvard Medical School's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and works in the endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism division. He's interested in molecular bases by which we adapt to different environmental stresses like nutritional changes, dietary changes, and even temperature changes. Enter brown fat. Adult humans have brown fat around their neck, almost like an internal scarf, and in a few other areas. When we got cold and shivering can no longer do the trick to warm us, brown fat's thermogenesis steps in. He explains exactly how it undergoes a molecular process similar to how a light bulb emits energy, which in turns eats up glucose and lipids. Enter type 2 diabetes causes. This brown fat activity has associations with improved lipid and glucose handling. Because it eats up glucose and lipids, it is a significant "metabolic sink" for these molecules. It literally takes up glucose and combusts it in cells. Unfortunately, we can't just deposit brown fat in people as a type 2 diabetes cure. He explains how climate, which also implicates seasonality, and age connect to brown fat presence. There's a significant decrease in brown fat when we hit our forties and fifties. Cold adaptation is also a factor, and the body starts making brown fat fairly quickly after cold exposure. All these factors make the issue a little more complicated and Dr. Kajimura explains how in very clear terms. There is hope that this research may benefit those of us that could benefit from more brown fat. He comments that researchers are looking at bio medics to make our fat cells feel cold without our brain actually thinking the same. For more about his work, see his lab's web page: kajimuralab.org. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Working on COVID-19? This podcast is for you. This episode offers a valuable conversation with a comprehensive yet detailed understanding of SARS CoV-2 pathogenicity. Listen in as a front-line researcher discusses the computational biology of COVID-19 from three directions: the viral action, the human response, and environmental influences on both. Listen and hear The viral biology of pathways this particular coronavirus inhibits and disrupts, such as the RAS and Kallikrein systems, How this disruption leads to bradykinin storms and hydrogel formation in the lungs, which impede oxygen exchange and cause organ distress, and What therapeutics directly address these disruptions and other patterns they are hopeful this computational and systems biology will reveal. Daniel A. Jacobson is a computational systems biologist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Oak Ridge is part of the national laboratory system in the U.S., and has access to world-wide data and top researchers. His lab is tracking all the SARS CoV-2 sequence data from around the world and finding significant patterns that may impact pathogenicity and looking at evolutionary patterns that may give insights. He shares an invaluable level and type of information with listeners in this conversation, explaining exactly how COVID-19 infects cells and what pathways it disrupts. For example, he explains how after looking at the "dynamic tension" points in normal systemic pathways, they were able to identify how this virus disrupts specific aspects of the RAS pathway, kallikrein system, and vitamin D reception in infected patients. The resulting bradykinin storm and increased hyaluronic acid leads to the symptoms doctors find so difficult to overcome such as hydrogel in the lungs. But there's good news too: they've identified a number of pharmaceuticals that can help in these metabolic pathways, even down to vitamin D regulation. Currently, researchers have identified three different drugs that do what the lab's mechanistic models predicted and help patients suffering from the virus. He adds that they are expanding their list, hoping to identify a larger battery of drugs that will also help. He says there's a significant push to join forces with clinical colleagues and explore multiple common therapies. He also discusses the mutation patterns. They are identifying how the virus changes over the course of the pandemic and trying to infer how those changes will impact pathogenicity. Then they can observe how those changes are promulgating in the human population. Finally, they are also plugging in environmental components. Find their papers in eLife, Molecular Biology and Evolution, and bioRxiv and google them for more. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Exercise: will it make your blood sugar go high, or low…and what can be done about it? The answer depends on a number of factors. For over 25 years, Michael C. Riddell has focused his research on the area where kinesiology and diabetes meet. Press play to learn: How an emerging technology could sense when the body is initiating increased activity or exercise, and respond accordingly to keep insulin at the appropriate level Why eating a large carbohydrate-rich meal prior to exercise has different effects in people who have type I diabetes versus type II diabetes How tailoring the intensity of an exercise regimen could be safer and have beneficial effects on people with diabetes Riddell is Full Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at York University, where his research program is aimed at examining the mechanisms that underlie exercise in people with pre-diabetes or type I or type II diabetes. Why is exercise beneficial, and what are the challenges that come along with it in terms of fluctuating blood glucose levels? What type of technology can be employed to decrease the chances of glucose levels dipping too low or shooting too high during exercise? These questions are being explored by Riddell and his team, and he discusses the details of what they've discovered so far. He also discusses the impressive amount of valuable information hat has been gained from continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), why doctors and scientists are pushing for ambulatory glucose profiles using CGM as opposed to A1C tests, in what way the addition of glucagon to insulin pumps can act as the "brakes" when blood sugar levels get too high, and more. For access to Riddell's lectures and papers on these topics and more, visit https://mriddell.lab.yorku.ca/. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

With one of the most complex life cycles around, schistosomes are a fascinating subject for scientists. However, they also cause a tremendous amount of death and illness among the poor as a neglected tropical disease. Therefore, James Collins brings a full set of motivations to his research on the schistosome life cycle. Listen and learn Why schistosome male and female reproduction is unique among flatworms with elements still not understood, How their egg production causes the debilitating schistosomiasis symptoms, and Why studying their ability to hide from our immune system and other immunologically interesting facts about infectious diseases might lead to improved organ transplant processes. James Collins is an associate professor with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He specializes in the shistosome parasite, researching significant elements of its basic biology. Originally from a geneticist and developmental biologist background, he became fascinated with flatworms and the schistosome stood out to him as both fascinating and also in desperate need of study: he realized how common and devastating their infections are among the world's poorest communities. About 200 million people have a schistosomiasis diagnosis and a quarter of a million people die every year from its effects. This neglected tropical disease affects so many yet only a small amount of labs are focusing on it. James Collins runs of these labs and hopefully his research will promote more effective schistosomiasis treatment. He explains their wild reproduction cycle that involves both snail and human hosts and a mysterious mating ritual that depends on a "hug" for the female to reach sexual maturity. Further, they have some significant attributes that make it hard to develop effective therapeutics. While there is one drug that can successful kill them called praziquantel, it is only effective in two of their life phases. In addition, studies show that because the parasite is so plentiful, reinfection is highly likely. Therefore, while infected members of a village may be treated with this drug, when doctors return a year later, the parasite infection rate is just as high. He explains that it is the high rate of egg production that causes the illnesses, with eggs finding their way to organs like the liver and causing massive inflammation and scaring that can lead to illness and death. Dr. Collins is studying both their ability to live for decades in human hosts as well as their ability to produce so many eggs in the hopes that such findings may lead to better schistosomiasis treatment. For more about his work, see his lab's website: collinslab.org. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Sarah-Elizabeth Byosiere brought her lifelong love of dogs to college and found her niche through decoding dog behavior and cognition. She continued these studies in graduate school and she shares her love and knowledge with lucky listeners in today's podcast. Listen and learn Why dog play is considered interesting from an evolutionary standpoint and what Dr. Byosiere's research about the dog-play bow indicates, What dog behaviors are explained by relatively new research, such as their vision, abilities to discern context-specific cues, and communication, and How her group is working on improving the lives of shelter dogs and other current projects. Dr. Byosiere is the director of the Thinking Dog Center at CUNY Hunter College. She brings a tremendous amount of knowledge to this podcast, sharing a variety of findings sure to interest dog lovers and listeners interested in animal behavior. Her initial research centered on dog social behavior as she explored the dog-play bow and what it might indicate. This classic dog pose is one of several familiar dog behavior signs thought to indicate play, but her work found it also indicates a pause or transition of activity. She discusses other fascinating dog traits and understandings of dog body language. Listeners may not realize that dog cognition and behavior studies really only started booming in the last 20 years, she adds, so there's much to learn. For example, dogs are really proficient at reading human cues that we might think are simple but require a complexity. This complexity is manifested in their ability to figure out context-specific cues, which even young children aren't able to do. They've evolved to be highly attentive to our human body language, not just to other dog signals and dog facial expressions. She and Richard explore numerous behaviors observed in their own dogs, comparing them to what research indicates, covering topics like the flehmen response, their neophilic tendencies, their scent capabilities and vapor wakes, and their vision. She discusses current projects as well, such as improving the lives of shelter dogs—they're investigating easy and inexpensive methods to implement in shelters to improve the dog's experience. For more, follow her on Twitter as @sebyosiere and see the website for the Thinking Dog Center at Hunter College. The center is also active on Instagram and Twitter. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

While they are treasured companions, can dogs also teach us more about learning and adaptions? Graduate student Sophie Barton says yes. Listen in to learn how to understand your dog better but also to find out what they're brains might tell us about how our own learning develops. Listen and learn The history of how dog breeding developed in the first place and what differences between breeds might indicate about brain development, A description of how she's designed studies to show differences between innate traits and the impact of being a working dog, and Other interesting studies to evaluate dog behavior signs and reactions such as the ability to show empathy and ways for understanding dog body language. Sophie Barton studies how brains evolve adaptations to learn specific behaviors and skills. She explains that she uses domestic dogs because they are a great vehicle for study: dogs have been bred for a variety of behaviors that are relevant to humans, especially dog social behavior. They have been bred based on aggression, sociality, and other human traits that are analogous to and significant for our own behavior. While we might think most breeds have been around for a long time, they have only been around a few hundred years. She explains how the Victorian era really took breeding up a notch by using practices to advance dog work even more and show their dogs off as commodities. She explains that her main study involves neuroimaging research: she studies pairs of dogs that are siblings. These pairs have one that is actively a work dog, like a border collie who herds, and the other who has lived life more as a companion. She compares their brain through imaging, identifies what neural circuits are involved in a behavior such as herding, and evaluates how the circuit changes according to experience. She also shares with listeners her vast knowledge of fascinating quirks and trends in dog behavior, from dog facial expressions to their response to our own neutral expressions. She describes interesting possible neural differences in breeds who need to work alone, like hunting dogs, versus dogs who work more on verbal and whistle commands, like herding dogs. So listen in for surprising findings as dog behaviors are explained. For more about her work and some lovely dog photos, see caninebrains.org. You can also find her on Instagram and Twitter. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Light is addictive, according to Dr. Kruse. And if one of the types of late we're getting all day is harmful, we have a problem. Listen to this podcast to find out more about blue light damage. Listen to hear How our screens don't include the full spectrum, which would normally balance out the blue light. How this constant blue light from our screens is disrupting our melatonin signaling and affecting our health in multiple ways, and What the filtering from blue light glasses benefit, including better sleep, overall health, memory, and behavior. Dr. Jack Kruse and Lucia Eyes CEO Daniel Huber talk about blue light's effect on sleep and additional health concerns. Dan Huber tells his troubling story of experiencing several health pitfalls after moving into his new house. After numerous tests and doctors, he finally figured out that he was having a strong reaction to mold in his house. After more research, he found that constant exposure to blue light was making him extremely sensitive to this mold. This started a journey that led him to start Lucia Eyes, where they create high quality eye protection in the form of blue light filter glasses that are suitable for the whole family. Dr. Kruse explains the science behind these effects. He tells listeners that blue light by itself is present in the sun, but sunlight balances it out with other colors that are its antidote, like red light. Unfortunately, our screens are dominated by this blue light and have a set color temperature equivalent to solar noon. Constant exposure to this disturbs our circadian rhythm. How? Well, this light exposure can affect dopamine and other hormones and can even cause psychological problems. In fact, the hormone melatonin controls our mitochondrial energy production. Blue light disrupts melatonin production and we breathe less, sleep less, and suffer effects on our basic metabolic rate from overexposure. Some research even shows effects in memory. Together, Dr. Kruse and Dan Huber explain how Lucia Eyes has made glasses to combat this blue light exposure with both daylight and evening options. They explain the numbers and levels behind different blue light filters and Dan explains how their blue light glasses have worked to improve the health of his entire family. For more about Lucia Eyes, see luciaeyes.com, and for more about Dr. Jack Kruse, see jackkruse.com. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK Here is a 10% off on the entire order!! Use the code: GENIUS10

Do dogs really love us? Are they really feeling guilty when they give us that unmistakably guilty look? Can dogs outsmart children when put to the test? Tune in to explore these questions and more, including: How certain interactions with dogs trigger the release of hormones in our bodies, and theirs Why domestication may have cost dogs their capacity for independent problem-solving What happens in terms of the dog's ability to pay attention and learn when we use baby talk to speak to them Angie Johnston is an assistant professor at Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences whose work revolves primarily around two simple, yet very compelling questions: what can dogs tell us about dogs, and what can they tell us about humans? Johnston is studying dogs closely in an attempt to grasp what's really going on in their minds, and to better understand which parts of our psychology are uniquely human, and which are shared with our furry best friends. She does this by conducting studies which compare dog behavior and problem-solving with that of human toddlers around the age of four or five. Some of the most surprising results came from a study looking at over-imitation, which is the tendency to imitate silly, unnecessary steps in a procedure, even when knowing they are silly or unnecessary. The findings would suggest that dogs are smarter than children, at least in this regard. And while that may be the case, Johnston explains why the findings actually make sense when viewed through a social and cultural lens. She also explains the dog's propensity to learn new words, the quantitative measures of their "love" for us and how they differ between domesticated dogs and wolves, the facial coding system in dogs and the evolution of that "puppy dog eyes" expression, and how the COVID-19 lockdowns have actually prompted Johnston and others to conduct virtual studies, which capture more purely the dog's behavior in their home environment. Tune in for the details and check out https://sites.bc.edu/doglab/ to learn more. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Cancerous tumors have their own microbiome, a unique method of energy production, strategies for evading host immune systems, specialized extracellular vesicles, and one real goal: to expand and replicate at the expense of the environment. Press play to discover: What major transformation in tumor detection and diagnosis is on the horizon and holds promise for very early and accurate cancer detection (and why the current methods of screening/detection/diagnosis are so bad) What specific ability allows cancer to kill its host Why the theory behind chemotherapy is wrong, and how it actually puts accelerated selection pressure on tumors Returning guest, Jo Bhakdi, is the founder of Quantgene, the world's leader in liquid biopsy technologies when it comes to precision. It's a technology that uses next-generation genome sequencing in combination with AI and cloud systems to detect cancer in the early stages in the blood. The team at Quantgene has pioneered the ability to have single-molecule precision across a very high number of locations on DNA. This core sequencing technology is being embedded in advanced AI cloud systems that also have whole exome sequencing data. Together with genetics, medical records, and family history data, these technologies render a 360-degree precision profile for each patient. In essence, it's a giant, sensitive detection tool for cancer, and it holds promise for fulfilling the same role for other diseases. Bhakdi discusses all aspects of cancer, including how it spreads, how it's acted upon epigenetically, and the potential of certain therapies. In particular, he says, "One of the greatest breakthroughs in my opinion, that is not fully exploited yet, is immunotherapy, because every time you have something very complex…you need another system that's equally complex and capable to indirectly handle it." He talks about the indirect screening trade-offs of liquid biopsies, the general problem of over-diagnosing, the relationship between the heterogeneity of tumors and mutation profiles, and more. Learn more at https://www.quantgene.com/. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK

Dr. Amanda K. Gibson an Assistant Professor of Biology at the University of Virginia. Dr. Gibson joins the show to dissect the relationship between parasitism and evolution. In this episode you'll learn: About the complex multi-organism environments parasites live in About the Pros and Cons of asexual reproduction in parasites About the evolutionary change back and forth between parasites and mutualists Dr. Gibson's lab focuses on the genetic change driven by parasitism on both the parasites and hosts. This evolutionary relationship is challenging to unravel given the complex biotic interactions a parasitic organism encounters. As an example, parasites in humans need to successfully compete with the both the thousands of human microbiome bacteria and viruses as well as the human immune system. First, Dr. Gibson asked the question how do parasites reproduce, and then linked this idea to the evolution of parasites over time. If fit parasites or hosts were genetically well equipped to produce progeny why would they not reproduce asexually transferring that fitness to their progeny? Why would either engage in sexual reproduction which would change the genetic makeup of their offspring? Explaining this paradox Dr. Gibson highlights the fact that greater genetic diversity in parasites yields a higher likelihood that some of the parasites are able to infect the hosts available, whereas for the host genetic diversity means a higher chance of being resistant to new versions of parasites. Parasites reproduction may be affected in the opposite way as well, with monoculture crops perhaps encouraging asexual reproduction among parasites. Supporting this idea Dr. Gibson points out that more monoculture crop fields tend to be destroyed by parasites than fields with multiple genotypes. This effect could be seen with as little as two different genetic backgrounds. Finally, Dr. Gibson extends her research to humans explaining a tantalizing yet poorly studied theory that humans might be drawn to mate with people who have different major histocompatibility complexes than themselves in order to give their children a broader defense against potential parasites. To hear about more examples of coevolution between parasites and hosts see Dr. Gibson's work at coevolving.org . Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK