Finding Genius Podcast

Gina Bria is an anthropologist and founder of the Hydration Foundation. She joins the show to discuss an incredibly valuable, newly discovered form of concentrated water. In this episode, you'll learn the following: Why the environment we live in is so dehydrating, leaving many of us in a chronic state of dehydration (perhaps without even knowing it) How the molecular structure of ordered water differs from the structure of the water found in your tap or ordinary bottle of water Where to find the best sources of structured water, or even create your own for improved health and cognitive performance As an anthropologist, Gina Bria was studying desert communities of humans when she became curious about their ability to survive with such limited amounts of water. She soon made the fascinating discovery that these communities of thriving humans were not using liquid for hydration; they were using plants. This finding led her to investigate these plants, which in turn led her to Dr. Gerald Pollack's identification of a new form of water called structured water (it also goes by many other names, including ordered water, coherent water, EZ water, coherent domain water, and liquid crystalline water). It has a gel-like quality and superior ability to supply hydration, and is found in all living cells on the planet. In essence, this water is formed when water molecules move closer to one another and share electrons. Surprisingly, this is actually the natural state of water, as it is in this phase when it purifies, cleanses, and activates itself in the hydrological cycle in the planet and inside biological systems. Tap and bottled water have been interfered with, and since the body must use resources to organize it, it can actually encourage poor hydration. Bria founded the Hydration Foundation with the goal of sharing this valuable information with the world. She discusses the many methods of structuring water, highlights the myriad influences in daily life that leave us dehydrated, and touches on the health benefits of staying truly hydrated. Tune in for all the details and visit https://hydrationfoundation.org/ to learn more.

Professor Forest Rohwer's lab invented many of the methods to look at the virome, particularly the uncultured methods utilizing metagenomics. In this podcast, he shares some interesting observations of virus ecology, such as The diverse types and stages of viruses inside humans and on our body, The differences in behavior of viruses in our cells and out and how that may connect to disease therapies, and His current research focusing on ecosystems of the human lung, specifically cystic fibrosis, and coral reef virus ecosystems. Dr. Forest Rohwer is a marine microbiologist and microbial ecologist and professor of biology at San Diego State University. He discusses the complex behavior of viruses in humans, observations and findings that may lead to treating how virions affect cells and how scientists can manipulate that behavior in treatments for pathogenic viruses such as Covid19. He explains that we humans have viruses and bacteriophage, retrovirus, herpesvirus, Torque Teno Viruses (TTV), and more: it's a complex ecosystem. Our gut in particular is filled with phages attacking the bacteria and in symbiosis with bacteria. He provides one example of bacteria in our gut that carry a lot of prophage, which they shed over time. These viruses will bind to the mucus of the gut and forma barrier that will kill bacteria invading our gut, thereby protecting their host. These are the kinds of relationships that reveal this complex relationship. He also talks about his current research into two different ecosystems, namely the human lung in relationship to cystic fibrosis and coral reefs in the context of increased algae due to decreased fish and diversity. He explains how the human and coral system studies both reveal virus behavior, namely how provirus and virions increase or decrease depending on oxygen levels. He explains that this may provide insights for therapies for disease to manipulate virus presence. This may be useful for pathogenic viruses such as Covd19. For more, see his lab page at https://coralandphage.org/, where a copy of his book Life in our Phage World is available as a free download.

Professor Sarah Ennis has been in the field of genetic epidemiology for over 20 years. In this conversation, she explains What a dry lab does specifically in terms of understanding disease through data analysis, The types of information they can pass on to clinicians to help them treat patients, and What the future holds as far as the ability to offer molecular diagnoses. Sarah Ennis runs the Genomic Informatics group at the University of South Hampton, which is a dry lab specializing in next generation sequencing (NGS) data and clinical cohorts. She explains that genetics epidemiology in a dry lab setting means she and her colleagues use data analysis to offer information on disease. Specifically, they look at the genome data of patients to understand how and why the DNA mutates and changes and how and why those changes cause sickness in some cases and none in other cases. She offers listeners more detail about the factors they analyze as they untangle what changes are important and how and why. Along the way she is able to explain the logistics of what scientists really mean whey they say they've sequenced a genome, including the focus on the positive strand of the 5 and 3 prime, and how recessive and dominant disease genes are understood in this context. She then ties this information to next generation sequencing, how it offers a less expensive and more sweeping technique to produce the data. Finally, she discusses her present work on analyzing data on inflammatory bowel disease for children and adults. Inflammatory bowel disease is very hard on children who depend on nutrition for growth. Their analysis allows them to tell clinicians if it's caused by one gene in one patient and another gene in a second patient; therefore, the clinician can specialize the medicines accordingly. For more, see the Genomic Informatics group page at the University of South Hampton: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/medicine/academic_units/academic_units/gegi.page

Kellye Eversole has been involved with agricultural research and development since the early 1990s and is currently directing two international research consortia. She explains these projects to listeners, covering along the way The benefits of sequencing the wheat genome How tailoring agricultural practices to the specificity of a particular area and environment could reduce nutrient use and produce more resilient crops sustainably, and Why understanding the phytobiomes (plants in specific biomes) of these specific places is critical. Kellye Eversole specializes in agricultural genomics, biotechnology, and information technology. She directs the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium and the International Alliance for Phytobiomes Research. The wheat genome sequencing effort is a way to build the foundation for a new paradigm in wheat breeding. She explains that while it generally takes 12 to 15 years to develop a new wheat variety, this consortium is providing tools breeders can use to bypass some of those years; those tools can only be developed through access to a high-quality sequence, she adds. As with our advances in human genomics where we are targeting healthcare with a person's genetic makeup in mind, we can do the same thing in agriculture to create disease-resistant varieties of wheat before a disease wipes out a crop. She also explains that the Phytobiomes Alliance addresses factors beyond genome sequencing in agriculture—regardless of how much you know about a plant, she remarks, growth will be influenced by what's in the immediate environment down to the specific site and farm—what works in Oklahoma won't work In New York, for example. Examining the phytobiome is a holistic system approach that strives to understand all the factors that impact a plant in a particular field or forest, so we can use the best crop genetics and management practices for a particular area. For more see www.wheatgenome.org/and www.phytobiomesalliance.org/ as well as the web site for Kellye Eversole's company, www.eversoleassociates.com.

Award-winning author and journalist David Quammen revisits his book Spillover in the wake of our current pandemic. He talks about How the covid-19 pandemic was predicted stage by stage exactly as it has happened, What the possibilities are for another spillover virus, and What can we expect for the next few years and how best to prepare for and prevent future pandemics. David Quammen has specialized in how viruses leave animals that are in close proximity with us. He wrote his 2013 book Spillover about Ebola, bird flu, SARS, and other diseases. It raised concerns over the next spillover virus and future pandemics. He describes how he got interested in the subject after covering a national geographic expedition across the Congo through the Ebola habitat. His interest progressed into research of the ecology and evolutionary biology of zoonotic diseases. He comments that he tried to highlight patterns in his book, and in fact ten years ago had a conversation with a researcher that predicted that exact scenario of the covid-19 eruption, down to the Wuhan market. What has surprised him therefore about this spillover virus has actually been the surprise of the global community rather that the virus itself. He talks more about these past predictions as well as what information and sources he trusts today. He adds thoughts about how he sees the virus progressing and remarks he expects it to take on behavior similar to the measles model rather than influenza and why. He adds that there are going to be other spillover viruses and we need the political will to invest in more investigating, testing, preventing, ventilator capacity, ICU capacity, and more in order to prepare. To find out more, see his website, https://www.davidquammen.com/, and follow his articles in publications like the New Yorker as well as his books such as Spillover. He's currently working on a book about Covid-19.

Aquatic ecotoxicologist Marco Vighi is studying the water cycle in agriculture and presence of plastics. He shares vital information with listeners such has The different sizes and sources of plastic in our water such as micro, macro, and nano plastics; The concern for acute aquatic toxicity and why our inability to measure nano plastics is concerning; and What we do know about the types of plastic sources that harm marine wildlife. Former professor and researcher Marco Vighi works with the IMDEA Water Institute studying acute aquatic toxicity and ecology risk assessment. He's following the water cycle in agriculture, from rivers to irrigation to agricultural application and back to surface water. He begins by explaining it is better to understand in general the origin of micro plastics and consider that nano plastics are the unknown—we don't know anything about their presence because we don't have the tools to measure them or know if they are crossing cell barriers. He explains to listeners that there are two types of micro plastics: first, ones that are intentionally produced at a micro level for products like cosmetics and toothpaste; and second, non-intentionally produced micro plastics derived from the fragmentation of bigger plastics, from synthetic clothing fibers, and from roadside products like tire pieces. He adds that while regulations are in play for the first type, which is less concerning, there is little in the way to control the second type. He explains more about the technical aspects of how these plastics fragment, how ubiquitous they are, and additional struggles with understanding nano plastic activity. For more information, he urges listeners to comb through information with care, learning what is accurate and what isn't. Finally, he says that packaging makes up the majority of harmful plastic and is a source that we can replace with alternate materials and must tackle. For more about Marco Vighi, see https://www.water.imdea.org/about-us/people/researchers/marco-vighi.

Todd Adams is a professor of physics at Florida State University, and a member of the High Energy Physics Group that is working on the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland. He joins the show to discuss the details of this fascinating work, such as the following: How gravitational lensing allows for the estimation of the mass of unseen objects, and how this is used to investigate dark matter In what ways the standard model of particle physics fails to address critical questions and observations in physics What WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) are and why Adams is hoping to produce them in the proton-proton collisions taking place in the Large Hadron Collider The Large Hadron Collider is the "world's largest scientific experiment," says Adams. It is a particle accelerator that was built underground in Geneva, Switzerland, and is about 17 miles in circumference. It accelerates protons in a circle at a speed close to that of light, with the purpose of observing what happens when protons collide. These collisions are the highest energy collisions ever created in a lab. As many people know from the famous equation E= MC2, energy can be converted to mass, which is the goal at the Hadron Collider; the creation and study of new particles from these high-energy collisions. Adams explains the details of the CMS experiment, which uses a detector five stories in height and 12,000 tons in weight that's designed to detect the particles produced by the high-energy collision of protons. Once the particles have been identified, the goal is to reconstruct precisely what happened at the time of the collision. So, what's the ultimate purpose of these experiments? Adams explains that the standard model of particle physics does an excellent job of explaining most of what we see in the world, but it leaves some compelling questions and observations unanswered, namely what's called "dark matter." One theory to explain dark matter is the presence of a particle that doesn't interact like normal matter in that it does not interact with light, with the exception of the gravitational effects of light. Adams also discusses why it becomes harder to accelerate a particle to higher velocities as the particle approaches the speed of light, how protons are brought to such high speeds, the importance of the search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), the significance of the Higgs boson, the uncertainty principle from quantum physics, and so much more. Learn more at http://www.hep.fsu.edu/~tadams/ and https://cms.cern/.

Prevalent Architecture has created a solar panel that collects solar energy and illuminates interior spaces. Founder and director Ben Berwick describes the technology and company goals regarding renewable energy sources, including The basic dimensions and structures of the solar panel and screen, The issue of reflectivity in solar panels and coatings and how Prevalent Architecture addresses these issues, and How their design has been received globally and what the timing looks like for production. Ben Berwick founded his company three years ago with the goal of moving architecture out of the niche market and into use by a more general audience while engaging specifically with renewable energy sources. The Origami Screen is a way to bring architectural design and innovation to a larger audience while utilizing solar energy. He describes the screen itself, which is about 20 millimeters deep. The solar cell is placed horizontally across the window and redirects light across the surface. An optical coating splits the light between infrared and visible light, reflecting the visible light back into the room and the infrared into solar energy. He reminds listeners that health is related to natural illumination and therefore this product would have many applications from urban living to hospitals to work spaces. Currently they are hoping to go into production in the next three years with a prototype in the next year. For more, see https://www.prevalent.archi/.

Dr. Nicolas Laos is a philosopher, religious visionary, mathematician, noopolitics expert, and author of many books including The Meaning of Being Illuminati. He dives deep into his philosophical perspectives and explores the following questions: How the notions of subjective, objective, and absolute spirit are differentiated from one another in Hegelianism, the philosophy of German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel What is meant by the ontological potential of the human being, and how this fits into the overall picture of Dr. Laos' work How the coronavirus pandemic can be analyzed through a biological, political, and economic lens "I am deeply and systematically concerned with the interplay between fundamental notions such as time and eternity, the relationship between a being or thing and its meaning, the source of the significance of the beings and things that exist in the world, as well as the ontological potential of the human being," explains Dr. Laos. He continues by expressing his concern for the sociopolitical ramifications of these issues, and the importance of philosophy in addressing these ideas. Dr. Laos explains his idea of the meaning of spirituality, the tenets of Hegelian philosophy which is one of his main areas of research, and ontology, which he perceives to be a heavily under-researched issue in contemporary social life. He also provides a brief analysis of the coronavirus pandemic from a biological, political, and economic perspective, explaining why he believes that at the political level, the coronavirus has "been mistreated" and "used as an opportunity to impose historical changes in a way that clashes with fundamental human freedoms." Dr. Laos provides unique, compelling, and thought-provoking ideas for listeners to consider, so don't miss out. Tune in and find out more about his work by visiting https://nicolaslaos.com/.

CEO and co-founder of Coapt, Blair Lock, discusses the focus of his work in the field of prosthetic control. Tune in to learn the following: How the Coapt control system is different than and superior to traditional systems of prosthetic control Why it's so important for functionality to train the system to recognize when the user is not performing a prescribed motion How the future development of subcutaneous sensors could significantly improve the muscle signals detected and decoded by the Coapt control system Coapt is focused on the control of upper limb powered prosthetic devices. This means that they don't make anything that you necessarily see; they make the control system that operates behind the scenes. The system is a finely-tuned neurological decoder that takes signals from the human body and converts them to control commands in real time for robotic hands, wrists, and elbows. Lock explains the physiology of muscle contraction and movement, describing processes that emit a "concert of noise and information" at a low electrical level that is detected by the Coapt system and then used to teach algorithms to learn the personalized "music" of each wearer. In fact, it is the user that teaches the device what is intuitive to them, making the prosthesis even more functional and tuned to the individual. Interested in learning more? Press play and check out https://www.coaptengineering.com/announcement.html.