Finding Genius Podcast

In this podcast, Niles Eldredge, evolutionary biologist and renowned paleontologist, discusses parallel causation in oncogenic and anthropogenic degradation and extinction, his thoughts on biological theory, and other topics. Dr. Eldredge holds a PhD from Columbia University. He is the Curator Emeritus, Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History. Podcast Points: How does overpopulation impact the environment? Does evolution occur gradually? What can we do about environmental damage and species extermination? Dr. Eldredge discusses his long background, and his noted career in the fields of biology and paleontology. Dr. Eldredge has contributed significant work in the study of mid-Paleozoic phacopid trilobites, and along with Stephen Jay Gould of Harvard, formulated an interesting theory that challenged Darwin's very premise that evolution occurs gradually. The theory they put on the table was known as Punctuated Equilibria, and it states that evolution occurs in dramatic spurts mixed in with extended periods of stasis. Dr. Eldredge says there isn't much evolution really unless, and until, the 'clock' is turned over, such as what occurs when an extinction event happens. Evolution, in fact, is a rebound from an extinction event. When all is working properly, he states, things tend to stay the same. Dr. Eldredge provides information on climate change and the recipe for stability. He discusses some of the grave environmental dangers, discussing disruption and degradation, and the terrible damage being done to various species globally. He discusses how we have changed the environment considerably, and how more people globally will ultimately lead to more damage. Dr. Eldredge talks about urban environments and how they relate to the natural world, and the real possibility that we are on a track toward extinction.

This is a follow-up interview with Natura-brand founder and Mederi Foundation leader Donnie Yance. He offers a closer glimpse into the spiritual side of his journey. When you listen, you will her Donnie explain how liturgy, attitudes, and theology differ in the East and West, from an approach that is more comfortable with mystery in the East to a more brain-centered process in the West; the extensive variety of the prayer process and what different approaches can mean, from one style that's particularly healthy for the vagus nerve to what theologians mean when they say being quite enough to hear "God's whisper; and how the Mederi Foundation is able to bring the spirit and body together to treat the whole person. Donnie Yance is the founder, president, lead clinician, and chairman of the Mederi Foundation. The foundation works with cancer patients in conjunction with oncologists, but also teaches quality of life healthcare and provides tips to live longer. Earlier in life, Donnie spent time at a Franciscan monastery and other spiritual centers. This time informs his current healing practice. Still a Franciscan monk of the third order, he has extensive knowledge of numerous religious practices and explains some of the more meaningful elements. He recounts details like Eastern orthodox street greetings during the Easter season to how the Beatitudes differs from the Ten Commandments. Finally, he describes his approach at the Mederi Foundation, how he delivers a handout to clients that explains his spiritual approach and what it means to heal the whole person. For more, such as tips to live longer, see his website and a blog at https://www.donnieyance.com/ and the Mederi Foundation site at https://medericenter.org/

Allergic airway disease treatment may get better results from the use of antifungals. Dr. Li explains how this treatment seeks to eradicate fungi that may be accountable for some allergic symptoms. He describes how fungi in airways can cause allergic inflammation and increase reactions to pollen, the pervasive nature of these fungi and what methods the clinic uses to diagnose the conditions, and issues antifungal treatments in themselves can cause but how at a certain point such risks are worth the relief for some patients. Dr. Evan Li, faculty member at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas specializing in allergy and immunology diseases, treats patients in their clinic who have severe asthma symptoms. He discusses the nature of these fungi—how easy it is to take them in yet only certain patients have these stronger reactions. For example, people are exposed to these fungi just by walking outside yet all don't have extreme reactions and infections. For some, however, these fungi can produce infections that reveal themselves as allergy and immunology diseases. While antihistamines are the standard issue for allergic airway disease treatment, they don't address the root cause of the fungal infection. Dr. Li explains further that they only use this type of treatment for more severe cases, or what's termed severe persistent asthma. Because these patients come to the clinic with symptoms that are barely relived by standard treatment, the risks associated with antifungal treatment are outdone by the benefits. For more such as a listing of papers he's authored, search for his name in pubmed and see his page at the Baylor College of Medicine: https://www.bcm.edu/people/view/evan-li-m-d-b-s/b177c08a-ffed-11e2-be68-080027880ca6 Email him with questions as well at eli@bcm@edu. Finally, his lab accepts sputum samples in a clean cup or zip lock bag, frozen and delivered to: The Baylor College of Medicine Clinic8th Foor, Suite 8A7200 Cambridge St.Houston, TX 77030

Dr. Leibel and colleagues investigated what California's wildfire's meant in terms of health effects. He explains more by discussing why we need to put more energy into preventative efforts, what can be down about small particulate matter once it has entered the lungs, and additional allergy concerns such as theories on prevention. Board-certified pediatric allergist and immunologist at Rady's Children's Hospital in San Diego and Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at UC San Diego School of Medicine, Dr. Sydney Leibel is an allergy and immunology specialist. His work brings his interest in pediatrics and immunology together. In this conversation, he recounts a group study on health effects and wildfires in southern California. Researchers gathered population-level information on hospital visits and combined it with the timing of the fires. In most cases with fire in a close area, no matter how small the fire, they noted an increase in hospital visits, particularly in patients 0 to 12 years old. Dr. Leibel talks about the challenge of removing the small particulate matter from the lungs that comes from smoke. He notes that the best way to protect these kids is with prevention. This means keeping allergy suffers inside when conditions are bad, but also we need to do better work on mitigating effects of wildfires before they even start. He also describes different reasons for why allergies seem to be a larger issue today and offers theories for how to change this. He comments that we now have better asthma medicines available, but need to reach more patients: he and other allergy and immunology specialists are working to reach under-served populations. To learn more and find links to his research, see his web page profile at Rady's Children's Hospital, San Diego: https://www.rchsd.org/doctors/sydney-leibel-md-mph/ Find him on twitter as well: @saleibel.

Hein Min Tun, PhD, is a public health veterinarian and researcher who is currently leading research efforts at the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health. He discusses the details of his work, including the following: What methods are used by bacteria in order to resist antibiotics How changes in gut microbial communities are correlated with the presence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the gut What factors might influence microbiome development trajectories during the first three years of life How the gut microbiome may be affected by the health of the mother and the way in which the child is birthed (i.e. vaginally v. C-section) After obtaining his PhD at the University of Hong Kong, Dr. Hein Min Tun conducted post-doctoral research on the microbiome and resistome in food animals, humans, and the environment at the Gut Microbiome Laboratory of the University of Manitoba. Following that, he joined the team at SyMBIOTA, where he studied gut microbiota during infancy. His latest work has two main focuses: understanding how the gut microbiome is related to the colonization of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and what early microbiome development might reveal about the characterization of "healthy" microbiomes. He is the head of a team of researchers at the University of Hong Kong School of Public Health who aim to investigate these topics. With the use of several statistical and machine learning approaches, Dr. Tun is analyzing population data on different cohorts of infants in order to tease out what factors are at play in the development of early microbiome trajectories and disease outcomes. For example, how does the health of the mother affect the health of the baby? How does the gut microbiome differ between a baby born vaginally and by cesarean section? Does exposure to chemicals or toxins in the environment influence the development of the microbiome? These are just a few of the questions Dr. Tun and his team are exploring. On today's podcast, he shares what they've discovered thus far, which areas need the most attention, and what's on the horizon for the field of microbiome research in general. Learn more and view Dr. Tun's publications at https://sph.hku.hk/en/about-us/faculty-and-staff/academic-related-staff/tun,-hein-min.

Dr. Aiden works on analyzing the bending of our human genome, a 3-D complex arrangement that, in part, regulates our cells. This conversation explores how each chromatid forms unique loops and bends while patterns emerge across similar cell types, the mechanism that forms these loops—a protein complex that works almost like a lariat knot of a lasso, and why a better understanding of this molecular genetics architecture is important for medical treatments. Dr. Erez Lieberman Aiden is an assistant professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine. Over the course of the podcast, he describes how this architectural feat of our cells' genome is formed and the accompanying implications of the nature of this formation. As he explains the complexity of molecular genetics, he begins with a description of how this two-meter-long DNA strand fits inside each of our nuclei. Further, because the sequencing of the human genome is such a recent scientific accomplishment, our understanding of these bending twists and loops is growing almost daily. He explains that this intricate packing of the human genome is not just a storage mechanism. Rather, as is the case with proteins, shape is essential to function—these physical loops form and bring enhancer elements in relation to a significant gene, for example. He adds that typically loops bring promoters of genes in contact with other elements in the genome to exchange information. All this gives rise to genetic regulation, which includes turning genes on and off. Dr. Aiden also explains the practicalities of how these molecular genetics studies are accomplished, such as what microscopy enables them to see. Finally, he discusses some of the implications of this research: scientists ask why we have the same genome in the brain and the heart yet the cells do different jobs. It's clear the gene changes how it folds in different organ systems and that fold changes how each cell functions. For more, see his lab page at https://www.aidenlab.org/ , which includes links to all the data from their research, and a recent article he published in Scientific American that explores aspects of these themes: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-genome-3-d/.

Dr. Lawrence Kirschner has over 20 years' worth of experience as a physician-scientist and clinical endocrinologist, which has allowed him to see directly how research impacts patients on an individual level. On today's podcast, he shares the details of his work. Tune in to learn the following: What types of adrenal tumors and diseases exist and how they manifest in patients Why an understanding of the genetics of endocrine tumors is important in order to understand how cancers develop and/or how tumors produce excess hormones Why it's been difficult to conduct clinical trials involving adrenal cancers, and what's been happening on a national scale in recent years to address this Dr. Kirschner's sub-specialty is on diseases of the pituitary gland, with particular emphasis on the adrenal glands. Only about one in one million people will eventually develop malignant adrenal tumors, but it's an aggressive and difficult-to-treat type of cancer. In part, the absence of a good treatment approach for adrenal cancer is due to the fact that it's so rare, because this makes it difficult to conduct clinical trials. In recent years, however, a national collaborative effort to address this has been set in motion, which Dr. Kirschner sees as very promising for those who currently suffer from adrenal cancer or those who will in the future. He discusses the details of his research, which aims to develop a better understanding of the genetics of endocrine tumors in order to determine how these genes function, and what particularly allows them to cause cell proliferation and/or the excess production of hormones. He talks about the many types of tumors and disease that can affect the adrenals, and the ways in which they can wreak havoc on the body. He dives into the science behind what his research has already discovered and where it's headed in the near future. Tune in for all the details. For general information about ongoing clinical trials, visit clinicaltrials.gov.

Assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at UC Berkeley, Markita Landry, joins the podcast to discuss her latest research on nanoparticles and single molecule fluorescence methods. She explains the following: How nanoparticles can be used as DNA, RNA, or protein-delivery vessels in a way that confers important advantages to crops What is fluorescence, why it's useful, and why some materials are naturally fluorescent What dopamine imaging studies using nanoscale probes have revealed about the way individual neurons respond to a certain psychoactive drug In Dr. Landry's lab, she and her team are researching the uses and advantages of being able to control molecules that are on the scale of the building blocks of life—single nanoparticles the size of a single molecule of water. She discusses the two primary focuses of her research, the first of which uses nanoparticles to deliver DNA, RNA, and protein into plants to improve their ability to resist pathogens and drought conditions. She explains that the technology they've created is different than conventional approaches which genetically modify plants, and as a result, the plants they alter will not be subject to lengthy and strict regulatory processes. In turn, this means that they will be easier to bring to market. The second focus of her lab involves chemically altering nanoparticles in a way that will make them responsive to dopamine, an important signaling molecule in the brain that is a target for antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs. Dr. Landry and her team have created probes that fluorescently image dopamine in healthy and diseased brains, and this has led to surprising findings about the way in which individual neurons respond to certain substances. Tune in for the full conversation and visit http://landrylab.com/ to learn more.

For close to 30 years, Dr. Frank Ryan has investigated theoretical evolutionary biology. In this conversation he discusses the genomic creativity of virus-host coevolution. Listeners will hear Dr. Ryan recount findings that prompted our current concepof symbiont viruses, including hantavirus –rodent research, how AIDs and the coronavirus evolve alongside human survival rates and what that implies about immunity, and how animals have adapted some of the abilities of viruses down to how the placental membrane protects itself from the maternal immune system. Author Dr. Frank Ryan is Honorary Senior Lecturer of the Department of Medical Education at the University of Sheffield, UK, and an emeritus consulting physician with the affiliated Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. He's also a Fellow of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of England and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and the Linnaean Society of London. He recounts incidences of genomic creativity from his research into symbiont viruses and host coevolution. Early in his academic career, he studied bacteria phages in rabbits, and thus began a lifelong interest. He discusses relevant findings such as the mechanics of the coronavirus and its use of the host's ribosomes to replicate itself. As he discusses the behavior of symbiont viruses, he explains how a virus like AIDS uses a selective pressure on its hosts through survival rates. He explains that if there were no medical involvement, Aids would have changed the human genome to benefit itself. Finally, he talks about such controversial issues as the consideration of viruses as living vs. nonliving and explains what the ocean would like without viruses to keep the bacterial population in check. For more information, see some of Dr. Ryan's books including Virolution and his most recent book, Virusphere.

Dr. Martin K. Nielsen works as an equine veterinarian researching parasites. He talks about his mission to control parasites in horses through helminths treatment. In this podcast, he explains anthelmintic resistance in horses and what it means regarding a horse's health; why a parasite's life cycle still holds a great deal of mystery for scientists, but what they might think is significant; and why pharmaceutical companies haven't released new anthelmintic products for years and why they need to. Dr. Martin K. Nielsen is an associate professor with the Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. The center takes on key issues regarding horse biology, but he specializes on helminths treatment, which means he also researches anthelmintic resistance in horses. Dr. Nielsen affirms the ubiquitous nature of parasites in animals and also emphasizes that there's no such thing as eradication. Rather, he says, it's important to seek means of control and balance. When a healthy equilibrium is lost, the host animal suffers. Because today's veterinarian faces the challenge of anthelmintic resistance in horses, researchers are working on finding new means of controlling the parasite population. This podcast also offers Dr. Nielsen an opportunity to discuss some of the mysteries of parasites, such as their ability to release compounds that deescalate their host's inflammatory immune response. Parasites also exhibit a dormant state over their lifecycle and researchers are trying to understand if this is triggered by the parasite or the host, and in either case, what benefit it may offer the organism. He also describes some new detection technology his lab has created to identify parasite counts through a special app. Dr. Nielsen is active in social media and encourages listeners to find him on Twitter (@MartinKNielsen) and at his YouTube channel (Martin K. Nielsen Equine Parasitology), where he takes on parasite myths among other topics. His lab page at the university also has more information: http://vetsci.ca.uky.edu/person/martin-nielsen-dvm-phd-dipl-acvm-dipl-evpc