Finding Genius Podcast

Assistant research professor at the Catholic University of America and New York Times bestselling author Jay W. Richards joins the podcast to discuss the intersection between intermittent fasting, wellness, and spirituality. He shares his experience with intermittent fasting and how it has improved various aspects of his life. In this podcast, you will learn: How intermittent fasting can improve your physical, mental, and spiritual wellness The physiology behind your body's utilization of different fuel sources in the fed and fasted state How to create your own intermittent fasting schedule, and what foods you should eat during your fast-breaking Jay W. Richards adds to his bestselling books collection, which includes The Privileged Plan, The Hobbit Party, and Money, Greed and God, with his upcoming release, Eat, Fast, Feast. You can pre-order the book now on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Inheritance is a fundamental feature of life, allowing organisms to pass traits onto their offspring. It's well known that DNA is the carrier for this hereditary information, but for a long time it was believed to be the only carrier. Over the past several decades, new and evolving research on epigenetics—the method by which the environment has the ability to change genetic expression—has emerged, and most recently, this research has focused on epigenetic inheritance in humans. Dr. Qi Chen, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences at the University of California, Riverside is studying sperm RNA and how its function may be related to environmental exposure and epigenetics in humans. Dr. Chen shares a number of fascinating insights from his lab and recent experiments, while pulling from decades' worth of knowledge on the topics at issue. On today's episode, you will learn: What happens when the RNA of a mouse exposed to a high-fat diet is extracted and implanted into a healthy zygote How the discovery of a subset of tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNA) in the mature sperm of mice might have important implications for epigenetic inheritance in humans How sperm RNA changes in response to environmental stimuli Tune in for all the details and check out http://qichen-lab.info/people.html to learn more.

Matty Lansdown, noted health authority, scientist and nutrition consultant, discusses his passion for helping people improve their health through good nutrition. Lansdown is passionate about food and nutrition. After getting his start on Facebook Live where Lansdown delivered powerful rants about food, medicine, and nutrition, his popularity grew and he soon moved into seminars, conferences, and retreats, bringing his message to thousands at a time. Lansdown's podcast, "How To NOT Get Sick And Die" continues to be a popular one, and he regularly provides insightful information there. Lansdown discusses his background and how he got into podcasting. As he explains, it was his desire to connect with audiences that brought him to podcasting, and his passion for health and nutrition helped him focus his energies into health podcasting. He's into the concept of helping people enhance their biology, in order to live longer and be healthier. As a professional who works out of a cancer research hospital, he developed his own thoughts and epiphanies about disease and medical issues. As he explains, much of the work in health research is expensive and being done by high-dollar groups that have a stake in big profits, but hawking the preventive measures such as nutrition, eating cabbage, etc. he muses, is not exactly profitable, therefore there isn't a big corporate interest in promoting the most basic path to better health—which is nutrition. Lansdown talks about the so-called 'alternative' medicines and practices that are unfortunately often overlooked, but have been useful for thousands of years in many cultures, much longer than western medicine. Lansdown discusses some of the problems people experience, and the importance of nutrition, especially when a body is already under stress from an ongoing medical condition. Lansdown's mission: to bring people control of their own health, to empower them to take the needed action to make improvements. To this goal, Lansdown empowers individuals to live their absolute best lives by delivering impactful scientific training.

Chris Ellis, CEO and co-founder of AudioCardio, talks about his company's mission to improve and then maintain hearing with a new hearing test app designed for hearing loss treatment. AudioCardio's patented product, a mobile app, is a clinically proven Threshold Sound Conditioning™ technology that generates unique, personalized audio therapy designed to stimulate and strengthen cells. How does it work? AudioCardio™ can analyze an individual's hearing and deliver valuable hearing therapy for their ears. The goal: to protect, maintain, and strengthen hearing ability. Ellis discusses the different types of hearing loss, with special consideration given to sensory and neural hearing loss problems, which are the specific types of hearing loss that his company targets. These types of hearing loss problems can be due to age, medications, loud noise environments, disease, etc. Ellis discusses the ways that their technology can improve hearing. In the most basic terms, our hearing works by processing sound waves that travel through the air, and frequencies are sent as unique nerve signals, directly to the brain, which the brain then recognizes as sounds. Ellis' company's tech—the Threshold Sound Conditioning—can detect the important frequencies that have somehow lost much of their sensitivity and then exercise them with tailored sound signals, personalized for the individual. Ellis talks about the many case studies of individuals with hearing loss who have seen improvement through the use of this innovative technology. And the hearing entrepreneur discusses dementia treatment, hearing loss treatment, and the types of people who have sought out the AudioCardio solutions. As Ellis explains, hearing loss is gradual, and that we continually recreate a 'new normal' which unfortunately can slide us deeper into reduced hearing.

Millions of Americans experience symptoms of acid reflux or "heartburn" on a daily basis—that burning sensation in the chest that can be accompanied by a number of other unpleasant and sometimes seemingly unrelated symptoms. It's a problem many people might brush off by popping a Tums, but there's a darker side to acid reflux, which is that it can be a precursor to esophageal adenocarcinoma, a type of cancer that develops in the context of Barrett's esophagus, a condition in which the epithelial cells in the esophagus are displaced by tissue that more resembles intestinal tissue. As a researcher with a background in cancer biology, Kelly Whelan, PhD, from Temple University is interested in further understanding the biology of the esophagus, how certain pathways help it to remain normal under homeostatic conditions, and what goes awry in states of disease, such as cancer and eosinophilic esophagitis, an allergic reaction to food. She's also interested in investigating the male and racial bias found in all esophageal diseases, how the type and quantity of a person's mitochondria could be related to their esophageal disease state, whether or not there are non-invasive ways to determine a patient's disease state, how to improve therapies for esophageal diseases, how the oral microbiome or even the lower GI tract microbiome could be influencing disease progression, and so much more. Tune in for all the details.

How do seals, orcas, otters, and other animals manage to survive in such cold waters? Simply put, they do so by virtue of one of the following: blubber (which is essentially just a thick layer of insulating fat), thick coats of fur which trap tiny gas bubbles that in turn insulate the body, and higher rates of internal heat generation. Drawing inspiration from these approaches, Professor Jacopo Buongiorno from the department of engineering at MIT has helped develop a wetsuit that allows people—such as Navy Seals—to remain in very cold waters for longer periods of time than conventional wetsuits made from neoprene clothing. On today's episode, Professor Buongiorno explains how traditional wetsuits work and why the one they've created outperforms them, the science and technology behind thermal conductivity, the feedback they've already received on this new product, and what's on the horizon. Tune in for all the details

With the ever-increasing prevalence of mobile devices these days, they're finding their way into the hands of kids, where they seem to be staying for a growing number of hours each day. There's no doubt that these connected lives we're living provide us with some benefits, such as the ability to have maps, educational info, and health-related content at our fingertips, but this level of access can also be a significant source of distraction that negatively impacts the way we interact with others and the environment around us. And of course, the accessibility provided by cell phones also means potential exposure to content we don't want to see, and particularly don't want our kids seeing. The team at OurPact has developed a solution to deal with the drawbacks of connected mobile devices: a digital parental control app that gives people the ability to limit app use, filter what is seen on the web, monitor the location of the device, and take automated screenshots to search for keywords that fall into certain categories, such as violent, drug-related, or sexual content. But OurPact isn't just being used to monitor kids; it's being used by professionals and students who recognize their own need to put away their phones and focus on their daily goals. On today's episode, Director of Communications at OurPact, Paige Mayer, explains all the ins and outs of what just might be the best screen time app for Android, as well as what's to come in the near future. Tune in.

It used to be a thing of science fiction…growing human organs in test tubes and observing their behavior as we manipulate their environment. For David Pamies, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, this is daily life, although it may not always be ordinary. On today's episode, he discusses how he's using a brain organoid—an organ grown from human-induced pluripotent stem cells—to learn more about the toxins we come into contact with on a daily basis. He explains why and how this model is superior to far more commonly-used mouse models, and how it's also fueling research on drug treatment for an aggressive type of brain cancer known as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). Such research includes testing the effectiveness of temozolomide, a commonly used chemotherapy drug. Dr. Pamies dives into the science behind it all and provides a compelling glimpse into the exciting and growing world of organoid-based research. Press play for all the details.

Kevin Hrusovsky, President, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Quanterix (quanterix.com), discusses the innovative work his company is engaged in, and the future of biotech. Hrusovsky is a seasoned biotech entrepreneur and engineer who has been passionately pursuing the transformation of medicine from reactive care to preventative medicine over his extensive 30-year career. For Hrusovsky, healthy living and peer-reviewed science that addresses health and disease issues on a molecular structure level in the body is what motivates his work. Hrusovsky launched the Global Health Summit Series to specifically promote innovation in disease eradication processes and practices, in his ongoing mission to promote global health. Hrusovsky talks about his company and their mission, a company he states is "at the crossroads of technology and healthcare." He discusses their technology, and how they have developed a means to look into the blood and see proteins in a way that was never before possible, to differentiate a single protein in a field of grass, with that field of grass being the size of Alaska. That's some deep detail, indeed. It's "rocket science on the blood" as he describes. He explains the important biochemistries that their technology allows researchers to discover and study, to develop new insights on health and disease. Hrusovsky explains how they can utilize AI and algorithms to help researchers see proteins, which allows scientists to see things in the blood that were once impossible, which can lead to prediction of disease years before it occurs, etc. By seeing disease at the earliest stages possible, pharmaceutical research can bring these people in and work towards solutions. As he states, it's much easier to beat a disease early on, than later after it has taken a firm hold in the body. Hrusovsky talks about empowering individuals to manage their own destinies by observing their own biomarkers and staying aware. Quanterix's digital health product, Simoa® provides researchers a unique opportunity to examine critical biomarkers for cardiology, oncology, neurology, infectious diseases, and more. Hrusovsky has been a featured guest on a multitude of media, from ABC's Good Morning America, and all the other major networks, such as NBC, CNN, CNBC, CBS, and NPR, as well as in top publications and online sites: Scientific American, USA Today, Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Wired, Fast Company HuffPost, The Guardian, Boston Globe, and many more.

Dr. Tony Guerra, Instructor and Pre-Pharmacy Advisor, Ankeny Campus, Des Moines Area Community College, delivers an interesting overview of his work in pharmacy education and the writing and production of audio books. Dr. Guerra is passionate about educating young minds and he teaches multiple courses in chemistry, pharmacy and pharmacology. And Dr. Guerra earned an AS degree from DMACC himself, back in 2010. Dr. Guerra talks about his background and his interest in creating audio books for educational purposes. To date, he has close to 20 audio books out, on various topics within his areas of expertise. His books cover a range of issues, from pharmacology to pharmacotherapy, to pharmacy careers and pharmacy schools/education. Dr. Guerra writes and co-writes his books and he continues to reach many people through books and educational outreach. The Pre-Pharmacy Advisor talks extensively about the business of creating, producing, and delivering audio books for the public. He discusses his views on audio book presentation, and the value of reading your own books/recording your own books, if you are in consulting. First time authors, for sure, should definitely record their own books, he states. Dr. Guerra explains the differences between print books, e-books, and audio books, and how each should be different in terms of audience and structure, etc. Wrapping up, he talks about the audiences for his books, and for medical-oriented books in general. He explains that audio books can help solve problems or allay fears, and often the best-selling books deal with these issues/worries—books that help people overcome.