Finding Genius Podcast

Kevin Boyd, DDS, MS, discusses his innovative medical theory known as Darwinian Dentistry. Dr. Boyd's theory and hypothesis is based on the study of prehistoric fossil remains of human ancestors and could offer much information about the past, and future, of children's health care. Dr. Boyd is a board-certified pediatric dentist with over two decades of experience. Dr. Boyd explains the history of evolutionary medicine, commenting on some of the early pioneers of medicine who looked at modern diseases that seemed to be a function of cultural industrialization. Dr. Boyd discusses pathogens and causes, and focuses on how people adapt over geological time to gradually changing environments, and he discusses how it all impacts the genome. He cites examples of mammals that experience illnesses and survive to live another day, within the context of evolutionary fitness. Continuing, Dr. Boyd discusses tooth decay and why we now need orthodontists, considering the history and the time chronology, meaning when that first entered the human condition. He explains how he adapted the model of evolutionary medicine specifically to evolutionary oral medicine, or Darwinian Dentistry, aligning his theories with his 20 years of expertise as a dentist. Dr. Boyd discusses his work in pediatric dentistry, talking about orthodontics, and the management of anxiety in kids. Early oral evaluation, beginning at or around the ages of 3 or 4 is recommended, he states. Around this age, thumb sucking, pacifiers, or other oral habits can greatly influence the shape of a child's jaw, teeth, and even face. The doctor explains the merits of early orthodontics, widening the jaw and airway, etc., and how there is clear evidence of kids doing better in school, ending their bed wetting, and experiencing many behavioral improvements, after orthodontic procedures. He provides further information on the many problems that can be created and caused by crowding of the airway, and how early orthodontic procedures can facilitate and improve potential problems.

David Ewing Duncan, journalist, researcher, and author of many books, including the celebrated, Talking to Robots: Tales from Our Human-Robot Futures, provides an interesting overview of his work and life. Duncan's written work is focused on new discoveries and their many important implications in the life sciences. He has a particular interest in artificial intelligence and robotics. Duncan has authored ten books, and they have been published in 21 languages to date. Duncan talks about his background in writing and media in general. He gives an overview of his book, Talking to Robots: Tales from Our Human-Robot Futures. He provides details on the topics his book covers, including how robot and AI systems are built, what they say about us as a society and as creators, and what we might expect in the bold new future that is coming. As an author he takes a visionary look into possible futures—24 possible visions of human-robot futures to be exact. Duncan contemplates a future, with highly-detailed, incredible scenarios, considering the concept of Politician Bots, Teddy Bots, Warrior Bots, and even Sex Bots—all based in technology and in respect to how the future will adapt to our creations. Duncan talks about smart technology, discussing where we are now in society in terms of utilizing technology such as Uber and others. He explains the ways that we interact with robots, and the importance of bringing ethics and morality into the development. Duncan expounds upon his view of where we are heading in terms of programming of systems, government regulation, etc. He provides his thoughts on the various kinds of bots that could exist in the near future. Duncan provides information about the subtle issues that relate to robotics, such as companionship. As he explains, many people like to connect with technology as a means of communicating or connecting, but the irony is we often connect with our technology more intimately than we do with real humans. Duncan is a renowned science journalist for print, television, and radio and a regular contributor to Vanity Fair, Wired, The New York Times, Atlantic, and many others. In addition, he has been published in Fortune, Discover, National Geographic, Newsweek, and Outside. And Duncan was a special correspondent and producer for ABC's popular show, Nightline, amongst his many other accomplishments.

Our diet can play a huge role in how well, or not well, our bodies function. While we have an understanding of how our digestive tract processes food, there is a lot of ambiguity around what happens next. Dr. Semir Beyaz and his team at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory aim to understand how what we eat affects us at physiological, cellular, and molecular levels. He joins us today to share some of his findings and future directions of his research. Listen in to hear more. Dr. Beyaz acknowledges that there are a lot of claims around nutrition that are not scientifically backed. He encourages you to seek out primary literature when doing your own research. He recommends the American Cancer Society, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and FDA guidelines if you are interested in learning more about nutrition. If you have questions about his research or would like more information, email him at beyaz@cshl.edu.

Imagine reaching above your shoulders to change hundreds of light bulbs in a row with no rest, day after day. It wouldn't take long for this to take a toll on your body--your neck, arms, shoulders, and back especially. Not many of us think about it, but this is essentially what's required of surgeons as they perform minimally-invasive laparoscopic procedures day in and day out. It was from this realization that Mark Doyle invented AIRFRAME, wearable upper body exoskeleton for surgeons in the operating room. Soon after the prototype was made public, a number of manufacturers began expressing interest in trialing it, including BMW, Toyota, John Deer, and aerospace tech companies. It turns out that the exoskeleton prototype created by Doyle was not only perfectly suited for surgeons, but for industrial workers on assembly lines, painters, construction workers, and those who work within fulfillment centers and for maintenance operations in various industries. Mark Doyle joined forces with Joseph Zawaideh to found Levitate, a company focused exclusively on providing this wearable exoskeleton for industrial workers who are forced into an ergonomic red zone due to the nature of their jobs. On today's episode, Zawaideh discusses the details of the product, describing how it's been proven to move workers from the red to green ergonomic zone, how it functions mechanically, and why it will never impede a worker's productivity. Tune in to hear the full conversation, visit levitatetech.com to learn more, and don't hesitate to email your questions to info@levitatetech.com.

After decades in more traditional settings as a medical doctor and surgeon, Dr. Darshan Shah became tired of the disease-focused healthcare system in which he worked; rather than addressing a person as a whole, as he believes should be done, doctors seem to be encouraged to provide pills and surgery, thereby masking underlying problems. He decided to become part of the solution and started Next Health, a "health optimization and longevity center." Next Health applies the latest science and technology to create effective evaluation and treatments for their members in order to help people take control of their health before pills and surgery are even on the table. Click play to hear more. Next Health currently has two locations in Los Angeles and plans for locations in New York City, San Francisco, and Orange County. Visit the Next Health website at www.Next-Health.com or Instagram at @next_health.

Despite being otherwise enamored by the intrigue of holography, Dr. Daniel Smalley says that unfortunately the scene in Avengers during which Tony Stark puts his gloved hands into holographic projections would not be possible; holography couldn't allow light to travel through his hands and certainly couldn't bend the light to go around it. Such imagery could, however, be created by 3D projections and Dr. Smalley, an electrical and computer engineering professor at Brigham Young University, is happy to tell us how. Listen in to learn more about holography and 3D projection technology, including its potential uses in medicine, aerospace surveillance, and telepresence. Visit his website at www.smalleyholography.org and the Brigham Young University ElectroHolography Research Group at https://holography.byu.edu.

Marian Bacol-Uba, bestselling author, TEDx Speaker, conscious business coach and founder of Thriver Lifestyle, provides valuable insight on the many ways we can maximize our potential and lead more productive happier lives. Marian is passionate about empowering women, helping them reach their full potential to thrive in not only business but in their personal lives as well. She understands the roadblocks that many faces on their journey to fulfillment, because she has faced them herself, and overcome them. The coach and author talk about her background, and how she arrived at her current career and passion—helping others to improve their lives and maximize their potential. She speaks candidly about the abuse she suffered, as well as her past problems with drugs and alcohol. As she explains, she went on to become incredibly successful in business but was still leading a double life, trying to numb her pain with alcohol and drugs, and in 2014 she overdosed and had a near-death, out-of-body experience that changed her. Seeking to change her life, she moved from LA to Miami, to start over and begin a life transformation, looking inward to heal herself. Marian began extensive research into healing and meditation; she attended conferences and read book after book, seeking the answers that would improve her life completely. Through the process, she healed herself from the inside out, and she began to wonder why this information was not readily available for everyone. She came to the conclusion that she needed to take all that she learned and develop a program and coach others to find ways to heal themselves as well. Marian's intensive journey of personal healing, transformation, and development, has helped her to help others. She talks about the importance of disrupting negative patterns, and how we can all change our mindset and bring positive thinking into our daily lives. Marian talks about her clients and how she works with people. While she predominantly works with women, she does have male clients as well. She talks about her typical coaching scenarios and the methods and practices that are involved. Wrapping up, Marian talks about abundance and how we can all be successful. She discusses her big goals for career and life, and how we can get our maximized results when we remove distraction from our lives. And she explains how her one-on-one coaching is what makes her thrive, and is her motivation for pushing forward, as she sees her clients reach their own goals.

In this episode, we are joined by Corrado Spadafora of the Institute of Translational Pharmacology and the Italian National Research Council. Spadafora gives us an inside look at how his laboratory discovered that mature sperm cells of several species can take up DNA molecules from outside themselves and bring that DNA to oocytes during fertilization. Because this can compromise the genetic identity of the resulting embryo, the seminal fluid that surrounds sperm protects it from exogenous DNA upon ejaculation. However, the sperm cells are not protected when still in the epididymous. While Spadafora is more focused on the evolutionary implications of these findings, he does note some possible medical consequences; particularly the suggestion that the father's lifestyle and environmental conditions could be reflected in the makeup of his children, potentially predisposing them to certain metabolic conditions. Press play to hear more. If you are interested in reading about his research, you can find his papers on Medline by searching at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed.

Dr. Thomas O'Bryan, DC, CCN, DACBN, sought-after speaker and recognized expert on autoimmune diseases, offers us his interesting perspective and deep knowledge on health, food sensitivities, toxins in our environment, and the development of autoimmune diseases. His book, The Autoimmune Fix: How to Stop the Hidden Autoimmune Damage That Keeps You Sick, Fat, and Tired Before It Turns Into Disease is a must-read for everyone who wants to find a path to better health. Dr. O'Bryan's mission: 'Making It Easy to Do the Right Thing' is more than an idea, it's a way of life. Dr. O'Bryan is an internationally celebrated, sought-after speaker on multiple issues that affect our health, from environmental toxins, to food sensitivities, to the early development of autoimmune diseases and how to manage them. Dr. O'Bryan talks about his journey, the path that inspired him and led him to his current passion—helping people lead healthier lives. He talks about some early problems he and his wife had with infertility. Through his research he found the key to fertility issues that opened the door to a healthy pregnancy, and he quickly became the go-to guy for couples who were experiencing problems with infertility and just couldn't get pregnant. He explains testing, and some of the mineral deficiencies that relate to fertility issues. As Dr. O'Bryan explains, most traditional health practitioners are simply not trained to go 'upstream' as he calls it, meaning they don't often know how to take a deeper look into issues that could be confounding or extremely complex. As he explains, traditional health practitioners are more like 'crisis practitioners' as they deal with crises, and they do it well, but there are many underlying issues in 'healthcare medicine' that could be overlooked. Dr. O'Bryan talks in detail about environmental toxins, and provides some surprising information about common products that may be putting toxins into our bodies, products that millions of people use daily. He talks about toxins in regard to accumulation, explaining that long term use of a toxic product, or exposure, are possible paths to health problems. The autoimmune disease expert discusses the concept of patience, meaning that we all need to take a more patient path to solving our health problems, applying sensible principles to improve our health overall instead of looking for the quick fix, as we so often do. As he explains, reading is the key, as there is a wealth of information on health, and how we can all go upstream, meaning we can find better solutions, better ways of managing our health, and new ways of eradicating toxins from our bodies and our environment.

Jianyi "Jay" Zhang, MD, PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Alabama at Birmingham, delivers an insightful overview of his extensive education, work, and research in cardiac tissue engineering and heart-related issues in general. Dr. Zhang is an internationally recognized leader in myocardial bioenergetics, biomaterials, and stem cells for use in cardiac repair. Dr. Zhang is a tenured Professor of Medicine and of Engineering. He is the T. Michael and Gillian Goodrich Endowed Chair of Engineering Leadership, as well as the aforementioned Chair of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Zhang talks about his background and research interests, which include, cardiac tissue engineering, NMR imaging, and heart failure. Dr. Zhang explains that myocardial bioenergetics pertains to how energy is produced in the mitochondria, transported, and utilized to generate force to pump blood. Dr. Zhang explains how the processes work, and some of the reasons why hearts fail to pump properly. The research doctor explains the energy metabolism reserve as it relates to dysfunction. He talks energy production in detail as he explains how the mitochondria can utilize glucose, fatty acid, and literally anything available. Dr. Zhang states that researchers are getting closer each day to understanding some of the complex problems of the heart, getting closer to being able to alter pathways—to utilize as a therapy method to prevent heart failure altogether or at least delay its occurrence. Dr. Zhang talks about the structure of the heart and its various components. He explains the use of gene therapy in their work, and discusses the current work and research regarding the use of patches that could possibly cure debilitating heart failure. Dr. Zhang earned his MD from Shanghai Medical University in the early 80s, and went on to earn a PhD in biomedical engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1992. In addition, Dr. Zhang holds a master of science in engineering as well as a certificate of business administration from the prestigious Tufts University in Massachusetts. Dr. Zhang completed his post-doc work at the University of Minnesota in the Cardiovascular Division.