Finding Genius Podcast

Through his experience as a sleep disorders technologist, Jason Sazama has become an expert in the world of sleep apnea, CPAP machines, and sleep studies. In addition to founding his own sleep diagnosis business and carrying out sleep data analyses for people, he also has a well-established YouTube channel that provides educational resources for people struggling with sleep, searching for a sleep diagnosis, or trying to figure out how to best benefit from their CPAP device. On today's episode, Sazama explains the home sleep study kit offered by his company, highlights the advantages and disadvantages of in-lab versus in-home sleep studies, REM-specific versus positional sleep apnea, central sleep apnea, the two most common problems people encounter with CPAP machines and masks, and much more. Tune in and search for Sazama's YouTube channel to learn more.

Daniel Fels, Ph.D., is a scientist who has devoted his career to the study of cell biology and biological research. He's currently developing his own lab and conducting independent research on cell-to-cell communication. His research has been guided by a desire to determine whether cells communicate with each other using electromagnetic waves. Knowing how integral cell-to-cell signaling is in a number of processes and phenomena including animal behavior, Dr. Fels understands that discovering more about the nature of cell communication could lead to a deeper understanding of many other biological processes. On today's episode, he delivers a detailed overview of the experiments he's employed, the observations he's made, and what these observations suggest. He explains how he went about testing whether groups of cells can influence the cell division rate of neighboring groups of cells, and observations which indicate that cells have the ability to perceive neighboring cell death and respond with what he refers to as "death compensation." Dr. Fels is a wealth of knowledge, offering an informative and intriguing glimpse into life and communication on the cellular level. Tune in to hear the full conversation and find his publications on the web.

Nathaniel Jordan is a keynote health and wellness speaker, nationally certified health coach and nutrition fitness specialist with the American Council on Exercise, and certified master trainer with the National Federation of Professional Trainers. But he wasn't always the picture of health and fitness; growing up, Jordan had a lot of health problems, including severe acne, high blood pressure, and significant weight gain. Similar problems ran in his family, with his father having suffered several strokes and his uncle experiencing several heart attacks and diabetes. Jordan saw where his future was headed, and decided to make a change. He began researching everything he could about nutrition and fitness, embracing the lessons of a variety of nutritional gurus and eventually adopting a plant-rich diet. These days, he spends his time helping to educate others on the human body, food addiction, and the power of plant-based foods, all while sharing inspirational success stories from around the globe. Among many other topics, Jordan discusses his take on the ketogenic diet, fasting diet, and vegetarianism versus veganism. Tune in for a compelling, informative, and inspiring conversation, and learn more about Jordan and his mission by visitingtheministerofwellness.com.

Jake Steiner, the founder of (endmyopia.org), delivers a truly eye-opening analysis on the common problem of myopia, and how it can be reversed. Steiner is extremely passionate about eyesight and is thrilled to share his information with the world. As a boy who grew up with glasses, then reached a -5.00 diopter myopia in his 20s, but today has 20/20 natural eyesight, he is convinced that his method works and takes pride in helping others who suffer from poor eyesight issues. Steiner talks about his background and how he came to eyesight issues organically. Steiner's past includes much more banking and stock trading than medically-related career issues, but his myopia was so severe he was determined to find a solution. Frustrated with his worsening eyesight, he began to dig deep into research of vision biology. As Steiner explains, through his research he found that myopia starts out as something called, 'pseudomyopia,' a focusing muscle spasm of the eye. He was shocked to discover that it's not a medical condition at all. The causality is not a defect. Steiner states that myopia (short-sightedness) can be reversed without the use of prescription glasses because it's a refractive state that can actually be corrected naturally. Surprisingly, the glasses we wear to correct the myopia may be making our eyes worse over time. He explains focal planes, and how minus lens move the focal point further back which compensates for the muscle spasm. He explains how the eye changes shape, detailing axial elongation, which is an elongating of the eyeball. Steiner talks about reversing the stimulus, and how the eyeball isn't getting longer, but it is adjusting. By reversing the stimulus, you can shorten it, and thus decrease the myopia. Therefore, by continuing to wear glasses, but wearing less strong ones, you can help to achieve improved vision—essentially challenging the eye to see. He says you want to get rid of your distance glasses when you're doing close up work. Steiner states that when you see the eye doctor, they typically find a strong prescription that works for you, and then that's that, but there isn't much discussion of alternatives to improve eyesight through other means than just continually prescribing stronger and stronger glasses. Ultimately, as Steiner states, our screen addiction, with the constant use of laptops, desktops, pads, and smartphones, is a significant contributor to eye problems.

Allison Rosen, M.S., Lead Project Coordinator at Baylor College of Medicine, discusses her important work in cancer prevention. Rosen's work at Baylor College of Medicine is multifaceted, and educating the public about cancers is one of their primary areas of focus, especially minority communities and young people. They provide a community outreach that works toward the goal of prevention. As the Lead Project Coordinator, Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center Office of Outreach and Health Disparities at Baylor College of Medicine, Rosen takes an active grassroots approach to community education. Rosen discusses her background in oncology research and her journey toward her current career and passion—cancer prevention. She talks about symptoms, especially symptoms that younger individuals might experience, and what healthcare providers need to look for. She explains in detail, one of her areas of expertise—colorectal cancer. Rosen relates her own personal medical story as a colon cancer survivor. Her personal journey was at times a struggle, with years of varying medical issues, but once she got her diagnosis of cancer, she set out to begin her fight. Now, as a survivor, Rosen is passionate about taking her message of prevention to the streets. Rosen discusses her path to recovery and the important work that is happening in their outreach efforts.

When Aimee Tariq was just a teenager, she began developing serious, debilitating symptoms—symptoms that led her to dial 911 and end up in the hospital with a heart rate of over 200 beats per minute. She couldn't hold down a conversation or even brush her own teeth, and no one could tell her what was wrong. With multiple diagnoses, none of which seemed to address her ailments, and no treatments or medications that were alleviating her symptoms, Tariq found herself at a total loss. But it was at her lowest point that she realized she had two options: get healthy or die trying. From that point forward, she stopped searching for answers within the U.S. medical system and began carrying out her own research on toxic chemical exposure in daily life, food allergies and sensitivities, hormones and vitamins, and the importance of spinal alignment. Eventually, Tariq rediscovered herself—her healthy self, the one who was athletic and could enjoy all aspects of life unimpeded by poor health. In today's episode, she discusses the details of her journey and everything she has learned over the years, touching on a few aspects of her Amazon best-seller A Life with Health. Tune in for an inspiring conversation and to learn what Tariq has going on in the works. Learn more about her by visiting https://www.aimeetariq.com/.

Tommaso Ghidini, Ph.D., Head of the Structures, Mechanisms and Materials Division at the European Space Agency (ESA), delivers a rousing overview of the medical advances that are improving options for astronauts on long-term missions. Ghidini holds a Ph.D. in experimental and numerical Fracture Mechanics from the Institute of Materials Research of the German Aerospace Centre. Ghidini has been involved with many important civil and military aircraft developments through the years, including the A380, the A350, and the A400M developed at AIRBUS Industries. In 2007, Ghidini joined the European Space Agency (ESA) and is the Head of the Materials Technology Section. Ghidini explains his work, detailing the 3D printing of human tissue for long-term missions in space, such as going to Mars. As he explains, on long-term missions you cannot stop and come back, you must continue, so if there is a medical emergency you need to be prepared to handle it in space. Even the healthiest astronauts can have accidents, burns, etc. that must be dealt with when they happen. As accidents on Mars, such as falls, could be more severe than on the moon, advanced surgery capabilities are going to be necessary. Ghidini talks about the various medical options for these missions. He outlines what will be necessary, such as appropriately trained staff on board, and suitable surgery rooms, etc. And while telemedicine would seem like a good option, it is not possible because of the delays in transmission. However, if there was a space station on Mars, there could be telemedicine from the space station, but that is not yet a consideration. Ghidini discusses their extensive testing of the 3D printers, in reduced gravity, etc. Ghidini explains the process and gives details about the 3D printed skin that comes from stem cells. With 3D printed skin there is no need to retrieve skin from another part of the body for a burn, etc., thus, a second wound is not created—better for recovery, and better for efficiency. Ghidini states that 'rejection' is low because the skin comes from stem cells from the astronaut's own body. The ESA expert continues by discussing the many challenges of taking 3D printing into space. He explains that radiation is a factor to consider, as is sterility. Ghidini's work at ESA is on the cutting edge of technology and his contributions to space travel will be seen for many years to come.

Listening to music, white noise, or even podcasts before bed can be relaxing for a lot of people, giving them just what they need in order to fall asleep. But earbuds and headphones are bulky and uncomfortable, impeding the ability to fall asleep comfortably and thereby mitigating the relaxing effects of different sounds. Returning guests Wei-Shin Lai and Jason Wolfe discuss why and how they founded AcousticSheep, a company that provides people with a solution to this problem in the form of a stretch headband that contains thin, high-quality speakers. On today's episode, they share their newest application of this technology: a "genome" that has hundreds of thousands of potential variations on sound and layers of music, with different alleles functioning as different frequencies or tones, and different variations of sound being referred to as "sheep." Lai and Wolf explain how these "sheep"—particularly the ones with high user ratings—can reproduce to create another sheep comprised of the "genetic" material of each parent sheep. It's a revolutionary idea, and the first product of its kind. Interested in checking it out for yourself? Download the app for free and visit acousticsheep.com to learn more.

As the CEO and founder of My Personal Therapeutics and a biotech aficionado, Laura Towart's passion is personalized medicine, which is an area of research she's been working on for well over a decade. For the past seven years, she's been working with the Mount Sinai Medical Center on the Personal Discovery Process (PDP), a technology that uses "fruit fly avatars" in the study of certain malignant tumors and the testing of new, best-fit drug therapies for treating them. Towart explains all the details of this process, which begins by sequencing a patient's tumor biopsy, microinjecting genetic mutations into fruit flies, and then carrying out large-scale high-throughput drug screening to identify new combinations of drugs for patients. Using robotics, they screen 1,500 FDA-approved drugs in combinations of up to three—meaning they screen tens of thousands of drug combinations before making human treatment recommendations. On today's episode, Towart discusses the ins and outs of this new method, including the limitations and challenges it presents, the benefits of using a fly model, and where their work is headed in the near future. Click play and check out mypersonaltherapeutics.com to learn more.

About 50 percent of dogs over the age of 10 and one in three in total will ultimately die of cancer. For most of us, this is a pretty devastating statistic, but founder and CEO of LEAH Labs, Wesley Wierson, joins the podcast today to explain how and why this could change. The key may very well lie in a newly FDA-approved therapy for leukemia and lymphoma in humans known as CAR T-cell therapy. Since dogs are commonly affected by B-cell lymphoma, which is the same as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, why aren't we trying CAR T-cell therapy in dogs? One of the primary reasons is simply a matter of resources, as CAR T-cell therapy costs hundreds of thousands of dollars in humans. According to Wesley Wierson, however, it doesn't have to. At LEAH Labs, they're flipping CAR T-cell therapy development on its head. Rather than using viruses to engineer T-cells, they are using gene editing to reprogram T-cells, and rather than generating autologous CAR T-cell therapies, they're generating allogenic CAR T-cell therapies; together, these techniques significantly reduce the cost of an individual treatment to just about $1,000. This is paving the way for CAR T-cell therapies to be used in dogs with cancer, which not only provides hope for dogs and their owners, but also provides a superior model for understanding how this form of therapy works. As it currently stands, CAR T-cell development is done using immunocompromised mice, which is less than ideal for a number of reasons on which Wierson expounds in this episode. Tune in for all the details, and learn more by visiting https://www.leahlabs.com/.