Finding Genius Podcast

Some people are lucky enough to have low-stress jobs and few workplace conflicts between them and co-workers. For the rest of us, it's extremely common to experience stress and fatigue as a result of your duties and professional relationships at work. Tensions in the workplace can hamper productivity and can cause physical and emotional tension that we often inadvertently take home with us at the end of the day. Although wellness incentives (such as gym memberships and massages) can help sooth our physical ailments, this doesn't always help our psyche. One company, Silicon Valley Wellness, is aiming to change this by offering meditation services to workers. Silicon Valley Wellness was co-founded by Masha Kouzmenko, who joins us to discuss the benefits of meditation and mindfulness; she focuses on how her company helps people let go of negative associations from their past and move forward with their lives. These sessions can be scheduled at the company's convenience, and Silicon Valley Wellness is able to travel to workplaces so that employees can return to work feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. If you are interested in having a consultation with Silicon Valley Wellness, visit siliconvalleywellness.com and one of their team members will reach out to you to schedule a call.

Ray Dogum joins us today to discuss his podcast, Health Unchained, and his interest in blockchain technology and its applications to healthcare information management. After seeing his family and friends navigate frustrating obstacles in the healthcare system, Ray began dedicating his career to improving the patient healthcare experience. Specifically, Ray is interested in changing how patient information is handled and stored and believes blockchain technology may solve some of the inefficiencies that are frustrating to both healthcare providers as well as patients. In this episode, Ray and Richard discuss the applications of blockchain technology to managing patient healthcare data, what that would look like to everyday patients, and how long we might expect healthcare companies to start adopting this technology. Ray also discusses his current and previous podcast shows, and how hosting podcasts has helped him gain insight into the players and possibilities of the healthcare industry. For more information, visit healthunchained.org or visit his profile on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/raydogum.

Jeffrey Hayzlett, Chairman & CEO of C-Suite Network, primetime TV & podcast host, delivers a thoughtful overview of his life and work in the business arena. Hayzlett is a man with many areas of expertise. He is the primetime television host of C-Suite with Jeffrey Hayzlett and Executive Perspectives on the popular, C-Suite TV. Hayzlett is also a noted business podcast host of the celebrated, "All Business with Jeffrey Hayzlett" on C-Suite Radio. Hayzlett is known the world over as a business celebrity, speaker, noted author, and of course as the Chairman of C-Suite Network. Hayzlett discusses all the many things, ventures, and people that comprise the C-Suite Network. As Hayzlett states, time is important, and executives don't want to waste time when they are looking to grow their businesses and network. Hayzlett's powerful C-Suite Network is the most trusted, comprehensive network of C-Suite leaders in the world. Hayzlett goes into detail about the value of the C-Suite Network. He explains how they put their priorities in order for real results, as they focus on incredible growth, development and networking opportunities, and partnerships for eager, successful business executives who want to expand and take their businesses to the top. Hayzlett discusses his extensive background in business, and how as a business executive in charge of a $17-billion-dollar marketing budget for a $187-billion-dollar company, he needed to make sure that every minute counted; there was no time to waste time. As he explains, with C-Suite, they get to know the habits, the needs, the network interests, etc. of busy executives, and they put this information to work; it's a community that provides a platform for education and services. Management of time is critical at the executive level, and C-Suite is a trusted guide to provide executives with the network and trusted services that they need to maximize their efficiency and get more out of life. Hayzlett is an inductee into the NSA's Speaker Hall of Fame, and a sought-after business expert whose work and innovative ideas are regularly featured in Forbes, Mashable, Marketing Week and many others. Additionally, he can often be seen on Bloomberg, MSNBC, Fox Business, and others, providing insight into various topics of the business world.

Animals have long been sources of inspiration for robotics and engineering. Their unique features, behaviors, and ways of moving are frequently mimicked and replicated; one lab at CMU is incorporating a fundamental animal feature into their nontraditional robot design: muscle and neurologic tissue. Victoria Webster-Wood, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and leader of the Biohybrid and Organic Robotics Group (B.O.R.G), joins us to discuss her research in developing biohybrid and organic robots. In this episode, you will hear about Webster-Wood's current research and how her team is integrating muscular and neurologic tissue into these robots of the future. If successful, this research could produce completely organic and programmable robots that would be able to exist in the natural world unlike any other robot today; with applications in environmental disaster response and prevention, search and rescue, and biomedical research, the future is very exciting for this technology. For more information, please visit www.engineering.cmu.edu/borg.

More health problems of physical origin are a result of damaged oils than any other component of nutrition. Oils elevate meals and make food tastier, but oils are also incredibly sensitive to temperature and oxidation. In this episode, Udo Erasmus explains how exactly oil molecules are damaged during the extraction process and which types of oils are the most prone to damage. As a general rule of thumb, the better the oil is for your health when cool, the more damage it sustains when heated or fried. This damage can be passed onto your body, once ingested. Two important oils that are particularly susceptible to damage are Omega 3 and Omega 6, which are essential fatty acids (cannot be synthesized by the body and must be taken in via diet). This doesn't mean that you should stop eating oils entirely – in fact, Erasmus argues that there are many benefits to having the right oils incorporated into your diet. Tune in to find out which oils you should include, how much, and why. For more information on Udo Erasmus' work, visit http://udoerasmus.com/.

Mario Natarelli, Managing Partner at MBLM, delivers an insightful overview of branding, discussing how businesses can evolve and grow. Natarelli is a seasoned professional in the business world and he has advised numerous executives of Fortune 500 companies who seek to grow their businesses and leverage their brands. Utilizing his past training as an architect, Natarelli employs the essential fundamentals of art and design to enhance brands, building out from a brand's strategic core. Natarelli has launched his own successful businesses and he is tuned in to the role that digital plays in achieving great success. Natarelli sums up his thoughts on brands and branding, discussing the bonds we build with products and services that are nurtured over time, and sometimes severed if things go awry. Natarelli delivers his insights on what entails a solid brand. He cautions us to be aware that a brand is not a logo, but a brand is an essence (the foundation of a brand that doesn't change), story (how does the brand communicate, what is its voice, style, tone, etc.) and experience (how does a brand come to life, what are its touchpoints—digital or real-world). Great brands have all of these factors. Natarelli discusses how Disney is an example of a very successful brand, in all of its functioning. The marketing and branding expert discusses Amazon and the many independent brands that are under its wing. He relates how very large corporations with multiple areas of business are challenged to push their narrative in a cohesive way. Natarelli discusses major brands that have fallen, such as Sears, and others. He discusses how Sears missed the opportunity to move into the digital environment. Natarelli talks about how nothing lasts forever, and even longstanding family businesses moving into their 3rd or further generations sometimes have trouble maintaining the core vision and spirit that accelerated them in earlier years. Natarelli discusses the ways that his company, MBLM, works with clients, helping them with services, research, and software/tools. For more than 17 years, Natarelli has led multiple teams spanning three continents, working for varying clients in the technology, travel, real estate, sports, and hospitality spaces.

Robots have been helping humans since their invention in the 1950s; while there is an infinite number of purposes they can serve, robot production is constrained mostly by logistical and mechanical details. Sarah Bergbreiter, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Melon University, joins us today to discuss her work in the field of robotics. She works to create small, mobile robots – some as small as ants – as well as improving sensors and actuators that improve the capabilities of larger robots. She calls this area of research the "intersection of microsystems and robotics." Bergbreiter discusses the possible applications of this research, from medical devices to assist with natural disaster recovery. Bergbreiter also discusses some of the challenges involved in working on small-scale robots – specifically, how different materials must interface in order to create a working robot that may only be only a few millimeters long. For more information, visit https://www.meche.engineering.cmu.edu/directory/bios/bergbreiter-sarah.html.

In his lab in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, Dr. Matt Webber is just one member of a team of engineers, chemists, and biologist who are working on supramolecular chemistry, which involves non-covalent interactions between ensembles of molecules to produce strong, interesting, and useful structures that behave in defined and predictable ways, lending themselves to a variety of potential applications in medicine and the development of therapeutic drugs. Dr. Webber explains the fundamental interest that drives his team, which is to use non-covalent interactions to build synthetic systems that resemble nature, such as the perfect symmetry of viruses and their perfectly defined components, or the ability of immune systems to recognize and respond to threats in their environment. He also explains how the use of non-covalent bonds and host recognition has allowed for the development of shear-thinning and self-healing hydrogels for use as injectable therapeutics, and discusses his recent work on creating a glucose-activatable glucagon, which he says has the potential to act as an "insurance policy" for people with diabetes to protect against dangerous dips in blood glucose levels. Tune in to learn more about this exciting area of research, and visit http://www.webberlab.com/ to learn more about the work being done in Dr. Webber's lab.

Hasan Erbil Abaci, Assistant Professor at Columbia University Medical Center, delivers an extensive overview of tissue engineering, specifically in regard to hair follicles. Abaci has published his work in many areas of scientific research including the following: Tissue engineering of human hair follicles using a biomimetic developmental approach, Human Skin Constructs with Spatially Controlled Vasculature Using Primary and iPSC-Derived Endothelial Cells, Human-on-a-chip design strategies and principles for physiologically based pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic modeling, and many more. Abaci discusses skin, a very complex organ composed of many different components that goes much deeper than simply the dermis and epidermis we typically think of. He talks about how hair follicles are connected, and how they are very complex organs themselves. Abaci describes how hair follicles function and how they communicate with other tissues in the skin, such as the blood vessels, for example. He explains how cells within the skin system can signal, and how tissues regenerate. Abaci talks about hair follicles, in regard to their growth cycle, and how this process requires newly formed blood vessels and a custom supply of blood. Abaci explains the geometry. He explains in detail how they work with their samples in the lab, providing information on their use of 3D printed molds with hair follicle extensions embedded. He discusses the hydrogel that forms around the hair follicle-like extensions, and how they work with this process to explore the open channels that now have the geometry of actual hair follicles. Abaci discusses what we know and don't know about the chemical and physical signaling within the body. But if researchers can decipher how some of these processes work it may be possible to recreate signals in vitro, then scientists will have insight into how to grow hair follicles efficiently—in vitro. And as Abaci explains, this—is the crux of true tissue engineering.

Raymond McCauley, scientist, engineer, entrepreneur and Chair of Biology at Singularity University takes us on a fascinating journey as he explains the many ways that biotechnology is changing our world. McCauley is a biotechnology expert who is interested in the ways that biology, genetics, medicine, and agriculture impact our lives. He is the Co-founder and Chief Architect for BioCurious—a not-for-profit in which scientists, bio hobbyists, as well as entrepreneurs can align their interests to launch the latest and greatest technology-based discoveries. McCauley's extensive, groundbreaking work has been featured in Wired, Forbes, Time, and others. McCauley discusses his background and explains why he is so motivated to work on a vast number of different projects at once. From his early work as a computer scientist working on web-enabling databases to his shift to biophysics, McCauley has a wide range of interests. Later adding molecular biology into the mix, McCauley's experiences and knowledge led him to his current diverse career. McCauley discusses some of the work he does for Singularity, helping to advise startups, Fortune 500 companies, and governments, and working with the players who are at the leading edge of biotechnology. McCauley discusses some of the advanced work/projects he is involved with. He provides some details on a genetic engineering manifesto and his desire to work with companies that are doing good work. McCauley talks about recent new genetic engineering work and the ethical questions that some raise, specifically citing a Chinese project that made world headlines. He discusses some of these bigger issues, such as if a company does work in an area of genetic engineering or other area that is for their net gain, what are the repercussions and how could their work perhaps affect all of us, negatively? McCauley talks about world population, and food supplies/diet, delving into the specific diets of various nations globally. Specifically, he discusses the global demand for protein and meat and how that is affecting the planet. He analyzes it as a global problem, discussing the fact that it is probably unrealistic to think we will stop eating meat globally, or that we'll cut down all the rainforests to open up more grazing lands, so there needs to be a different way to meet the food supply-demand. He states it's a trade problem and an ecological problem. McCauley's work is at the center of this and many other diverse, global problems, working to find solutions that benefit humanity and are also ecologically sound.