Biophysics of Life: Biophotons, Light, Quantum Biology, Regeneration & Cancer | Nirosha Murugan | 227
Send us a textThe biophysics of life, exploring how light & energy shape biology, with biophysicist Dr. Nirosha Murugan.Episode Summary: Dr. Murugan discusses the role of biophysics in biology, focusing on how light, particularly biophotons emitted by cells, influences processes like wound healing, neural activity, and cancer detection; how microtubules may act as biological fiber optics, the impact of modern light environments on health; her work inducing limb regeneration in frogs using silk hydrogels and growth factors; cancer as an energetic dysfunction; potential of non-invasive photonic diagnostics; the need for new tools to study these phenomena.About the guest: Nirosha Murugan, PhD is a biophysicist and assistant professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. Her lab investigates the biophysics of life.Note: Podcast episodes are fully available to paid subscribers on the M&M Substack and everyone on YouTube. Partial versions are available elsewhere. Transcript and other information on Substack.Key Conversation Points:Cells emit biophotons, ultra-weak light tied to metabolism, which may carry information for processes like immune response and neural communication.Microtubules might function as biological fiber optics, potentially guiding light within cells for signaling purposes.Red and near-infrared light can accelerate wound healing and reduce inflammation, likely by modulating mitochondrial activity.Cancer cells emit distinct photonic signatures, which could enable non-invasive diagnostics by detecting light differences from healthy tissues.Modern light environments, unlike natural sunlight, may subtly affect health by altering biological responses to electromagnetic signals.Biological systems act as metamaterials, patterning energy flow in ways that constrain and shape molecular and behavioral outcomes.Related episode:M&M 221: Regenerative Energy & the Light Inside You | Jack Kruse*Not medical advice.Support the showAll episodes, show notes, transcripts, and more at the M&M Substack Affiliates: KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + potassium, calcium & magnesium, formulated with kidney health in mind. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime) Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for 10% off Readwise: Organize and share what you read. 60 days FREE through link Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase. MASA Chips—delicious tortilla chips made from organic corn and grass-fed beef tallow. No seed oils or artificial ingredients. Use code MIND for 20% off For all the ways you can support my efforts
Send us a textShort Summary: Dr. Alex Kwan unpacks the latest neuroscience research on how psychedelics like ketamine & psilocybin reshape the brain.About the guest: Alex Kwan, PhD, is an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Cornell University. His lab employs advanced imaging to study how psychedelics and other drugs affect the mammalian brain.Note: Podcast episodes are fully available to paid subscribers on the M&M Substack and everyone on YouTube. Partial versions are available elsewhere. Transcript and other information on Substack.Episode Summary: Dr. Alex Kwan discusses how psychedelics like ketamine and psilocybin induce rapid neuroplastic changes in the brain, particularly in the prefrontal cortex, contrasting their effects with traditional antidepressants like SSRIs, and exploring their potential for treating depression and chronic pain through structural and functional brain alterations.Key Takeaways:Ketamine & psilocybin rapidly increase dendritic spine density in the prefrontal cortex, enhancing neural connections within days, unlike SSRIs, which take weeks.These drugs show sustained neuroplastic changes in mice, lasting weeks to months after a single dose, suggesting long-term brain rewiring.Serotonin 2A receptor is critical for psilocybin’s neuroplastic effects, as precise genetic knockouts in adult mice eliminate spine growth.Unlike ketamine, psilocybin activates the insula, a brain region linked to chronic pain processing, hinting at new therapeutic potential.Both drugs induce similar gene expression patterns in areas like the prefrontal cortex and amygdala, but differ in specific regions like the insula.Related episode:M&M #30: Psilocybin, Ketamine, Neuroplasticity & Imaging the Brain | Alex Kwan*Not medical advice.Support the showAll episodes, show notes, transcripts, and more at the M&M Substack Affiliates: KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + potassium, calcium & magnesium, formulated with kidney health in mind. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime) Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for 10% off Readwise: Organize and share what you read. 60 days FREE through link Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase. MASA Chips—delicious tortilla chips made from organic corn and grass-fed beef tallow. No seed oils or artificial ingredients. Use code MIND for 20% off For all the ways you can support my efforts
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Nutrition Epidemiology: Fake Science? | John Speakman | 225
Send us a textShort Summary: The flaws of nutrition epidemiology with Dr. John SpeakmanAbout the guest: John Speakman, PhD is a professor at the University of Aberdeen and runs a lab in Shenzhen, China, focusing on energy balance, obesity, and aging. Note: Podcast episodes are fully available to paid subscribers on the M&M Substack and everyone on YouTube. Partial versions are available elsewhere. Transcript and other information on Substack.Episode Summary: Dr. John Speakman explores the pitfalls of nutrition epidemiology, a field that links diet to health outcomes like cancer and obesity but often produces contradictory results. They discuss flawed methods like 24-hour recalls and food frequency questionnaires, which rely on memory and are prone to bias, and introduce Speakman’s new tool using doubly labeled water to screen implausible dietary data. The conversation highlights systematic biases, such as under-reporting by heavier individuals, and emerging technologies like photo diaries and AI for better dietary tracking.Key Takeaways:Nutrition epidemiology studies often contradict each other due to unreliable methods.Common techniques like 24-hour recalls & food frequency questionnaires suffer from memory issues, portion size issues, and systematic biases, often underestimating food intake.Heavier individuals (higher BMI) under-report food intake more, skewing associations between diet & obesity.Speakman’s tool, based on 6,500 doubly labeled water measurements, predicts energy expenditure to flag implausible dietary survey data.Emerging technologies, like smartphone photo diaries and AI food identification, promise more accurate dietary tracking than traditional surveys.Randomized controlled trials, not surveys, provide the most reliable dietary insights; single-day intake surveys linked to outcomes years later are dubious.Speakman advises ignoring most nutrition epidemiology headlines due to their inconsistency and lack of prognostic value for behavior change.Related episode:Support the showAll episodes, show notes, transcripts, and more at the M&M Substack Affiliates: KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + potassium, calcium & magnesium, formulated with kidney health in mind. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime) Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for 10% off Readwise: Organize and share what you read. 60 days FREE through link Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase. MASA Chips—delicious tortilla chips made from organic corn and grass-fed beef tallow. No seed oils or artificial ingredients. Use code MIND for 20% off For all the ways you can support my efforts
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Cancer Biology: Metabolism, Mitochondria & Energy | Thomas Seyfried | 224
Send us a textShort Summary: Cancer’s metabolic roots with Dr. Thomas Seyfried.About the guest: Thomas Seyfried, PhD is a professor of biology at Boston College. He has researched cancer metabolism, epilepsy, and lipid biochemistry for over 40 years.Note: Podcast episodes are fully available to paid subscribers on the M&M Substack and everyone on YouTube. Partial versions are available elsewhere. Transcript and other information on Substack.Episode Summary: Dr. Thomas Seyfried discusses the mitochondrial metabolic theory of cancer, challenging the dominant somatic mutation theory. He explores how cancer cells rely on fermentation due to defective oxidative phosphorylation, drawing on Otto Warburg’s work. Seyfried explains how ketogenic diets and nutritional ketosis can starve cancer cells by limiting glucose and glutamine, while sharing evidence from nuclear transfer experiments and clinical studies. The conversation also covers environmental factors driving cancer and the importance of metabolic flexibility for prevention.Key Takeaways:Cancer is characterized by dysregulated cell growth, but Seyfried argues it stems from mitochondrial dysfunction, not just genetic mutations.Cancer cells ferment glucose & glutamine, unable to use fatty acids or ketones, making ketogenic diets a potential therapeutic tool.Nuclear transfer experiments show cancer traits reside in the cytoplasm, not the nucleus, challenging the somatic mutation theory.Environmental factors like processed foods, stress, and poor sleep disrupt mitochondrial function, increasing cancer risk.Seyfried’s glucose-ketone index helps monitor metabolic states to manage cancer & chronic diseases.Cancer rates are rising in younger people, possibly due to obesity, inflammation, and environmental toxins.Metabolic flexibility, cycling between ketosis and carb-based states, may mimic ancestral patterns and reduce chronic disease risk.Related episode:M&M #215: Cancer Metabolism: SugaSupport the showAll episodes, show notes, transcripts, and more at the M&M Substack Affiliates: KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + potassium, calcium & magnesium, formulated with kidney health in mind. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime) Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for 10% off Readwise: Organize and share what you read. 60 days FREE through link Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase. MASA Chips—delicious tortilla chips made from organic corn and grass-fed beef tallow. No seed oils or artificial ingredients. Use code MIND for 20% off For all the ways you can support my efforts
Send us a textShort Summary: Heart health and the ketogenic diet, with expert insights from a cardiologist and researcher.About the guest: Matthew Budoff, MD, is a preventive cardiologist and professor of medicine at UCLA School of Medicine.Note: Podcast episodes are fully available to paid subscribers on the M&M Substack and everyone on YouTube. Partial versions are available elsewhere. Transcript and other information on Substack.Episode Summary: Dr. Matthew Budoff discusses cholesterol, heart disease, and his study on the ketogenic diet’s impact on lean, metabolically healthy individuals with high LDL cholesterol. He explains LDL, HDL, and triglycerides, debunking myths about their direct link to heart disease, and emphasizes the importance of coronary calcium scans to assess plaque buildup. Budoff also covers statins, dietary cholesterol, and personalized heart health strategies.Key Takeaways:LDL cholesterol is not a definitive predictor of heart disease; plaque buildup, assessed via coronary calcium scans, is a better indicator.Lean metabolically healthy people on a ketogenic diet may have high LDL without increased plaque progression after one year.Coronary calcium scans, costing ~$100, are recommended for men around age 40 and women around 45-50 to evaluate heart disease risk.Statins effectively lower LDL and can reverse soft plaque, but may be overprescribed for those without plaque buildup.Dietary cholesterol has minimal impact on blood cholesterol, as the liver produces ~85% of it.Ketogenic diet can aid weight loss & diabetes control but may cause high LDL in some lean individuals, known as lean mass hyper-responders.Plaque progression depends more on existing plaque than LDL levels in metabolically healthy ketogenic diet followers.Heart health varies widely due to genetics and other unknown factors, underscoring the need for personalized assessments.Related episode:M&M #158: Ketosis & Ketogenic Diet: Brain & Mental Health, Metabolism, Diet Support the showAll episodes, show notes, transcripts, and more at the M&M Substack Affiliates: KetoCitra—Ketone body BHB + potassium, calcium & magnesium, formulated with kidney health in mind. Use code MIND20 for 20% off any subscription (cancel anytime) Lumen device to optimize your metabolism for weight loss or athletic performance. Use code MIND for 10% off Readwise: Organize and share what you read. 60 days FREE through link Athletic Greens: Comprehensive & convenient daily nutrition. Free 1-year supply of vitamin D with purchase. MASA Chips—delicious tortilla chips made from organic corn and grass-fed beef tallow. No seed oils or artificial ingredients. Use code MIND for 20% off For all the ways you can support my efforts
Whether food, drugs or ideas, what you consume influences who you become. Learn directly from the best scientists & thinkers alive today about how your mind-body reacts to what you feed it.The weekly M&M podcast features conversations with the most interesting scientists, thinkers, and technology entrepreneurs alive today.Not medical advice.At M&M, we are interested in trying to figure out how things work, not affirming our existing beliefs. We prefer consulting primary rather than secondary sources and independent rather than institutional voices. If we encounter uncomfortable truths or the evidence suggests unfashionable ideas may be valid, so be it.As the host, my aim is to help you better understand how the body & mind work by curating & synthesizing information in a way that yields science-based insights that you can choose to use or disregard in your own life. Taking ownership of your health starts with taking ownership of your information diet.I am motivated to connect the dots and distill general principles from what I learn, preferring to ask questions and play devil’s advocate to debating or incessantly pushing my own viewpoint.My beliefs:Taking ownership of your health starts with taking ownership of your information diet.All knowledge is provisional and we must work hard to prevent ourselves from becoming attached to our favorite ideas & preferred conclusions.Wisdom comes from an iterative, trial-and-error process of learning and unlearning. Letting go of pre-conceived notions can be painful, but pain is information.Sometimes modern discoveries teach us we must unlearn received wisdom. Other times, modern information overload & historical chauvinism cause us to forget ancient wisdom which stills applies. The framework for learning that I embody is inspired by three Ancient Greek maxims inscribed in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi:“Γνῶθι σεαυτόν” (Know thyself)“Μηδὲν ἄγαν” (Nothing in excess)“Ἐγγύα πάρα δ Ἄτα” (Certainty brings insanity)
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