From Our Neurons to Yours

After Ozempic: the revolution in peptide science | Jonathan Long

Health influencers and scientists have both gone crazy for peptides. The peptide health craze stems from a lot of online hype — centered on gray-market compounds that h

Transcranial magnetic stimulation and the future of psychiatry | Corey Keller

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is one of the most promising new technologies in psychiatry. Essentially, it allows us to reach inside the brain, stimulate it, an

How brain imaging is transforming mental health (finally) | Leanne Williams

Back in the 1950s, doctors didn't know a whole lot about the heart. If someone came in with chest pain, clinicians would ask a few questions, then take a stab at tre

Is chronic fatigue a gut-brain reflex? (Big Ideas in Neuroscience) | Julia Kaltschmidt

Why does being sick make you so exhausted – and why does that exhaustion sometimes outlast the illness itself? Today, neuroscientist Julia Kaltschmidt returns to the podc

Is neurodegeneration a waste-management problem? | Monther Abu-Remaileh

For decades, the field focused on the plaques and tangles of misfolded proteins that show up in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other disorders.

A new precision neuroscience of language (Big Ideas in Neuroscience) | Cory Shain

Right now, as you're reading this sentence, something remarkable is happening in your brain. Light waves from your screen hit your eyes, transform into electrical si

How childhood (and Pokémon) shape how we see the world | Kalanit Grill-Spector

Today's episode is all about how childhood literally shapes the brain. Our most important experiences – from learning to read, to the growing complexity of our soci

The FDA's psychedelic sea-change: what accelerated clinical trials for psilocybin, methylone, and ibogaine mean for mental health and neuroscience research | Boris Heifets

Last month we saw a big shift in the federal government’s approach to psychedelic medicine. Specifically, following an executive order by President Trump, the FDA announ

Will work for dopamine: why hard work motivates us | Neir Eshel

Today’s episode is about the neuroscience of hard work—or maybe more specifically, the value we place on hard work. There’s something different about hiking to the top o

Could Parkinson's start in the gut? | Kathleen Poston

Traditionally, we think of Parkinson's as a movement disorder—defined by slowed movement, stiff muscles, and involuntary shaking. But it turns out there are other sy

How see-through brains could transform neuroscience (Big Ideas in Neuroscience) | Guosong Hong

What if we could make the brain see-through?  It sounds like science fiction, but it could revolutionize how we study the brain.  Today on the show, we're talking

Could boosting gut–brain communication prevent memory loss? A tale of microbes, memory, and our internal senses | Christophe Thaiss

Our memories and senses are deeply connected—like how a favorite song can recreate a whole glorious teenage summer. It turns out this relationship might extend beyond our

Why do some of us age faster than others? | Claire Bedbrook and Ravi Nath

Today on the show, why do some of us age faster than others? Why do some of us grow old and die before our time while others seem to simply endure? And most of us have pr

A new neuroscience of pregnancy (Big Ideas in Neuroscience) | Nirao Shah & Katrin Svensson

We know shockingly little about what goes on in a mother’s brain during pregnancy. For example, we know only a handful of the hormones involved—out of hundreds scientist

Why do our minds wander? What the brain's default mode tells us about our humanity | Vinod Menon

Here’s a question for you that may at first seem trivial, but is actually profound: Why do our minds drift?  If you have ever dabbled in mindfulness or meditation, you k

Is Alzheimer's an energy crisis in the brain? Inflammation, metabolism and a new path in the search for cures | Kati Andreasson

For decades, Alzheimer's research has focused on clearing amyloid plaques from the brain. But new drugs that successfully remove plaques have proven clinically "unde

"The Emergent Mind: How Intelligence Arises in People and Machines" | Jay McClelland

The AI revolution of the past few years is built on brain-inspired neural network models originally developed to study our own minds. The question is, what should we make

Could brain implants read our thoughts? | Erin Kunz

Imagine what it’s like to lose your ability to speak. You know what you want to say, but the connection between your brain and the muscles that form words is no longer fu

NeuroForecasting: how brain activity can predict stock prices or viral videos | Brian Knutson

Neuroscientists have spent the past few decades tracing the network of brain systems—some deep and emotional, and others more analytical and deliberate— that work togethe

"Why Brains Need Friends: The Neuroscience of Social Connection" | Ben Rein

We are more isolated from one another than ever before — by our technology, by our political divides, and most of all, by our choices.  This week on the show, we talk wi