Ground Truths

Marios Georgakis: Why Did Two Major Clinical Trials for Heart Disease Fail?

In recent weeks the results (announced by press release) of 2 major placebo-controlled randomized trials—ZEUS, testing an interleukin-6 (IL-6) blocker vs inflammation, an

Two Landmark Studies Challenge Dogma About our Brain Immune Cells and Aging

This podcast is meant to complement my recent Ground Truths post Why Our Memory Slips After Age 50 which has all the relevant links to the 2 papers, key graphics, and oth

Deborah Cohen: The Wellness-Industrial Complex

Deb Cohen is an award winning investigative journalist and correspondent who trained as a physician and has worked with the BBC and BMJ. She just published BAD INFLUENCE,

Sarah Urbut: Predicting Your Health Arc

Sarah Urbut is a physician-scientist at Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Research Institute. She and her colleagues published a landmark paper in Natu

Patrick Hsu: How Is AI Catalyzing Life Science?

“The future of biology is programmable.” To give you a sense of how important this topic is, Patrick Hsu is the first guest we’ve had back to Ground Truths since the pod

Aaron Newman: A Breakthrough Blood Test for Cancer

The tumor microenvironment (TME), composed of immune cells, fibroblasts, and endothelial cells, has emerged as critical to pathogenesis, prognosis and treatment for cance

Elisa Port: Discuss THE BREAST ADVICE Book

“I may be the expert in cancer, but you are the expert in you.”—Elisa Port, MD Ground Truths is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work,

Helen Pearson: What Constitutes Real Medical Evidence?

Helen Pearson, PhD, is an award-winning biomedical journalist at Nature, named European Science Journalist of the Year in 2025. She teaches science writing at University

Assessment of the Hantavirus with Prof Donald Milton

Get full access to Ground Truths at erictopol.substack.com/subscribe

Joanna Stern: An AI Immersion for 365 Days

Joanna Stern was the Wall Street Journal technology journalist for 12 years. She’s an Emmy award winner for her documentary E-Ternal, and recently started her own company

Roxanne Khamsi: We Are All Genetic Mosaics

“You are a slightly different genetic version of yourself today from yesterday, and will be different yet again tomorrow.”—Roxanne Khamsi “Each neuron really is a beauti

Sebastian Mallaby: The Infinity Machine

This is one of my favorite books over recent years. Sebastian Mallaby is the Paul A. Cocker Senior Fellow for International Economics at the Council of Foreign Relations

Trisha Pasricha: How to Get to Poophoria, Making Your Bowel Movements a Joy!

Dr. Trisha Pasricha is a gastroenterologist, Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, and the Ask a Doctor columnist for The Washington Post. Her new book gets deep

On the Future of Species

Adrian is a molecular biologist and co-founder and CEO of Genyro, a synthetic biology company. He has published 2 previous books on life science (Life Without Genes and A

A Master Class on Sleep

Yo-El Ju is the Barbara Burton and Reuben Morris Professor of Neurology at Washington University, St. Louis. She got her AB from Harvard and MD from Columbia and actively

Robert Wachter & Eric Topol - Discuss a Giant Leap Book

Get full access to Ground Truths at erictopol.substack.com/subscribe

Vagus Nerve Stimulation and the Immune System

The vagus nerve, also known as the Great Nerve, connects the brain to all parts of the body, like an internet (Figure below). Every week we’re learning more about its imp

A Look Into the Blue Zones

Back in 2005 Dan Buettner patented Blue Zones. He’s written 9 books, of which 5 were NY Times bestsellers, and has another one in the works. His 2023 Netflix documentary

How Our Brain Drains Its Waste Products

Jonathan Kipnis is a neuroscientist, the Alan A. and Edith L. Wolff Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University, St. Louis, who discovere

The Story of Francis Crick, a new masterpiece biography by Matthew Cobb

A recording from my enthralling conversation with Prof Matthew Cobb about the life and science contributions of Francis Crick, regarded as one of the most influential bio