From Our Neurons to Yours
von Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford University, Nicholas Weiler
- alle zwei WochenErscheinungsrhythmus
- 46 mintypische Länge
- 23. Okt.letzte Folge
This award-winning show from Stanford’s Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute is a field manual for anyone who wants to understand their own brain and the new science reshaping how we learn, age, heal, and make sense of ourselves.
Each episode, host Nicholas Weiler sits down with leading scientists to unpack big ideas from the frontiers of the field—brain-computer interfaces and AI language models; new therapies for depression, dementia, and stroke; the mysteries of perception and memory; even the debate over free will. You’ll hear how basic research becomes clinical insight and how emerging tech might expand what it means to be human. If you’ve got a brain, take a listen.
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What an immune invasion teaches us about Alzheimer’s disease | Julia Belk
Today we’re going to be talking about a recent study that is rewriting neuroscience textbooks, potentially changing our understanding of Alzheimer’s disease, our brain’s immune system, and the potential for immunotherapy for the brain. Toda
What's on our brains: Behind the scenes of From Our Neurons to Yours
Today on the show we're doing something a little different. Quite different, actually. Nine seasons in, listeners might wonder: Why do we make this show? How do we prepare for it? What do we hope you get out of it? What even is the Wu Tsai
How do our brains stay healthy as we age? | Tom Clandinin
Today on the show, we explore the complex biology underlying a seemingly straightforward question: How do our brains stay healthy – or not – as we age? There seems to be a constant flow of new secrets to healthy brain aging – inflammation,
Sugar on the brain | Carolyn Bertozzi
Today on the show, we bring you a conversation with Carolyn Bertozzi, the Baker Family Director of Sarafan ChEM-H (https://chemh.stanford.edu) and the Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences. Bertozzi i
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 haven't been rigorously tested in humans and aren't regulated for safety
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, and alter the brain circuits that go awry in disorders like depression.
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 treating what might be heartburn or a heart attack. That's where mental health
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 podcast to talk about the body's hidden "sickness reflex," the gut-brain c
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. The natural assumption was that if you could design a drug to clear ou
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 signals, and take on meaning. You understand what you're reading. This is lan
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 social lives at school, and even the video games we play – leave physical traces
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 announced (https://apnews.com/article/psychedelics-trump-fda-kennedy-drugs-md
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 of a mountain versus taking a helicopter. The view from the top is exact
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 symptoms that appear years or even decades before movement problems bring pat
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 with Guosong Hong (https://neuroscience.stanford.edu/people/guosong-hong), a fa
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 five external senses to include our internal senses: the signals tell
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 probably wondered at one point or another, which track am I on? Turns ou
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 scientists think may exist—and very little about how they might impact the brain
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 know this mind wandering has an almost gravitational pull. In fact, resea
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 "underwhelming", leaving the field searching for alternative approaches. Stanfor
"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 of the fact that our own rich mental lives are built on the same foun
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 functioning. For people with conditions like ALS, or who experience a se
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 together as we make tough choices like where to invest our money as well as m
"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 with neuroscientist Ben Rein about why this social isolation is terrible f
From doodles to Descartes: sketching and the human cognitive toolkit | Judith Fan
Before the written word — and possibly even before speech — humans have communicated through drawing. From crude scratches in the dirt or on cave walls to the arcane symbology of the laboratory whiteboard, our instinct for conveying our tho
What is psychosis? Navigating an altered reality | Jacob Ballon & Shannon Pagdon
Imagine if you couldn't distinguish between dreams and reality. If you couldn't tell whether what you were seeing or hearing was really there in front of you. What if you discovered you couldn't trust your own perceptions? Psychosis is some
"I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine" | Daniel Levitin
Most of us can agree: music is awesome. Regardless of which songs speak to you, music probably plays an important role in your life. The question is, what makes music so powerful? Why does a particular combination of sounds and rhythms grab
How we learn to read (and why some struggle): what neuroscience teaches us about a transformative human technology | Bruce McCandliss
In this episode, we explore the fascinating neuroscience behind how children learn to read with Bruce McCandliss, director of the Stanford Educational Neuroscience Initiative. Key topics include: • How our brains "recycle" visual and langua
Why voices light us up—but leave the autistic brain in the dark | Dan Abrams
Recognizing a familiar voice is one of the brain’s earliest social feats. But what are the brain circuits that let a newborn pick out mom in a crowded nursery? How do they change as kids turn toward friends and the wider world? And what are
Famous & Gravy: Cosmic Marketer and the Meaning of Life | Stephen Hawking
In this special crossover episode, we’re doing something a little different. From Our Neurons to Yours host Nicholas joins producer Michael Osborne to co-host his podcast Famous and Gravy (https://famousandgravy.com/) for a lively conversat
