humanOS Radio

Perhaps you want to feel great about how you look at the beach. Maybe you play a sport in which it’s important to be powerful and strong relative to your weight. Or you might simply be interested in continuing to function well as years pass by. Whatever your goals are, you should be interested in the mass and quality of your muscle tissue. In this episode of humanOS Radio Dan speaks with Dr. Keith Baar, Professor in Residence in the Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology in the UC Davis School of Medicine, about this important subject, addressing topics such as how to exercise and eat to optimize muscle mass and function across the lifespan.

In this episode, Dan speaks with Dr. Mike West, CEO of AgeX Therapeutics. Here, we discuss a variety of important questions related to the science and potential of stem cells to positively influence human health including: The distinction between progenitor cells and stem cells; what goes wrong with stem cells during senescence; current clinical uses of stem cell therapies; what Dr. West’s team is working on at AgeX; and the future of stem cell therapies.

We now know that the gut microbiome is intimately connected to our own health. You can even think of these gut bugs as though they are another organ. But while we know of the great importance of the gut microbiome in our metabolism, oxidative status, brain health, gut health, and more, knowing exactly how to intervene to promote health is a science in its infancy. In this episode, however, Dan chats with Susan Westfall, who recently published a study in Nature looking at the combination of various probiotics prebiotics, including the ayurvedic polyphenol formula, triphala. In short, the formula promoted widgespread benefits to the fruit flies in which is was tested, but the most remarkable statistic on the research was a 60% extension in lifespan! Listen here to learn more.

If you value how you look and feel, you probably dedicate considerable time and effort to your physical fitness. But how often do you pause to ponder the state of your mental fitness? If you’re mentally fit, you’ll make better decisions and thereby enhance your ability to achieve goals, whatever they pertain to: physical performance, work, relationships, and the list goes on. In this episode of humanOS Radio Greg speaks with Dr. Andrew Hill about how to improve brain health and performance. Dr. Hill founded the Peak Brain Institute where people go to train and thereby improve their brains. Tune in to find out more about what you can do to boost your brain health and function!

Professor Michael Ristow explains how reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a role in triggering cellular protective mechanisms and why antioxidants can hinder exercise benefits. Funding challenges for research on extending healthy lifespan are discussed, along with the importance of obtaining nutrients from whole foods. The potential impact of lithium on psychiatric disease, longevity, and the ketogenic diet as a nutritional intervention for longevity is explored. The podcast also delves into discovering candidate genes and natural compounds for improving health.

In this episode of humanOS Radio, Dan hosts a discussion with Professor Antonio Nunez exploring the work and he and his colleagues are doing looking into how environmental light can lead to structural changes in the brain. For the great majority of us who aren't spending our days hunting and gathering, this could have important implications for our health and perhaps our productivity. The Environmental Protection Agency has reported that Americans spend, on average, about 90% of their time indoors. Is it possible that spending too much time in dimly lit rooms and offices is affecting our ability to learn? Might environmental light be involved in the regulation of cognitive performance and mental health?

Many other organisms have superhuman abilities, such as the capacity to ward off cancer, periodically reverse aging, regenerate limbs, and even regrow brains. Yet these non-human species share many genetic similarities with us. This naturally raises the question of whether we can learn from other animals in our quest to delay aging, reverse disease, and – dare I say it – return to life from the empty expanse of death. These lofty goals bring us to today's episode of humanOS radio in which Dan speaks with Ira Pastor, CEO of Bioquark.

The number of people with cardiovascular diseases is increasing at an alarming rate, and such disorders are now the leading cause of death worldwide. Because these diseases tend to cluster with pathologies like type-two diabetes, they are sometimes given the umbrella term “cardiometabolic diseases”. The number of people experiencing sleep problems has increased in lockstep with the growing prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases, and in the latest episode of humanOS Radio Dan speaks with Professor Kristen Knutson about why this is unlikely to be a mere coincidence.

In this episode, Dan speaks with Bruce Hay, Professor of Biology at Caltech. Much of Professor Hay’s work focuses on the genetic and molecular mechanisms that regulate cell death, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s. In brief, Professor Hay's research has shown that “we want to slow or stop… accumulation of the mutant genomes that inexorably occurs as we age”. Professor Hay and his team have done work showing that when they stimulate mitophagy – a process in which mutant mitochondria are selected, tagged, and then shipped to organelles that break them down - they might allow healthy mitochondria to substitute in their place, rejuvenating cellular function, a finding that could have profound implications for those of us seeking to ward off aging.

As the stage in which people dream each night, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep can bring euphoria, terror, and even genuine harm in some instances. On transition into REM sleep, your body enters a fascinating state. True to its name, REM sleep results in characteristic, swift, saccadic eye movements. But many other features of REM sleep are noteworthy. During REM sleep, activity in some brain regions is even higher than during wakefulness, so it is little surprise that it is from this sleep stage that you naturally arise each day. This state has therefore been dubbed the “gateway to waking”. But while your brain is highly active in REM sleep, your muscles are actually paralyzed (other than your heart and respiratory muscles). For this reason, REM sleep is sometimes known as “paradoxical sleep”. But what exactly is REM sleep actually for? In this show, Dan speaks with Professor John Peever, Director of the Centre for Biology Timing and Cognition at the University of Toronto. Professor Peever’s research focuses on how the brain regulates wakefulness and sleep, and our discussion focuses on REM sleep.