TechNation Radio Podcast

On this week’s Tech Nation, Moira speaks with Emory Professor Dr. Cassandra Quave talks about “The Plant Hunter: A Scientist’s Quest for Nature’s Next Medicines”. And David McNally, President and CEO of Titan Medical. Advances in Robot-assisted surgery – from a long scar to several tiny incisions, and now, perhaps, just one.

On this week’s Tech Nation, Moira speaks with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk about his perpetually best-selling book: “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma.” We’ll also hear Dr. Gunn’s 2005 interview with Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and CEO of the now-defunct Theranos, who is currently standing trial for fraud.

On this week’s Tech Nation, Moira speaks with Columbia University professor Eric Johnson about “The Elements of Choice: Why the Way We Decide Matters”. Then insight into rare genetic diseases with Dr. Dietrich Stephan, CEO of NeuBase Therapeutics. He talks us through rare genetic diseases, as well as NeuBase’s approach. And Tech Nation Health Chief Correspondent Dr. Daniel Kraft talks about the challenges of Telehealth.

On this week’s Tech Nation, Moira speaks with Adam Tooze, a Columbia professor of history who is also an economist. His book is “Shutdown … How Covid Shook the World’s Economy.” Then Dr. Erica Smith from the Belgium company, Tools4Patient. How you identify when participants in drug trials report a positive response, even when they receive nothing. And Tech Nation Health Chief Correspondent Dr. Daniel Kraft talks about how to create what he calls a “check engine light” for your body.

On this week’s Tech Nation, Moira speaks with Harvard professor experimental cognitive scientist Steven Pinker about “Rationality … What it is, Why it seems scarce, and Why it matters”. Then Lemony Snicket – the one and only. You know him from his children’s book series, “A Series of Unfortunate Events”. He’s here with “Poison for Breakfast”. You will start bewildered and leave bewildered, but feeling much better about it.

University of Chicago professor Dr Neil Shubin about “Some Assembly required … Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA.” Ancient viruses in our DNA? And what about “jumping genes”?  Also, climatologist Marina Psaros talks about “The Atlas of Disappearing Places … Our Coasts and Oceans in the Climate Crisis”.

On this week’s Tech Nation, Moira speaks with Wired journalist Maia Szalavitz about why our recent approach to opioid addiction has resulted in a rise of undesired outcomes, and an interesting perspective on what we as individuals can do. Her book is “Undoing Drugs … The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction.” Then Tech Nation Health Chief Correspondent Dr. Daniel Kraft wants us to look at Digital Health differently. Our digitally-enhanced Quantified Self can lead to a new Quantified Health.

Neuroscientist and psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett. She gives us “7½ Lessons about the Brain” and has some surprises – there is no “reptilian” part of your brain … it’s just a myth. Then in biotech – treatments to fight diseases caused by inflammation – Dr. Jim Woody, the CEO of 180 Life Sciences talks about their pipeline of drugs, as well as their lead work in clinical trials now – it’s for Dupuytren’s Contracture, affecting one out of 25 people in Europe and North America.

On this week’s Tech Nation, from the bumpy history of the chariot to how smartphones are essential equipment for transportation in the future. Economist deputy editor Tom Standage talks about “A Brief History of Motion: From the Wheel, to the Car, to What Comes Next”. Then Dr. Jim Brown, the CEO of DURECT, describes their first Phase 2 clinical trials for Alcoholic Hepatitis, known as AH. And a look at what comes next for their approach to regenerative medicine.

On this week’s Tech Nation, it’s about developing medicines which enable the body to heal itself. First up, treating depression in a whole new way … and rapidly. Dr. Jeff Jonas, the Chief Innovation Officer and Director of Sage Therapeutics, talks about their drug Zuranolone, nearing the end of its drug approval journey. Then, Craig Parker, the CEO of Surrozen, talks about their work with the W-N-T pathway, or Wnt pathway. Their initial candidate for treatment? Repairing the liver.