Podcasts about Mechanism

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Treasure Island, FL: StatPearls Publishing, updated 2023.Cleveland Clinic. “Optic Nerve: What It Is, Function, Anatomy & Conditions.” Cleveland Clinic, updated 2024.Gupta, M., & Ireland, A. C. “Neuroanatomy, Visual Pathway.” StatPearls. Treasure Island, FL: StatPearls Publishing, updated 2022.Kolb, H. “Simple Anatomy of the Retina.” Webvision: The Organization of the Retina and Visual System. University of Utah / NCBI Bookshelf.Purves, D., Augustine, G. J., Fitzpatrick, D., et al., eds. Neuroscience. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates.Szabadi, E. “Functional Organization of the Sympathetic Pathways Controlling the Pupil: Light-Inhibited and Light-Stimulated Pathways.” Frontiers in Neurology 9, 2018.University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. “Ocular Motor System.” Neuroscience Online.Pupillometry, Cognitive Load, Attention, and Mental EffortBeatty, Jackson. “Task-Evoked Pupillary Responses, Processing Load, and the Structure of Processing Resources.” Psychological Bulletin 91, no. 2, 1982: 276–292.Beatty, Jackson, and Brennis Lucero-Wagoner. “The Pupillary System.” In Handbook of Psychophysiology, edited by John T. Cacioppo, Louis G. Tassinary, and Gary G. Berntson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.Kahneman, Daniel, and Jackson Beatty. “Pupil Diameter and Load on Memory.” Science 154, no. 3756, 1966: 1583–1585.Kahneman, Daniel. Attention and Effort. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973.Laeng, Bruno, Sylvain Sirois, and Gustaf Gredebäck. “Pupillometry: A Window to the Preconscious?” Perspectives on Psychological Science 7, no. 1, 2012: 18–27.Mathôt, Sebastiaan. “Pupillometry: Psychology, Physiology, and Function.” Journal of Cognition 1, no. 1, 2018.Piquado, Tepring, David Isaacowitz, and Arthur Wingfield. “Pupillometry as a Measure of Cognitive Effort in Younger and Older Adults.” Psychophysiology 47, no. 3, 2010: 560–569.Zekveld, Adriana A., Sophia E. Kramer, and Tammo Houtgast. “The Pupil Dilation Response to Auditory Stimuli: Current State of Knowledge.” Trends in Hearing 22, 2018.Emotion, Attraction, Arousal, and the PupilBradley, Margaret M., Laura Miccoli, Miguel A. Escrig, and Peter J. Lang. “The Pupil as a Measure of Emotional Arousal and Autonomic Activation.” Psychophysiology 45, no. 4, 2008: 602–607.de Winter, Joost C. F., et al. “Replicating Five Pupillometry Studies of Eckhard Hess.” International Journal of Psychophysiology 165, 2021: 145–161.Hess, Eckhard H. “Attitude and Pupil Size.” Scientific American 212, no. 4, 1965: 46–54.Hess, Eckhard H., and James M. Polt. “Pupil Size as Related to Interest Value of Visual Stimuli.” Science 132, no. 3423, 1960: 349–350.Lang, Peter J., Margaret M. Bradley, and Bruce N. Cuthbert. International Affective Picture System (IAPS): Affective Ratings of Pictures and Instruction Manual. Gainesville: University of Florida, 2008.Pan, J., et al. “The Effects of Emotional Arousal on Pupil Size Depend on Background Luminance and Stimulus Type.” Scientific Reports 14, 2024.Locus Coeruleus, Norepinephrine, Salience, and AttentionAston-Jones, Gary, and Jonathan D. Cohen. “An Integrative Theory of Locus Coeruleus–Norepinephrine Function: Adaptive Gain and Optimal Performance.” Annual Review of Neuroscience 28, 2005: 403–450.Joshi, Siddhartha, Yin Li, Ram M. Kalwani, and Joshua I. Gold. “Relationships Between Pupil Diameter and Neuronal Activity in the Locus Coeruleus, Colliculi, and Cingulate Cortex.” Neuron 89, no. 1, 2016: 221–234.Murphy, Peter R., Ian H. Robertson, James H. Balsters, and Redmond G. O'Connell. “Pupillometry and P3 Index the Locus Coeruleus–Noradrenergic Arousal Function in Humans.” Psychophysiology 48, no. 11, 2011: 1532–1543.Sara, Susan J. “The Locus Coeruleus and Noradrenergic Modulation of Cognition.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 2009: 211–223.Uddin, Lucina Q. “Salience Processing and Insular Cortical Function and Dysfunction.” Nature Reviews Neuroscience 16, 2015: 55–61.Memory, Emotion, Initiation, and Ritual EncodingCahill, Larry, and James L. McGaugh. “Mechanisms of Emotional Arousal and Lasting Declarative Memory.” Trends in Neurosciences 21, no. 7, 1998: 294–299.McGaugh, James L. “Memory—A Century of Consolidation.” Science 287, no. 5451, 2000: 248–251.McGaugh, James L. “The Amygdala Modulates the Consolidation of Memories of Emotionally Arousing Experiences.” Annual Review of Neuroscience 27, 2004: 1–28.Seligman, Rebecca, and Laurence J. Kirmayer. “Dissociative Experience and Cultural Neuroscience: Narrative, Metaphor and Mechanism.” Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 32, 2008: 31–64.Seligman, Rebecca, Ryan A. Brown, and Laurence J. Kirmayer. “Theory and Method at the Intersection of Anthropology and Cultural Neuroscience.” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 5, no. 2–3, 2010: 130–139.Whitehouse, Harvey. Arguments and Icons: Divergent Modes of Religiosity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.Whitehouse, Harvey. Modes of Religiosity: A Cognitive Theory of Religious Transmission. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2004.Ritual, Synchrony, Social Bonding, and Embodied MeaningHobson, Nicholas M., Juliana Schroeder, Jane L. Risen, Dimitris Xygalatas, and Michael I. Norton. “The Psychology of Rituals: An Integrative Review and Process-Based Framework.” Personality and Social Psychology Review 22, no. 3, 2018: 260–284.Jackson, Joshua Conrad, Brock Bastian, and others. “Synchrony and Physiological Arousal Increase Cohesion and Cooperation in Large Naturalistic Groups.” Scientific Reports 8, 2018.McCauley, Robert N., and E. Thomas Lawson. Bringing Ritual to Mind: Psychological Foundations of Cultural Forms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.Rappaport, Roy A. Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Chicago: Aldine, 1969.Xygalatas, Dimitris. Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living. New York: Little, Brown Spark, 2022.Xygalatas, Dimitris, et al. “Extreme Rituals Promote Prosociality.” Psychological Science 24, no. 8, 2013: 1602–1605.Meditation, Prayer, Trance, and AbsorptionFox, Kieran C. R., Matthew L. Dixon, Savannah Nijeboer, et al. “Functional Neuroanatomy of Meditation: A Review and Meta-Analysis of 78 Functional Neuroimaging Investigations.” Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews 65, 2016: 208–228.Jerath, Ravinder, John W. Crawford, Vernon A. Barnes, and Kyler Harden. “Self-Regulation of Breathing as a Primary Treatment for Anxiety.” Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback 40, 2015: 107–115.Lutz, Antoine, John D. Dunne, and Richard J. Davidson. “Meditation and the Neuroscience of Consciousness.” In The Cambridge Handbook of Consciousness, edited by Philip David Zelazo, Morris Moscovitch, and Evan Thompson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.Tellegen, Auke, and Gilbert Atkinson. “Openness to Absorbing and Self-Altering Experiences (‘Absorption'), a Trait Related to Hypnotic Susceptibility.” Journal of Abnormal Psychology 83, no. 3, 1974: 268–277.Vago, David R., and David A. Silbersweig. “Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, and Self-Transcendence: A Framework for Understanding the Neurobiological Mechanisms of Mindfulness.” Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 6, 2012.Darkness, Sensory Deprivation, Ganzfeld, and Visual InstabilityCaputo, Giovanni B. “Strange-Face-in-the-Mirror Illusion.” Perception 39, no. 7, 2010: 1007–1008.Caputo, Giovanni B. “Visual Perception During Mirror-Gazing at One's Own Face in Patients with Depression.” The Scientific World Journal, 2014.Caputo, Giovanni B. “Strange-Face Illusions During Eye-to-Eye Gazing in Dyads.” Imagination, Cognition and Personality 38, no. 1, 2018: 51–77.Metzger, Wolfgang. “Optische Untersuchungen am Ganzfeld.” Psychologische Forschung 13, 1930: 6–29.Shenyan, O., et al. “Visual Hallucinations Induced by Ganzflicker and Ganzfeld Differ in Frequency, Complexity, and Content.” Scientific Reports 14, 2024.Wackermann, Jiří, Peter Pütz, and Carsten Allefeld. “Ganzfeld-Induced Hallucinatory Experience, Its Phenomenology and Cerebral Electrophysiology.” Cortex 44, no. 10, 2008: 1364–1378.Zuckerman, Marvin, and Nathan Cohen. “Sources of Reports of Visual and Auditory Sensations in Perceptual-Isolation Experiments.” Psychological Bulletin 61, no. 1, 19Also want to remind people about the website, if you're into reading we have tons of information by multiple contributors, and we got t-shirts up on the site if you're interested. Fun fact, the art is all based on the eyeball. 

In today's video I explore games where the art plays a key role in the gameplay. https://youtu.be/C-ivNU0wmCk

Hello Interactors,I've long been a fan of “regreening” cities, imagining replacing bits of asphalt and concrete with trees, plants, mini-parks, and green roofs to cool them down. In many cases these are indeed good interventions. But even these celebrated nature-based solutions to the “urban heat island” effect require closer inspection. It turns out any land cover change alters energy, water, and momentum exchanges between the Earth's surface and the atmosphere. Which are the right ones and where?To understand why cookie cutter greening plans can fail and how planners and policy makers can build cities that can handle climate change, we need to understand how land and the air interact. Environments vary from place to place, and this puts limits on what we can do to land to create urban climates that are both beautiful and healthy.To get a handle on what the research says, I found a literature review from 2025 that synthesized findings from 84 peer-reviewed studies. In was published in the journal Climate Risk Management.Let's see what they, and others, found.BEATING HEAT WITH BIOPHYSICAL FEATSWhat better place to start than science. Let's just delve right into how urban green spaces affect temperature. It starts with determining the energy balance at the surface of the earth. This comes from a budget equation found in physical geography. When sunlight hits the Earth's surface, it breaks down into three main fluxes, or ways heat moves around* Sensible heat flux: the heat that directly warms the surrounding air, which we measure as temperature.* Latent heat flux: the heat that's used to turn water from a liquid to a gas, like when we sweat or plants release water vapor (transpiration).* Ground heat flux: the heat stored in building materials, asphalt, and soil.In conventional urban environments dominated by concrete and asphalt, latent heat flux is minimal because we've built cities in ways that rapidly drain water away as ‘waste'. As a result, incoming solar energy is funneled into sensible heat. This raises daytime air temperatures that gets stored as ground heat, which is slowly radiated back into the city at night. Urban greening can reshuffle this thermodynamic budget through three interconnected physical mechanisms: shading, evapotranspiration, and albedo modification.Mechanism 1. Shading: Intercepting Solar RadiationShading — the most immediate and reliable cooling mechanism provided by vegetation — requires precise microclimatic quantification. Vegetative canopies act as physical shields, intercepting incoming shortwave solar radiation before it strikes impervious surfaces like concrete or asphalt. By preventing these dense materials from absorbing heat and emitting sensible heat flux back into the boundary layer, shading dramatically lowers surface temperatures and reduces the baseline thermal energy transferred to the surrounding air. (Bowler, D. E., et al. 2010)The cooling benefit of urban trees is non-linear, accelerating significantly once neighborhood canopy cover crosses a critical threshold of around 40%. Measuring daytime air temperatures across urban gradients, they found that canopy cover above this 40% mark can lower local air temperatures by up to 1.5 to 2.0 degrees Celsius, effectively offsetting the thermal burden created by surrounding roads and impervious surfaces. (Ziter, C. D., et al. 2019)Mechanism 2. Evapotranspiration: Trading Sensible Heat for Latent HeatWhile shading blocks heat absorption, evapotranspiration actively removes heat from the air. Plants absorb soil moisture through their root systems and release it as water vapor through tiny microscopic pores in their leaves called stomata. This process requires thermal energy that turns phase-changing liquid water into gas. This energy transfer absorbs sensible heat and converts it into latent heat.Evapotranspiration from well-watered urban green spaces can lower local air temperatures by 2-4 degrees celsius. (Coutts, et al., 2013) However, physical geographers emphasize a crucial physical prerequisite that is easy to overlook: evapotranspiration is entirely dependent on available water. When the soil is dry or the air is super dry, plants close their stomata to save water. When stomata close, evapotranspiration shuts down. This leaves shading as the sole remaining cooling mechanism.Mechanism 3. Albedo Dynamics: The Surface Reflectivity ParadoxAlbedo measures the reflectivity of a surface on a scale from 0.0 (total absorption) to 1.0 (total reflection). Urban asphalt has a low albedo (0.05 to 0.10), absorbing up to 95% of incoming solar energy. Vegetation's albedo can range from 0.11 to 0.25.In temperate climates, replacing low-albedo asphalt with greenery or reflective surfaces increases surface reflectivity, sending more solar radiation back into space before it can be absorbed as sensible heat. One study documented that increasing urban surface albedo typically lowers peak ambient air temperatures by 0.3 degres Celsius to 1.0 degree Celsius — alongside much larger drops in surface pavement temperatures. While a temperature change under one degree Celsius may sound modest at first glance, a baseline shift of this magnitude across a neighborhood is enough to redefine a local microclimate. (Santamouris, 2014)But swapping out light urban surfaces for dark vegetation can also have a negative effect. Paradoxically, when researchers in 2023 replaced dry, light-colored desert soil with darker vegetation in hot, arid regions it reduced overall surface reflectivity. The drop in albedo caused an increase in daytime surface warming. (Schlaerth, et al., 2023)Furthermore, dense tree canopies inside narrow urban street canyons can act as thermal blankets at night. While trees provide valuable shade during the day, their foliage reduces the sky view factor at street level, trapping outgoing longwave thermal radiation emitted by surrounding building facades and asphalt. When combined with reduced wind permeability, this canopy barrier restricts nocturnal radiative cooling and holds warm air near ground level (Lee et al., 2016).These are the physical realities that can demonstrate how urban greening is not a consistently inherent cooling practice. It is a complex thermodynamic intervention whose success relies entirely on local environmental conditions.PLACEMENT, PATCHES, AND PARK PATTERNSBecause thermodynamic processes happen across physical spaces, cooling urban green space can be uneven. The literature review reveals that a green space's cooling capacity depends on four spatial and biological variables: vegetation density, species selection, spatial configuration, and urban morphology. Let's break them down individually.Cooling Factor 1. Vegetation Density and Species TraitsNot all greenery cools equally. One way to measure this is through a Leaf Area Index (LAI). This is the total leaf area per unit of ground area and is a primary predictor of thermal performance. As you might imagine, dense foliage absorbs more from the sun and then produces higher cumulative transpiration (so long as there's adequate water).Botanical traits also play a big role. Broadleaf deciduous species (like oaks or maples) feature large surface areas that maximize summer transpiration, but that goes away when they drop their leaves in winter. Evergreen coniferous trees, however, maintain continuous canopy coverage through every season.In temperate rainforest environments like Seattle or Vancouver, researchers found that conifers cooled urban surroundings up to 1.7 degrees celsius more effectively than broadleaf trees. Dense needle canopies continuously block incoming solar radiation due to higher LAI and the fact that clusters of spiny needles better trap a stable buffer of calm air which moderates heat exchange with the surrounding urban environment. (Eyster & Beckage, 2022, 2023) Cooling factor 2. Spatial Configuration: Landscape Ecology PrinciplesEcologists and geographers commonly evaluate green spaces through two main attributes: composition (how much green space exists) and configuration (how those green patches are arranged across the landscape). Over 58% of the mechanism-focused studies in the literature review analyzed spatial pattern metrics. The consensus is the spatial layout of green space is just as important as its total area!Other empirical studies consistently demonstrate that cooling effects decay the further you get from green spaces. Research done in 2016 and 2023 shows how urban parks can produce a primary “cooling footprint” that extends typically 100 to 300 meters from the park boundaries. If you're lucky enough to live within this buffer, temperatures drop between 1.9 and 3.1 degrees celsius, but beyond 300 meters, the cooling influence quickly falls off. (Bao, et al. 2016, Shi et al. 2023)This spatial limit leads to a couple spatial layout choices. A few big parks or connected networks of smaller green spaces. Large, consolidated parks (>2 hectares) generate intense, stable “cool islands” at their core, but their benefits remain localized. For example, a study in Xalapa, Mexico, revealed that parks larger than 2.8 hectares with over 21% tree cover provided reliable local cooling of around 2 degrees celsius . (Lemoine-Rodriguez et al., 2022)Connected networks of smaller green spaces distributed across a city create a more equitable cooling effect. Three studies in 2019 and 2021 show that fragmented, isolated green patches — like big parks — perform poorly compared to continuous, linear green corridors. Linear “green belts” or street-tree networks (in the right environment) can act as ventilation channels, allowing cool air generated by vegetation to flow into adjacent built-up neighborhoods. (Masoudi et al., 2019, 2021; Pramanik, 2019)Cooling factor 3. Urban Morphology: The Built Environment MatrixObviously, green spaces don't exist in isolation. They're embedded within a three-dimensional hodge podge of buildings, streets, and other bits of infrastructure. Urban morphologists can quantify this urban morphological cacophony using building height-to-street-width ratio and sky view factor - the extent to which surrounding structures and canopies obstruct a location's view of the open sky.High-density urban cores with tall buildings create deep “urban canyons” that generate their own shade. In these settings, building shade can combine with tree shade during peak daylight hours to significantly lower temperatures.However, studies show that if tree canopies in narrow street canyons are too dense — particularly in humid environments — they can trap anthropogenic heat emitted by vehicle exhaust and air conditioning condenser units. They can also significantly reduce localized wind speeds. As a result, maximizing green space cooling efficiency requires aligning vegetation density and canopy architecture with prevailing wind corridors to preserve urban ventilation channels (Cheung & Jim, 2019; Morakinyo et al., 2019).Nothing is every as easy as it seems.BRIDGING GAPS WITH BETTER MAPSWhile academic literature can offer detailed insights into microclimatic processes, there remains a big gap between academia and urban planning and governmental policy. That gap may be self-fulfilling. The literature review of 84 papers revealed 61% of the papers simply advocate for expanding green space area, whereas only 26% focus on optimizing existing green infrastructure.Recommending that dense, historical cities “add more large parks” ignores real-world urban constraints. In modern, rapidly expanding cities, urban land is expensive, highly contested, and structurally constrained. Space dedicated to a new park often competes directly with housing, transit infrastructure, or commercial development. To move beyond idealistic slogans, urban planning will have to recon with three major implementation challenges.Challenge 1. The Water-Energy-Heat Nexus in Arid CitiesThe most significant implementation challenge facing nature-based solutions occurs precisely where urban heat stress is most severe — in hot, arid regions. Cities like Phoenix, Cairo, Tehran, or Riyadh already suffer from intense summer heatwaves. You don't have to live in or visit these places to know water there is extremely scarce.Maintaining green spaces in places like this requires pumping groundwater or desalinating seawater. Pumping and desalinating water requires massive amounts of electricity, which only increases greenhouse gas emissions if that power is coming from fossil fuels. Furthermore, if irrigation water runs out during a heatwave, non-adapted vegetation dries out, loses its cooling capacity, and can even become a wildfire risk.To solve this dilemma, physical geographers advocate evaluating urban greening through a standardized resource efficiency metric: evapotranspirative cooling per unit of water applied. In plain language, this ratio measures how many degrees of cooling you get for each liter (or gallon) of water that plants and soil release into the air through evaporation and transpiration.In dry climates — where municipal water is already tightly rationed and turfgrass is increasingly discouraged but rarely banned (I'm looking at you Arizona) — urban greening strategies are going to have pivot away from high-water lawns and non-native foliage. These cities have to move from simply prioritizing or incentivizing drought-tolerant species to requiring them. While drought-tolerant plants transpire less water than many other plants and trees — and still require water — when combined with drip-irrigation using treated municipal wastewater (greywater), they can provide a pretty reliable canopy shade and even modest evaporative cooling without draining water reserves.Challenge 2. Environmental Justice and Thermal EquityUrban heat exposure is rarely, if ever, distributed evenly across socio-economic groups. In many cities worldwide, low-income neighborhoods exhibit significantly lower tree canopy cover, higher proportions of impervious asphalt, and higher building densities than the more affluent suburbs and ex-urbs. This imbalance leaves more vulnerable populations exposed to extreme heat hazards.When municipalities undertake uncoordinated “regreening” projects, they risk triggering green gentrification. Installing fancy attractive parks can then inflate surrounding property values, displacing residents while still not reducing their heat related vulnerability.To address this, requires targeted interventions like deploying small-scale, distributed interventions (think pocket parks, vegetated bus stops, and road corridors) directly in high-vulnerability, low-canopy/vegetation neighborhoods. You could focus on functional shading over high-maintenance aesthetics. This could better ensure that at least transit stops, pedestrian walkways, and playgrounds are prioritized for canopy cover. Lastly, combining situated green infrastructure with social policy could create and/or protect more affordable housing around old and new greened public corridors and spaces.Challenge 3. A Multi-Benefit, Context-Specific Design FrameworkNo single cooling intervention works everywhere. Planners and policy makers need to adopt an integrated, multi-tiered approach that combines nature-based solutions with material interventions.In arid and semi-arid environments, planners should prioritize structural canopy shading and end an over-reliance on water-intensive lawn evapotranspiration. It's time to demand drought-tolerant trees with greywater irrigation networks, shade sails, and high-albedo “cool pavements” that can better reflect solar radiation without draining water resources.In contrast, humid and more temperate climates would likely benefit most from maximizing green spatial connectivity. By linking existing parks through linear street-tree corridors — with select broadleaf and/or coniferous species — summer evapotranspiration can be enhanced while maintaining year-round microclimate regulation.Finally, within high-density, built-up cores where ground space for new parks is limited, cities should leverage vertical green walls and green roofs paired with reflective building materials. But they best also preserve prevailing wind corridors while preventing nighttime heat traps through street canyons.“Regreening” is a compelling slogan, but as physical geography demonstrates, simplistic blanket policies can yield unpredictable thermodynamic results. Simply planting trees without considering local climate, available water, species traits, spatial configuration, and urban geometry can lead to unintended consequences.The exhaustive synthesis of decade-long research provided by Hadi Soltanifard and Majid Amani-Beni (2025) offers a clear path forward. Nature-based solutions are not off-the-shelf products that can be copy-pasted across different global cities. They are dynamic, living interventions that alter energy fluxes across urban surfaces.By moving beyond blanket acreage targets and framing urban greening as the strategic reorganization of surface-energy relations, geographers, urban planners, and policymakers will need to work together. When we design green infrastructure that respects local environmental constraints, honors spatial equity, and optimizes microclimatic processes, urban greening moves from a vague policy promise toward tools of experimentation that can pragmatically evolve our cities and megaregions into truly climate-resilient urbanscapes.ReferencesBowler, D. E., Buyung-Ali, L., Knight, T. M., & Pullin, A. S. (2010). Urban greening to cool towns and cities: A systematic review of the empirical evidence. Landscape and Urban Planning, 97(3), 147-155.Cheung, P.K., Jim, C.Y., 2019. Differential cooling effects of landscape parameters in humid-subtropical urban parks. Landscape and Urban Planning 192, 103651.Coutts, A.M., Tapper, N.J., Beringer, J., et al., 2013. Watering our cities: the capacity for Water Sensitive Urban Design to support urban cooling and improve human thermal comfort in the Australian context. Progress in Physical Geography 37(1), 2–28.Eyster, H. N., & Beckage, B. (2022). Conifers may ameliorate urban heat waves better than broadleaf trees: Evidence from Vancouver, Canada. Atmosphere, 13(5), 830.Eyster, H. N., & Beckage, B. (2023). Arboreal urban cooling is driven by leaf area index, leaf boundary layer resistance, and dry leaf mass per leaf area: Evidence from a system dynamics model. Atmosphere, 14(3), 552.Lee, H., Mayer, H., & Chen, L. (2016). Contribution of trees and grasslands to the mitigation of human heat stress in a residential district of Freiburg, Southwest Germany. Landscape and Urban Planning 148:37–50.Lemoine-Rodríguez, R., Inostroza, L., Falfán, I., & MacGregor-Fors, I. (2022). Too hot to handle? On the cooling capacity of urban green spaces in a Neotropical Mexican city. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 74, 127633.Masoudi, M., Tan, P.Y., 2019. Multi-year comparison of the effects of spatial pattern of urban green spaces on urban land surface temperature. Landscape and Urban Planning. 184, 44–58.Masoudi, M., Tan, P.Y., Fadaei, M., 2021. The effects of land use on spatial pattern of urban green spaces and their cooling ability. Urban. Clim 35, 100743.Masoudi, M., Tan, P.Y., Liew, S.C., 2019. Multi-city comparison of the relationships between spatial pattern and cooling effect of urban green spaces in four major Asian cities. Ecol. Indic 98, 200–213.Morakinyo, T.E., Ouyang, W., Lau, K.-K.-L., et al., 2020. Right tree, right place (urban canyon): Tree species selection approach for optimum urban heat mitigation-development and evaluation. Sci. Total. Environ 719, 137461.Pramanik, M. (2019). Impacts of urban expansion on land surface temperature and urban heat island in Kolkata Municipal Corporation, India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 191(12), 738.Santamouris, M. (2014). Cooling the cities—a review of reflective and green roof mitigation technologies to fight heat island and improve comfort in urban environments. Solar Energy, 103, 682-703.Schlaerth, Hannah L., et al. "Albedo as a competing warming effect of urban greening." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 128.24 (2023): e2023JD038764.Soltanifard, H., & Amani-Beni, M. (2025). The cooling effect of urban green spaces as nature-based solutions for mitigating urban heat: Insights from a decade-long systematic review. Climate Risk Management, 49, 100731.Ziter, C. D., Pedersen, E. J., Kucharik, C. J., & Turner, M. G. (2019). Scale-dependent interactions between tree canopy cover and impervious surfaces reduce daytime urban heat. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 116(15), 7575-7580. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit interplace.io

Heartburn is one of the most common gastrointestinal complaints, and antacids remain a go-to option for fast symptom relief. In this episode, we’ll discuss how common antacids like calcium carbonate, magnesium hydroxide, aluminum hydroxide, and sodium bicarbonate work to neutralize stomach acid. We’ll also review their advantages, common adverse effects, important drug interactions, and considerations for patients with kidney disease. Whether you’re a healthcare professional looking for practical clinical pearls or simply want to better understand over-the-counter heartburn medications, this episode provides a concise overview of when antacids are appropriate—and when they may not be the best choice. Special thanks to the Mechanism of Action Podcast for sponsoring this episode – go check it out! Be sure to check out our free Top 200 study guide – a 31 page PDF that is yours for FREE!

CannCon and Ashe in America crack open Chapter 10 of The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin, and this time the Fed is fully in the crosshairs. This week is all about the Mandrake Mechanism, named after a comic strip magician who could conjure things out of thin air, which turns out to be an uncomfortably accurate description of how the Federal Reserve actually creates money. The hosts break down how modern currency is no longer backed by gold or silver at all, how debt itself is the spark that brings money into existence, and how paying off that debt makes it vanish just as fast. Expect a deep look at reserve ratios, checkbook money, and the sleight of hand that keeps the whole system running, paired with the hosts' usual banter, tangents, and disbelief that this is somehow how it all works.

This episode covers the key scientific drivers behind lab result variability, from instrument calibration down to field sampling practices. Understanding Reference Standards: How analytical instruments use commercially available reference standards to construct calibration curves for testing unknown samples. The Potency Variability Study: Insights from Cannabis ChemLab's study overlaying 35 different THCA standards, demonstrating how variance between standard manufacturers and product lots leads to drastic differences in reported THC percentages. The Mechanism of Potency Inflation: How calibration curves at the high end of concentration explain "impossible" lab results exceeding 100% cannabinoids in concentrates and diamonds. Neutral vs. Acidic Cannabinoids: Why acidic forms like THCA and CBDA present significantly more analytical variability in the lab compared to decarboxylated neutral forms found in edibles. Heavy Metals and Fertilizer Inputs: An in-depth discussion on ICP-MS heavy metal testing, identifying soil amendments like fishbone meal as a primary source of arsenic accumulation in living soil. Dispelling Marketing Claims: Why ocean-based inputs are not inherently cleaner than other fertilizers, and why growers must screen raw materials rather than relying on marketing claims. Agronomic Mitigation Strategies: How plant biology and strategic tissue management, such as utilizing older lower leaves as heavy metal sinks, can help keep heavy metals out of the final flower. Navigating Unexpected Results: Practical steps for cultivators when faced with surprising lab data, including when a flower batch warrants resampling versus when a process error has occurred. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why does your ADHD feel manageable in one situation but overwhelming in another?In this episode, Skye and Robbie explore a little-known 1997 review paper that challenged the traditional view of ADHD. Instead of seeing ADHD traits as fixed deficits, the authors argued that traits like attention shifting, hyperactivity, and impulsivity can become strengths or struggles depending on the environment.Together, they unpack what the research actually says, why these ideas never became mainstream, and what they might mean for entrepreneurs and business owners navigating today's fast-changing world.What You'll LearnWhy ADHD can feel completely different from one environment to anotherThe evolutionary theory behind attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivityWhat "response-ready" environments are—and why they matterWhy school and entrepreneurship reward different ways of thinkingWhere the paper is compelling, and where the authors acknowledge its limitationsIf you're an entrepreneur with ADHD who's tired of being asked “Why don't you just hire/make a system/delegate?”  We've gotchu! Click here for a free copy of my 5-year-tested Focus Filter. Instant relief for work-related overwhelm.Find out what's holding you back. I'll personally build you a simple plan to fix it. Click here to grab one.Join my Focused Balanced Growth Program. If you're tired of getting blank looks in masterminds full of neurotypical advice, this is for you. Weekly Monday Motivation sessions, plus content you can binge or dip into for strategies specific to you. Apply here.Your Business Operations Built for Your ADHD Brain. Feel like you can never really delegate because you can't explain how to do it? Struggling to hire someone who feels like a natural fit for your business? Let us handle it for you. We specialize in using our years of ADHD research and practical support to act as your fractional COO, handling the back-end operations in a way that feels light and keeps you focused. Learn more here.

What if your feelings don't actually know anything about your life, your past, or your future? For decades I flatlined through life, avoiding anything I labeled a "negative" emotion, and telling myself that made me calm and grounded. It didn't. In this episode I share what changed how I relate to feelings for good: the idea that your mind works less like a camera and more like a projector, and your feelings are simply telling you how much thinking, not how much truth, is behind that movie. I use the image of a glitter ball to explain why trying to manage, suppress, or fix a feeling only stirs it up further, while allowing it lets it settle on its own, the way a toddler's tantrum passes the moment nobody fights it. I also talk about "husbanding your feminine," taking responsibility for your own state instead of leaking it onto the people around you, and a friend's story of sobriety that shows feelings were never the real problem. If you've ever been scared of your own emotions, or waited for the "right" feeling before taking action, this episode will change your relationship with every feeling you have from here on.

Episode 207 is live! Come listen as we tell you about Typeset from D.V.C. and why it might be our new favorite word game. We then tell you about our favorite mechanism combos in games before telling you about our nightmare combos. Be sure to like, share, and subscribe! Game: 14:10 Topic: 22:01 Question: 32:16 Game Mentions: Typeset, Quacks of Quedlinburg, Skull, Rising Sun, I Know You Don't, Game of Thrones: B'Twixt Support: If you would like to help us improve our product, here's where you can do that! www.patreon.com/MalthausGames podpledge.com?p=3D8L1M1V4S7F8... ko-fi.com/malthausgames Sound Attributions: Something Elated by Broke For Free, Downloaded from freemusicarchive.org/music/Bro... Edits: Cut to length and Faded in. Heavy Happy With Drums by Ryan Cullinane, Downloaded from freemusicarchive.org/music/Ryan Cullinane/Heavy Happy With Drums – Beat Driven Productions – Heavy Happy With Drums Edits: Cut to length and faded out. Crowd in a bar (LCR recording) by Leandros.Ntounis, downloaded from freesound.org/people/Leandros... Edits: Cut to length, added vocals and own recorded drink making sounds. Vinyl_record_needle_static_01.wav by joedeshon, downloaded from freesound.org/people/joedesho... Edits: Cut to length, added to music and raised volume level. Hidden Wall Opening by ertfelda, downloaded from freesound.org/people/ertfelda... Edits: Adjust volume and cut to length added jungle sound and voice. Yucatan jungle.mp3 by folkart films, downloaded from freesound.org/people/folkart%... Edits: Adjust volume, cut to length, added door sound and voice. Footsteps, Concretem A.wav by InspectorJ, downloaded from freesound.org/people/Inspecto... Edits: Cut to length, adjusted volume, added jungle sounds and voice. Fantasy Sounds Effects Library, Ambience_Cave_00.wav by LittleRobotSoundFactory, downloaded from freesound.org/people/LittleRo... Edits: Cut to length, faded in, adjusted volume and added footsteps, jungle sounds, stone door, and voice. Game Show Theme Tune by FoolBoyMedia, downloaded from freesound.org/people/FoolBoyM... Edits: Cut to length, added vocals, adjusted volume. Audience, Theatre Applause.wav by makosan, downloaded from freesound.org/people/makosan/... Edits: Added music, added voice, cut to length and adjusted volumemalthousma

Hosts: Ed Jones (Owner – Nutrition World) & Clint Powell A variety of topics all related to living a healthy life Presented by: Nutrition World www.nutritionw.com  Broadcasting from the Nooga Dentistry Studio www.noogadentistry.com Production of: Whitfield Media Group www.vitalhealthradio.com Title: Oral Peptides for Appetite & Weight Loss, What Your Phase Angle Means for Your Cellular Health [0:00:00] Intro, Events Tease of the episode's themes: Segment 2: peptides and weight loss. Segment 3: phase angle and cellular health. Lung Coach event at Nutrition World – August 22 Mobile screening for early lung cancer detection. Emphasis that stage 1–2 lung cancer is often curable, stage 4 is not. Calcium score used to estimate plaque burden in arteries. Ed notes ~12 reasons for plaque formation, while most physicians focus on ~3. Mentions Dr. Kurt Dearing's book “Beyond Cholesterol”, covering broader causes of plaque. Financial health talk – August 22 (~11 AM) Michael E, financial planner, giving a free lecture on financial stability. Ed's point: two major life disruptors are declining health and declining finances, and they influence each other. Health Fair – October 24 Described as possibly the biggest health fair in the region. Features reps, free samples, circus‑like but “happy” atmosphere. [0:04:10] Restaurant Talk Light banter about Ed being a restaurant connoisseur and creature of habit. Restaurant recommendations via Ed's employee Fallon: Second Amendment / Second American (downtown). Hello Monty (special but reasonably priced menu). Ed's oxalate/joint pain story: Eating Purely Elizabeth cereal (high in oxalates: chia and other ingredients) triggered severe return of joint pain Discussion that some “healthy” foods can be nutritious but not healthy for everyone, especially for those sensitive to oxalates. Ed references his free oxalate ebook at theholisticnavigator.com and believes oxalates contributed to: His double hip replacement. Feeling old from age 50–65. Mentions OxyGuard supplement (recently restocked) and using 4 capsules/day to help clear excess oxalates (not as a license to keep eating high‑oxalate foods). Quick shout‑out to local farmers from Virginia End Farm selling at Nutrition World on Wednesdays (12–4), and that they've listened to every show. [0:8:55] Tease: Phase Angle & Seca Machine Ed previews Dr. Kurt Dearing's later segment on phase angle: A single number reflecting resilience and proximity to optimal health.. Mention of Be Well Labs / BeginwithLabs.com – Body Blueprint: Advanced lab panel: 50+ predictive health indicators. Pitch: more than a standard physical, actionable results. Price example: $275 vs typical $500, highlighting savings. [0:13:35] Segment Intro: Peptides & Weight Loss Framing: Peptides as one of the hottest trends in 47 years of Ed's experience. Shift from grey‑market injectables to safe, effective oral peptide powders. Ed has seen impressive feedback on an oral peptide powder for weight loss in early customers. [0:13:47] What Are Peptides? Protein basics: Proteins are long chains of amino acids essential for structure, function, and regulation. Peptide defined: A shorter chain of amino acids broken off from a larger protein. Lego analogy: Individual Legos = amino acids. Tall tower of Legos = full protein. Kid knocks tower over; a small intact stack (~8 Legos) that falls off = peptide. Each peptide has a “fingerprint” determined by: Length (how many amino acids/Legos). Sequence (order: e.g., red–red–blue–blue vs red–blue–red–blue). Processing (how it was broken off or created). Clarified: peptides are not primarily for fixing protein deficiency, but more for targeted signaling effects in the body. [0:20:52] Yeast‑Derived Oral Peptide for Metabolism & Drug Comparisons Endogenous peptides: made naturally inside the body. Exogenous peptides: introduced from outside (drug injections, supplements). Ozempic / GLP‑1 drugs: Yes, Ozempic is a peptide. These drugs are lab‑made peptides made to mimic natural body peptides. Peptides are not synthetic drugs in concept; they are peptide structures the body uses, though drugs are engineered. Focus on Ancient Nutrition “Active Peptide for Metabolism”: Contains a yeast peptide derived from Saccharomyces cerevisiae (brewer's yeast), broken from a larger yeast protein. Mechanism & effects: Influences hunger and satiety signaling: Increases leptin (satiety hormone). Decreases ghrelin (hunger hormone). Reported benefits: Reduced hunger and cravings (including boredom eating). Weight loss primarily from fat mass, not muscle mass. Comparison with GLP‑1 injections (semaglutide, etc.): Injections often cause muscle loss (e.g., “Ozempic face,” loss of facial muscle/fat). Yeast peptide research shows fat‑centric weight loss. Clinical results quoted: After 2 months, average daily caloric intake decreased by ~600 calories. Leads to meaningful weight loss, depending on baseline intake and muscle mass. [0:24:25] Dosing, Timing, Stacking & Safety Considerations How to take it: Once daily, typically in the morning to curb cravings throughout the day. Users report: easier recognition of fullness during meals. Stacking with cortisol peptide product: Ancient Nutrition also has a cortisol‑active peptide capsule for stress support. Same amount of yeast peptide per serving; research supports doubling the yeast peptide dose, so: You can use the metabolism powder + cortisol peptide together. Stress, cortisol, and weight: Chronic stress and high cortisol promote fat gain. Stacking stress support + appetite control may help body composition. Onset of effect: Reagan reports she personally noticed benefits around 2 weeks (quicker than many supplements that take 60–90 days). Cost & practicality: Approx cost around $50 for 30 days. Positioned as a cost‑effective alternative or complement to expensive injections. Side effects vs injectables: Reagan's hospital experience with GLP‑1 side effects (e.g., gastroparesis, impaired gastric motility, some requiring tube feeds or IV nutrition). Oral yeast peptide described as gentler, working with natural processes, not “forcing” the system. [0:30:09] Yeast Source, Candida Concerns & Usage Notes Yeast strain: Saccharomyces cerevisiae (not S. boulardii, and not pathogenic/candida). Clarifications: Will not cause yeast infections. Will not feed candida overgrowth. Taste & preparation: Chocolate flavor described as surprisingly good, even for those picky about chocolate. Temperature-sensitive: Must be mixed with cool liquid (NOT hot coffee/tea or hot beverages). Leaving it in high heat (e.g., hot car) can degrade activity. [0:36:03] Segment Intro: Phase Angle & Seca Scan with Dr. Kurt Dearing Discussion of: Seca medical‑grade bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) machine (~$12,000). It's commonly in hospitals/clinics, but rarely publicly accessible; Nutrition World and Be Well Labs both have one. Dr. Dearing's consult package: Includes consult + Seca scan + follow‑up visit + follow‑up Seca scan (~$195, promo if listeners mention the show). [0:37:35] What Is Phase Angle? (Deep Dive into Measurement & Meaning) What the Seca scan measures: Total body fat and visceral fat. Muscle mass (overall and by body segment). Phase angle (key focus). Phase angle basics: BIA sends low‑level alternating electrical currents through the body. The phase shift (time/angle difference) between current and voltage is measured. That phase shift = phase angle. Higher phase angle → healthier cell membranes, better cellular integrity, more muscle mass, better hydration. Lower phase angle → often malnutrition, chronic disease, frailty; can be used in dialysis, cancer patients, etc., to predict outcomes. Used as a longevity biomarker: Akin to an “EKG of your cells”. Can function as an early indicator for overall health trajectory, barring accidents Dr. Dearing's personal story: First scan categorized him as “bronze” on Seca's scale: Levels: None → Bronze → Silver → Gold → Platinum. Motivated him to increase strength training and eating healthy. Subsequent scan: improved from bronze → gold. Ed's anecdote: Friend and gym member Fred now tests as platinum, after sustained gym and nutrition efforts. Phase angle as a guide: If results are poor, that's a signal to upgrade the plan (diet, exercise, supplements). If phase angle improves (e.g., 4 → 5), it proves the plan is working, beyond just “feeling” better. [0:43:47] How to Improve Phase Angle (Practical Protocols) Key drivers and interventions: 1. Strength Training & Exercise Primary recommendation: resistance/strength training to build muscle mass. 2. Adequate Protein Ed's guideline: ~1 gram of protein per pound of body weight (men; women can often target ~¾ g per pound). Protein shakes often needed to hit targets. 3. Hydration & Electrolytes Proper cellular hydration improves phase angle. Maintain consistent fluid intake and electrolyte balance (sodium, potassium, magnesium). Avoid excessive diuretics/water pills. Dehydration causes phase angle to drop sharply. 4. Inflammation Control Systemic inflammation lowers phase angle and contributes to chronic disease. Tools: Anti‑inflammatory diet (Mediterranean‑style, high in omega‑3s). Omega‑3 fatty acids. Curcumin. Vitamin D optimization. Also includes sleep quality and stress management. 5. Foundational “Core Four” Supplements (Nutrition World concept) Covering: magnesium, zinc, vitamin D, B vitamins, etc., as baseline. 6. Targeted Add‑ons Creatine (supports muscle and cell energy). HMB (beta‑hydroxy beta‑methylbutyrate) – often paired with creatine. CoQ10 (mitochondrial and cellular energy). Phosphatidylcholine / BodyBio PC – to improve cell membrane integrity. [0:52:45] Closing Reflections Ed reads and comments on an article by Dr. Sircus about: Many doctors being “misaligned”: intellectually capable but no longer listening. Critique of: Over‑reliance on credentials. Under‑reliance on open‑mindedness and corrections. Emphasis that many clinicians are excellent listeners and deeply caring, but that institutional habits can discourage listening.  The post Radio Show / Podcast – July 26, 2026 first appeared on Vital Health Radio.

President Cyril Ramaphosa this week released the National Water Action Plan. As South Africa's water crisis reaches a breaking point, the presidency says the National Water Action Plan (NWAP) outlines strategic interventions to address the water crisis over the short, medium and long term, with the aim to address the root causes of the water supply challenges in many municipalities. The NWAP was developed by WATERCOM, which was established following the 2026 State of the Nation Address in response to increasingly severe water supply interruptions in several parts of the country. For reaction Bongiwe Zwane spoke to Jonathan Erasmus Communication Manager at WaterCan

Gastroparesis can be a frustrating condition for both patients and clinicians, with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, early satiety, bloating, and poor glycemic control significantly affecting quality of life. Medication management often requires balancing effectiveness with safety, especially since many commonly prescribed drugs can either improve or worsen gastric emptying. In this episode of the Real Life Pharmacology podcast, we’ll review the medications used to treat gastroparesis, discuss their mechanisms of action, highlight important adverse effects, and identify medications that may contribute to or exacerbate delayed gastric emptying. Huge thank you to our sponsor – Mechanism of Action Podcast; Go check them out on all your favorite podcast platforms! Be sure to check out our free Top 200 study guide – a 31 page PDF that is yours for FREE!

Nature or nurture—which is more important when it comes to health conditions?Would I benefit from taking nattokinase along with my statin?Mechanism of action of nattokinase vs. statin medications on coronary artery health

This week on Next Portable Console, AYANEO is chasing the classics again, teasing a Game Boy Advance clone, while Magmi is getting vertical. Plus, a Mechanism desk stand for your handheld, 8BitDo's FlipPad, and the GPD Win Max 3 challenges blurs the lines between laptop and console. Also available on YouTube here. Links and Show Notes The Latest Portable Gaming News KONKR Pocket Fit 8 Elite review: excessive power in a comfortable package Mangmi announces the Air Y, a new vertical Android handheld for 2026 GPD WIN Max 3 detailed with Ryzen AI Max+ 395 and a unique detachable 97Wh battery 8BitDo Opens Pre-Orders for the FlipPad Phone Controller Mechanism's desk stand turns your handheld into a tiny desktop Subscribe to NPC XL NPC XL is a weekly members-only version of NPC with extra content, available exclusively through our new Patreon for $5/month. Each week on NPC XL, Federico, Brendon, and John record a special segment or deep dive about a particular topic that is released alongside the "regular" NPC episodes. You can subscribe here: https://www.patreon.com/c/NextPortableConsole Leave Feedback for John, Federico, and Brendon NPC Feedback Form Credits Show Art: Brendon Bigley Music: Will LaPorte Follow Us Online On the Web MacStories.net Wavelengths.online Follow us on Mastodon NPC Federico John Brendon Follow us on Bluesky NPC MacStories Federico Viticci John Voorhees Brendon Bigley Affiliate Linking Policy

H2 blockers may not receive as much attention as proton pump inhibitors, but they continue to play an important role in managing acid-related disorders. In this episode of the Real Life Pharmacology podcast, we’ll review how H2 blockers work, compare the available agents, discuss important adverse effects, renal dose adjustments, drug interactions, and identify the patients who are most likely to benefit from these medications. Whether you’re a pharmacist, nurse, pharmacy technician, physician, or student, this episode provides practical clinical pearls you can apply immediately to patient care. In this episode, I also discuss a new podcast I discovered – go check out the Mechanism of Action Podcast! It is an entertaining and educational look at how many of the medications used today were discovered and derived.

Most people think saffron is just a spice, but when you look closely, it's a surprisingly complex botanical with a real problem in modern supplements: the compounds you can smell, and feel are often the first ones you lose during processing. We sit down with biochemist and Active Inside co-founder Benoit “Ben” Lemaire to unpack why safranal (the signature aromatic molecule) is volatile, why many extracts struggle to retain it, and how Safr'Inside uses a traditional adsorption and encapsulation approach to protect the raw material's original profile.We also get practical about what “standardised” should mean. Ben explains why older UV methods mainly measure colour and can misrepresent “safranal”, and why UHPLC testing changes the game for quality control, consistency, and even adulteration detection. From there we explore the clinical implications: chronic stress studies versus the need for acute stress support, and the proposed roles of safranal and crocins across serotonin and dopamine pathways.Then we widen the lens to the gut-brain axis and published microbiome work (including Akkermansia and indole metabolites), plus where saffron research is heading next, like vision support in type 2 diabetes. If you care about evidence-based herbal medicine, stress supplements, and what actually matters in manufacturing, this chat gives you a clearer framework to assess saffron products.If you found this useful, subscribe, share it with a colleague, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What question do you want us to tackle next?Shownotes and references are available on the Designs for Health websiteRegister as a Designs for Health Practitioner and discover quality practitioner- only supplements at www.designsforhealth.com.auFollow us on SocialsInstagram: DesignsforhealthausFacebook: DesignsforhealthausIXOM is the exclusive distribution partner for Activ'inside for ANZ. Please reach out to our team to learn more:Website - Activ'Inside : Your full service nutraceutical partnerLinkedin - ACTIV'INSIDE: Overview | LinkedInDISCLAIMER: The Information provided in the Wellness by Designs podcast is for educational purposes only; the information presented is not intended to be used as medical advice; please seek the advice of a qualified healthcare professional if what you have heard here today raises questions or concerns relating to your healthShownotes and references are available on the Designs for Health websiteRegister as a Designs for Health Practitioner and discover quality practitioner- only supplements at www.designsforhealth.com.auFollow us on SocialsInstagram: DesignsforhealthausFacebook: DesignsforhealthausDISCLAIMER: The Information provided in the Wellness by Designs podcast is for educational purposes only; the information presented is not intended to be used as medical advice; please seek the advice of a qualified healthcare professional if what you have heard here today raises questions or concerns relating to your health

Episode Summary:In this episode of the Pain Matters podcast, Host Sudheer Potru, DO, FASA, FASAM, and Co-Host Zafeer Baber, MD, offer a comprehensive discussion of the (relatively) new analgesic medication suzetrigine, emphasizing its impact on acute pain management. Approved by the FDA in January 2025, this oral medication offers promising alternatives for moderate-to-severe postoperative pain management. Delving into its mechanism, the conversation also covers the history of voltage-gated sodium (“NAV”) 1.8 channel research and its implications for patient care.Throughout the episode, the hosts highlight suzetrigine's unique mechanism of action, acting preferentially on the NAV 1.8 sodium channels located predominantly in the peripheral nervous system. The dialogue explores its advantages over traditional opioids, including reduced side effects such as sedation and constipation, making it an attractive option for enhancing postoperative recovery protocols like ERAS (Enhanced Recovery After Surgery). The conversation expands on the complexities of treating chronic pain and the potential for new Nav channel-targeting agents to revolutionize pain management employing targeted strategies.Key Takeaways:Understanding Suzetragine: Suzetragine acts as a novel analgesic focusing on the NAV 1.8 sodium channels, offering reduced side effects compared to opioids, especially in postoperative settings.Mechanism and Discovery: The NAV 1.8 sodium channel, essential for pain signal propagation, was key to designing suzetrogine. Its function was inadvertently highlighted by genetic mutations found in individuals who couldn't feel pain due to alterations in similar channels.Economic and Clinical Implications: Although suzetrogine is more expensive than traditional pain medications, its potential to reduce hospital-acquired complications could justify its cost in clinical settings.Future Prospects in Chronic Pain: Ongoing research into suzetrogine's effectiveness for conditions like diabetic neuropathy could offer new opportunities in managing chronic pain.Broader Pharmacological Impacts: The development of NAV channel-targeted medications marks a significant milestone, signaling a shift towards more specialized pain management options.*Views expressed by our hosts and guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the hosts, their institutions, or the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

Hosts: Ed Jones (Owner – Nutrition World) & Clint Powell A variety of topics all related to living a healthy life Presented by: Nutrition World www.nutritionw.com Broadcasting from the Nooga Dentistry Studio www.noogadentistry.com Production of: Whitfield Media Group www.vitalhealthradio.com Title: All about Spike Proteins with Dr. Glenn, Beyond Cholesterol & Better Heart Testing with Dr. Dearing [0:00:00] – Intro: Brian Johnson, Longevity & Oxalates + Farmers Market Light banter about: Ed coining the term “peak span” and using it in interviews. Ed's social media success (8.3 million views in 90 days). Joking about Ed doing a shirtless video and his bodybuilding competition and carb loading. Ed talks about Brian Johnson (longevity guru who spends ~$2M/year trying to live to 120): Johnson recently announced an autoimmune condition where his stomach is “eating its own stomach.” Ed admires his data and “Blueprint” protocol but believes two key factors in Johnson's regimen contributed to this issue. Ed teases that one factor is excess oxalate-rich foods; the other factor is left as a teaser for Ed's social media video. Ed announces a weekly farmers market at Nutrition World: Every Wednesday, inside the store, morning to mid-afternoon. Run by a young family with clean farming practices and minimal chemicals. Nutrition World does not profit from it; framed as a service to the community and support for small farmers. [0:05:04] – Upcoming Guests, Ed's E‑Books & Podcasts Ed previews two interviews for this episode: Dr. Glenn – testing and managing spike proteins. Dr. Curt Dearing – discussing his new book “Beyond Cholesterol” and non-traditional views on cardiovascular risk. Ed's e‑books: Six e‑books available on theholisticnavigator.com, including: Quality sleep Oxalates and pain “Are You Sick and Tired?” (diet & overall health) Oral health Immune system “Core Four” foundational supplements Podcasts: Ed mentions his Holistic Navigator podcast Clint promotes Nooga Podcasts (noogapodcasts.com) – a network of 20+ podcasts. [0:09:26] – Interview with Dr. Glenn: What Are Spike Proteins & Why They Matter Dr. Glenn defines spike proteins: Discovered in the 1960s, normally part of viruses from nature. Our immune system usually recognizes and dissolves natural spike proteins. For COVID-era, lab-made spike proteins: They are not recognized properly by the body. They can persist and are not efficiently eliminated. Mechanism (simplified): Spike proteins interact with ACE2 receptors (“locks” on the cell door). They unlock and open the cell doors, enter the cells, and damage/destroy cells from the inside. Clint notes he never heard the term “spike protein” before COVID; Dr. Glenn explains: Previously, they weren't an issue because the body just handled them. This is the first time in history we've dealt with lab-made spike proteins at scale. Dr. Glenn stresses this is not simply vaccinated vs. unvaccinated: mRNA vaccines were designed to produce spike proteins. But unvaccinated people with bad cases of COVID can also carry very high spike levels. His personal story: Got severe COVID in Jan 2020, pre-official naming: 2 weeks very ill on couch/bed. 3 months to feel “recovered,” but that was just the start of long-term issues. Over the next 3+ years, progressive cellular damage accumulated, leading to a broad set of symptoms. Dr. Glenn's symptoms when spikes were very high: Whites of eyes turned gray, with burning eyes all day (constant eye drops). Tinnitus (ringing in ears). Cyclical rashes under armpits. Burning nerves in quads; needed leg massage devices nightly to sleep. Gout attacks (kidneys not handling uric acid well). Venous congestion in lower left leg. Severe fatigue, getting sick frequently despite doing everything “right.” Developed endocarditis (inflammation of heart and valves); resting heart rate jumped from 55–60 to 80–105. Subtle Bell's palsy–type weakness on left side of face and brain symptoms. Laboratory findings: Test: SARS‑CoV‑2 spike protein antibody test (semi-quantitative). Thresholds: 1000: likely too high, potential cell damage. 5000: “a whole other level of danger.” His highest result: 11,694 (measured around Oct 28, 2023). Progress over four tests: 11,694 → 11,087 → ~9,950 → 8,905 (as of June 30, current year). Many symptoms have significantly improved, though: Heart rate better but not back to baseline. Tinnitus persists. Spike level is still high, so work remains. Symptoms can vary dramatically from person to person: Because spikes can enter different “doors” (cells/tissues) in different bodies. One person's profile may be mostly neurological; another's cardiovascular, etc. Dr. Glenn's clinic policy: He will not work with someone on issues like hormones, gut, or cognitive problems without a spike antibody test, because: Otherwise they may be “paddling upstream” against ongoing spike-related damage. Observation: Many patients say: “My doctor says my bloodwork is fine,” yet they feel terrible. Conventional doctors rarely order spike protein antibody tests [0:23:01] – Managing High Spike Proteins: Testing, Risk & Protocol Who Should Test & How: Ed notes frequent COVID infections (he's had it six times) and that many people have unexplained symptoms. Both Ed and Dr. Glenn suggest: Spike antibody testing should be considered for anyone with mysterious chronic symptoms, regardless of age or vaccination status. Testing can be done through labs like Be Well Labs (which Nutrition World works with) or other local options. Reference values: < 0.08 means essentially no exposure to COVID. Out of ~130 tests Dr. Glenn has reviewed, only one person was

At COP30, Parties agreed to develop a 'Just Transition Mechanism', which many hailed as one of the real bright spots of the conference. Climate Action Network International, for example, called the decision 'one of the strongest rights-based outcomes in the history of the UN climate negotiations'.   What is the Just Transition Mechanism? What impact could it have? And what are the next steps in operationalizing it? To find out, Anna and Bhargabi speak to Anabella Rosemberg, Senior Advisor on Just Transition at Climate Action Network International (CAN) and Beatriz Mattos, Projects and Research Coordinator at Plataforma CIPÓ.

「安慰剂」在新药研发过程中处处可见，amylose 和 amylopectin是安慰剂糖丸的主要成分，其实就是淀粉（标题注释）。安慰剂效应究竟是应该被消除的统计噪声，还是一种被低估的真实治疗机制？当一针生理盐水能让帕金森患者的大脑释放出与真药相当的多巴胺，当假手术的疗效与真手术完全持平。我们要回答的问题是：如果安慰剂这么强，新药研发的投入还有意义吗？如果安慰剂能治病，我们可以只给病人吃糖丸吗？这期节目我们一起聊聊安慰剂效应在大脑中究竟通过哪些神经通路起效；它为什么越来越强以至于成为新药研发的障碍；我们可以只用安慰剂来治病吗？时间轴[00:14] 怀特先生的故事：一针盐水就让肿瘤消失了[02:54] 二战护士用生理盐水冒充吗啡止痛，战士不疼了[06:22] 不光吃药，手术也有安慰剂效应[12:32] 安慰剂不光能安慰，还能「反安慰」[19:10] 安慰剂管用的三条神经通路：内源性阿片系统、多巴胺奖赏系统、HPA 轴[28:32] 安慰剂成了新药上市的绊脚石[39:31] 临床试验如何对付安慰剂效应[44:14] 只用安慰剂能治病吗？

Episode 625 of the A Minute to Midnite Show. Alex Newman from Liberty Sentinel joins Tony K. There have been some very concerning developments recently that affect the ongoing freedom of us all. Important information.

At this year's Tallinn Cyber Diplomacy Summer School, one question kept coming up: how can international cyber agreements move beyond diplomatic language and translate into real action?The question is particularly timely as the United Nations Global Mechanism prepares for its upcoming meeting in New York this July, an important milestone for the permanent UN process on responsible state behaviour in cyberspace.In this episode of the Digital Government Podcast, recorded during the Summer School, Patryk Pawlak speaks with H.E. Ambassador Egriselda López, Chair of the UN Global Mechanism, about what comes next for cyber diplomacy at the United Nations. Together, they discuss how implementation can become more action-oriented, why capacity building is essential for meaningful ownership, and how governments, experts, and technical communities can work together to make the mechanism effective in practice.Listen to the episode to learn why turning commitments into action matters now more than ever.

Today on Astronomy Daily: Japan's Hayabusa2 pulls off a nail-biting high-speed asteroid flyby, James Webb finds the same unexplained chemical mystery on Titan AND Pluto, a neutrino detector may have caught the universe's oldest supernova echo, a wild new theory tries to solve the black hole information paradox, we wrap up the weekend's aurora action, and we look at when NASA's New Horizons might finally cross into interstellar space.Monday, July 6, 2026 1. Hayabusa2's Flyby of Asteroid Torifune •        JAXA's Hayabusa2 spacecraft flew within ~800 metres of near-Earth asteroid (98943) Torifune on July 5, 2026, at a relative speed of about 5.25 km/s (~18,000 km/h). •        This is an extended-mission flyby, not a sample return — Hayabusa2 already delivered Ryugu samples to Earth in December 2020. •        Purpose: engineering demonstration of high-precision navigation relevant to planetary defense (asteroid deflection technology). •        Torifune is roughly 450 metres across. Next stop for Hayabusa2: rendezvous with asteroid 1998 KY26 in 2031. •        Source: JAXA/ISAS, Nikkei Asia, phys.org (July 5, 2026). 2. Mystery Molecule Found on Both Titan and Pluto •        James Webb Space Telescope data reveals an unexplained absorption feature at ~5.11 micrometres on the surfaces of Titan (Saturn's largest moon) and Pluto. •        Evidence points to a surface origin rather than atmospheric origin, based on limb-vs-disc-center comparison on Titan. •        Candidate compounds include allenes, but no confirmed identification yet. •        Pluto's absorption line is roughly three times broader than Titan's at the same central wavelength. •        Study led by Dr. Bruno Bézard's team (Paris Observatory); posted to arXiv June 11, 2026 — not yet peer-reviewed. 3. Super-Kamiokande's Hint of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background •        Super-Kamiokande collaboration presented results at Neutrino 2026 (UC Irvine) after analyzing ~5,000 days of data. •        Found a statistically significant excess of events between 13.3–81.3 MeV — consistent with the long-predicted Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background (DSNB). •        Significance: 2.6-sigma (~99.5% confidence) — below the 5-sigma discovery threshold, so described as an 'indication,' not a confirmed detection. •        If confirmed, DSNB would offer a new way to study the cosmic history of core-collapse supernovae via neutrinos rather than light. 4. A Theoretical Fix for the Black Hole Information Paradox •        New theoretical study proposes black holes stop evaporating just before vanishing completely, leaving a stable Planck-scale remnant (~9×10⁻⁴¹ kg). •        Mechanism: a repulsive force from spacetime torsion in a 7-dimensional Einstein-Cartan model, active at extreme (Planckian) densities. •        Proposal: quantum information is preserved via long-lived 'vibrations' in the remnant's internal torsion field. •        This is a theoretical/mathematical proposal, not an observational result. Researchers: Pinčák, Pigazzini, Pudlák, Bartoš. 5. Weekend Geomagnetic Storm / Aurora Wrap-Up •        X1.1 solar flare (June 30) and associated CME triggered a G3 (strong) geomagnetic storm around July 3–4, 2026. •        Aurora borealis visible as far south as Utah, Colorado, and Nevada in the continental US. •        NOAA SWPC reports conditions easing to unsettled/G1 levels through July 6 as CME effects wane. 6. Forecasting New Horizons' Crossing Into Interstellar Space •        SwRI researchers (lead: Dr. Jonathan Gasser) combined solar wind forecasting with heliosphere models to predict New Horizons' termination shock crossing. •        Forecast window: 2029–2040, with possible multiple crossings as the heliosphere expands/contracts with the solar cycle. •        New Horizons is currently ~66 AU from the Sun. Voyager 2 crossed its termination shock at 84 AU in 2007, with a 46% solar wind speed drop. •        New Horizons would become only the third spacecraft (after Voyager 1 and 2) to cross this boundary. •        Two papers: Advances in Space Research and The Astrophysical Journal (SwRI, 2026).Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/astronomy-daily-the-latest-space-news--5648921/support.Sponsor Details:Ensure your online privacy by using NordVPN. To get our special listener deal and save a lot of money, visit www.bitesz.com/nordvpn. You'll be glad you did!Become a supporter of Astronomy Daily by joining our Supporters Club. Commercial free episodes daily are only a click way... Click HereThis episode includes AI-generated content.

Portugal has asked the EU, Spain and Morocco to have extra firefighting aircraft ready in case wildfires worsen during the current heatwave. Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said the move was precautionary and that national capacity had not yet been exhausted.

After years of stalled China–EU trade talks, the two sides have launched a new Trade and Investment Consultation Mechanism, holding its first high-level meeting and, notably, issuing a joint statement, the first of its kind since 2019. So is this the beginning of a more stabilized China–EU economic framework, or the embedding of a managed trade confrontation? Host Ge Anna is joined by Liang Linlin, Director of Communication and Research of China Chamber of Commerce to the European Union; Hussein Askary, Vice-President of the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden; Dr. George Tzogopoulos, Director of EU-China Programmes and Senior Research Fellow, at European Institute of Nice.

There are two board game mechanisms you just can't escape, they're on everyone's mind, flooding the discourse. That's combat, and card draw mitigation. Everyone won't stop talking about them. So we had to weigh in too, not just with what we feel are the best examples of games that have done them best, but some other quirky takes on them too. Before we mitigate our card draws, we talk about Rolling Deep, Eureka!, dnup, and Grinivil. 03:59 - Rolling Deep 15:12 - Eureka! 16:48 - dnup 24:48 - Grinivil 40:10 - Combat mechanisms 41:07 - Kemet 45:00 - Dune 48:40 - Shogun 52:42 - Forbidden Stars 53:51 - Dead Reckoning 54:48 - Gloomhaven 55:12 - Card draw mitigation 56:09 - Dark Pact 57:19 - La Granja 58:26 - Glory to Rome 59:58 - Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization 1:02:07 - Race for the Galaxy 1:02:57 - 7 Wonders Duel 1:06:28 - The Vale of Eternity Get added to the BGB community map at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/map Send us topic ideas at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/topics Check out our wiki at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/wiki Join the discussion at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/discord Join our Facebook group at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/facebook Get a Board Game Barrage T-shirt at: https://boardgamebarrage.com/store

Featuring a slide presentation and related discussion from Dr Rana R McKay, including the following topics: Overview of the current landscape of prostate cancer (0:00) Mechanism of action of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) (3:51) Findings from the Phase III HERO study evaluating relugolix versus leuprolide for advanced prostate cancer (7:18) Real-world evidence regarding the use of relugolix (12:27) Adverse event profile associated with ADT (18:34) Case: A man in his early 70s with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer who receives ADT at various timepoints of treatment and is currently on relugolix (21:46) Case: A man in his early 60s with high-risk locally advanced prostate cancer who receives various androgen receptor pathway inhibitors in addition to relugolix (28:06) CME information and select publications

Disparate Impact, Merit-Based Admissions, and Federal Contracting Reforms. Guest: Michael Toth. Michael Toth discusses the historical use of "disparate impact" as a mechanism for discrimination in university admissions. He details the current administration's efforts to root out racial preferences in federal contracting. Toth argues for a return to merit-based standards to restore the principle of equal justice. 131920 SCOTUS

David Daoud and Bill Roggio analyze "pilot zones" as a mechanism to hold Lebanon's feet to the fire regarding Hezbollah's disarmament. Daoud warns that if the US prioritizes quiet with Iran, these zones could become pressure tactics against Israel rather than mechanisms for actual Lebanese performance. 8ř979 Iran

How do you safely combine locoregional and systemic therapies to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) when traditional guidelines suggest your hands are tied? In this episode of the 2026 HCC Creator Weekend™, medical oncologist Dr. Lingling Du (Ochsner Health) and interventional radiologist Dr. Beau Toskich (Mayo Clinic Florida) join Dr. Tyler Sandow to break down patient selection, timing strategies, and the practical application of clinical trial outcomes when integrating Y90 radioembolization and immunotherapy in HCC management. --- Get the BackTable apphttps://www.backtable.com/app --- This podcast is supported by an educational grant from Sirtex and Boston Scientific. --- Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction01:48 - Two HCC Cases03:31 - Disease Progression on Combination Therapy07:05 - Alternatives After Immunotherapy Failure09:09 - Salvage with Ablative Y9013:41 - Mechanism of Immunotherapy15:43 - EMERALD-1 and LEAP-01220:52 - Adverse Events with Combination Therapy27:21 - Treatment Timing and Sequencing28:48 - Case: Borderline BCLC B33:48 - Case: BCLC C with Portal Vein Thrombus37:06 - Raising the Survival Tail40:11 - Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks --- More about this episode The physicians highlight how selective local treatment can achieve complete responses and salvage cases with aggressive disease. They emphasize that treatment based on anatomical and biological phenotype may yield better results than strictly adhering to rigid staging categories, while acknowledging the challenges of managing microscopic disease and unpredictable long-term tumor behavior. Dr. Du and Dr. Toskich also note that selecting the right combination regimens requires balancing aggressive tumor kinetics against the patient's baseline liver function, pointing out that well-tolerated regimens like STRIDE are often easier to pair with Y90 than checkpoint or VEGFR inhibitors that alter tumor blood flow. While recent TACE-immunotherapy trials (EMERALD-1 and LEAP-012) may be confounded by patient heterogeneity, the physicians observe that a distinct subset of patients achieves durable, long-term remission, effectively raising the survival tail for an otherwise incurable population. Ultimately, they conclude that cross-specialty education and leaning into the expert intuition of a multidisciplinary team are essential for securing the best outcomes for patients with intermediate and advanced HCC. --- Resources Study of Durvalumab and Tremelimumab as First-line Treatment in Patients With Advanced Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HIMALAYA)https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03298451 A Study of Atezolizumab in Combination With Bevacizumab Compared With Sorafenib in Patients With Untreated Locally Advanced or Metastatic Hepatocellular Carcinoma (IMbrave150)https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03434379 Nivolumab plus ipilimumab versus lenvatinib or sorafenib as first-line treatment for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (CheckMate 9DW): an open-label, randomised, phase 3 trialhttps://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(25)00403-9 Durvalumab with or without bevacizumab with transarterial chemoembolisation in hepatocellular carcinoma (EMERALD-1): a multiregional, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3 studyhttps://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02551-0 Transarterial chemoembolisation combined with lenvatinib plus pembrolizumab versus dual placebo for unresectable, non-metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (LEAP-012): a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, phase 3 studyhttps://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(24)02575-3 --- BackTable Vascular & Interventional (VI) is the go-to podcast for interventional radiologists, vascular surgeons, and interventional cardiologists. Download the free BackTable app to get early access to new episodes, cases, and courses curated by physicians in your specialty. ► https://www.backtable.com/app

① China and the EU launch trade and investment consultation mechanism. What is the key focus? (00:44) ② How is the CPC's institutional system guiding the country's growth? (14:04) ③ China's outbound investment regulation will take effect on July 1. How can the country balance openness and security? (24:46) ④ How is the Middle East conflict hitting Americans' finances and travel plans? (35:10) ⑤ What is behind South Korea's massive AI and chip investment drive? (43:04)

Episode Overview With Dr. Drew Lansdown away (and reportedly playing golf in Scotland), Brian and Nirav dive deep into the sports medicine landscape of the FIFA World Cup 2026. The episode covers the unique injury patterns in soccer, what surgeons and physicians need to understand about treating elite soccer players, and the injury prevention strategies that have strong data behind them. Key Topics Covered Why Soccer Produces High Rates of Non-Contact Injuries • ACL tears are the defining non-contact injury in soccer ◦ Soccer is the #1 sport played by female athletes — a population with well-established higher ACL tear rates ◦ Quick acceleration, deceleration, and multi-directional cutting movements are intrinsic to the sport ◦ Cognitive load during play (split-second decision-making while in the air) increases landing mechanics risk ◦ Classic example: the Wayne Rooney-type ACL — trying to split a defender while thinking two steps ahead leads to a mis-step • Game structure contributes to higher injury numbers ◦ 11 players per side means more total athletes on the field ◦ Longer games (90 minutes vs. basketball or football quarters) ◦ Combined effect: more player-hours of exposure per match Load Management & the World Cup Context • The World Cup paradox: fewer games per week than top club players are used to ◦ Example: Erling Haaland at Manchester City — club season + qualifiers + Champions League stacks up to more games/week than the World Cup ◦ The bigger concern is cumulative seasonal load, not the World Cup schedule itself • The World Cup is essentially an off-season add-on for elite players ◦ Comparable to asking NBA athletes to play the NBA season and then immediately compete in the Olympics • Travel is likely less of a factor than commonly assumed ◦ Elite clubs already manage heavy international travel; accommodations are often top-tier • Early specialization a compounding factor ◦ Many World Cup players have been playing since age 10–13 with little cross-sport participation, contributing to long-term cumulative load ◦ Notable exception: Norway — athletes there tend to play multiple sports ACL Surgery Considerations for Soccer Players • Graft selection overview ◦ Bone-Patellar Tendon-Bone (BPTB): traditional gold standard — caveat is patella fracture risk with early falls onto the knee ◦ Quad Tendon: recent JBJS meta-analysis showed marginal superiority, but difference not clinically significant; less commonly used in soccer given importance of quad strength ◦ Hamstring ± Lateral Extra-Articular Tenodesis (LAT): widely used in the Premier League, largely driven by the influence of Andy Williams' work with top clubs • Return-to-play timeline ◦ Uniformly 9–12 months regardless of graft choice ◦ Phased rehab: gait & coordination → strength → agility → sport-specific • Key structural differences in elite soccer player care ◦ Academy pipeline provides high-quality early medical access — similar to minor league baseball feeder systems ◦ Bracing: elite soccer players use far fewer post-op braces and return-to-sport braces vs. American football or basketball athletes ◦ Less post-op bracing is not associated with worse outcomes in this population Hamstring Injuries in Soccer • Most common injury type in soccer globally • High-speed sprinting is the primary mechanism ◦ The hamstring functions eccentrically during the late swing phase of sprinting — peak load occurs just before foot strike ◦ The injury moment is often at the point of maximal lengthening under force • Grading and prognosis ◦ Grade 1 (mild strain): return in 1–2 weeks ◦ Grade 2 (partial tear): 3–6 weeks depending on location and extent ◦ Grade 3 (complete rupture or proximal avulsion): potentially surgical; weeks to months • Proximal hamstring avulsions deserve specific attention ◦ Complete proximal avulsions (from the ischial tuberosity) are increasingly managed operatively in athletes ◦ Strong evidence for surgical repair in high-demand athletes who want to return to competitive sport • Nordic hamstring curls: effective prevention tool (discussed later in injury prevention section) Ankle Injuries • Lateral ankle sprains are extremely common in soccer ◦ The ATF (anterior talofibular ligament) is most commonly injured ◦ Mechanism: plantar flexion + inversion, often from landing on another player's foot • The challenge of ankle turf toe and high ankle sprains ◦ Syndesmotic (high ankle) injuries are less common but significantly longer recovery — 6–10+ weeks • World Cup-specific context: artificial turf used in some venues ◦ Turf surfaces change force transmission through the ankle and may increase injury risk compared to natural grass Muscle Cramps: A World Cup Staple • Muscle cramping is ubiquitous in World Cup play — especially in heat/humidity ◦ Not a sign of poor conditioning — even elite players cramp ◦ Players accustomed to cooler climates (Northern Europe) are particularly susceptible • Mechanism: combination of dehydration, electrolyte depletion, and neuromuscular fatigue • Cramping is functionally debilitating even though it is not a structural injury • Treatment/prevention: aggressive electrolyte repletion ◦ Pickle juice: Brian and Nirav discuss — strong evidence in ultra-endurance contexts; electrolyte content is the likely mechanism ◦ Bananas, electrolyte drinks, gels — all have their place ◦ "Anything that repletes electrolytes" will help — athlete preference matters The Theatrics — Diving, Flopping & the Mystery Spray • Why do elite athletes go down so dramatically? ◦ Getting kicked in an unprotected lower extremity genuinely hurts — shin guards are getting smaller (Nirav jokes about a quarter-sized guard his daughter uses) ◦ Foul strategy: falling can draw calls or stop play — gamesmanship is real • The spray — what is it? ◦ Best evidence: a topical cooling spray similar to Icy Hot or ethyl chloride ◦ Temporarily numbs the skin and superficial nerve endings at the contusion site ◦ Not a structural fix — purely symptomatic/neurological effect on acute pain ◦ The shock of impact often wears off naturally — the spray may assist with that transition Injury Prevention — What the Data Actually Shows • FIFA 11+ Program ◦ Developed by FIFA and extensively validated in peer-reviewed literature ◦ Components: core strengthening, glute/hamstring activation, agility drills ◦ Consistent reduction in injury rates by approximately 50% ◦ How to find it: search "FIFA 11+ injury prevention" (not just "FIFA 11" — that returns the video game) ◦ Widely implemented at elite levels; underutilized in youth soccer where practice time is dominated by skill drills and scrimmaging • Nordic Hamstring Curls ◦ Strong and growing evidence for both hamstring injury prevention AND ACL injury risk reduction ◦ Works by strengthening the hamstring eccentrically — addressing the exact mechanism of hamstring strains ◦ Compliance challenge: extraordinarily difficult to perform correctly, especially in older athletes ◦ Brian and Nirav agree: nearly impossible to complete a full set, especially with added weight • Implementation gap: what gets done vs. what works ◦ Youth coaches prioritize the "fun stuff" — drills, scrimmage — over warm-up protocols ◦ 15 minutes of evidence-based warm-up is a hard sell when kids are paying for club-level coaching and want to play Clinical Pearls for Practitioners • Graft selection for soccer players is multifactorial — consider quad strength demands and fall-on-knee risk before defaulting to BPTB • Post-op bracing: the European/Premier League model of minimal bracing in elite soccer players is worth considering — less may be more in highly compliant athletes • Proximal hamstring avulsions in competitive athletes warrant surgical consultation — non-operative outcomes in this population are often unsatisfactory • Cramping ≠ poor conditioning — counseling athletes and families on this distinction is important • FIFA 11+ should be part of any soccer athlete's injury prevention conversation, especially in youth programs • Nordic curls: prescribe them, warn patients they are difficult, and set realistic expectations Quotable Moments "The World Cup paradoxically is actually fewer games per week than a lot of these players are used to." — Dr. Feeley "It's like asking NBA athletes to come in, play the NBA season, and then play in the Olympics." — Dr. Feeley on cumulative load "Our youngest now uses something the size of a quarter... that's her shin guard." — Dr. Pandya on evolving shin guard trends "Nordic curls are almost impossible. That's why you see people doing them." — Dr. Feeley "Anything that repletes electrolytes is going to be beneficial." — Dr. Feeley on cramping management Please subscribe to our podcast at Apple PodcastsCheck out our website on Simplecast

In this episode, you'll learn how to build a powerful micro brand that doesn't rely on huge follower counts or viral content, but on a sharp message, a clear sub-niche, and 1,000 true fans. The speaker breaks down the 4M Micro Brand Framework: Message, Media, Mechanism, Machine, and shows how to move from chasing random leads to consistently attracting pre-sold dream clients with a tighter brand, stronger point of view, and belief-shifting content.   "You don't need a bigger audience, you need stronger resonance."   Key Points: Micro brands win with depth, not volume 1,000 true fans can fuel a sustainable business Chasing followers ≠ getting quality buyers Stand out with a sharp, specific sub-niche Own one painful problem in your market Generic messaging attracts the wrong leads Create "dog whistle" messaging for dream clients Strong POV + story = memorable brand Use content as a belief-shifting ecosystem Workshops/masterclasses convert attention to clients Track KPIs to make growth repeatable Systems > motivation for consistent results Serve a smaller room more deeply Become the go-to expert for one clear outcome Connect with Jason Meland: Email: jason@goliveonlinemastermind.com Website: https://www.growmyvisibility.com/ Instagram: @coachjasonmeland Facebook: Jason Meland - In Demand Coach LinkedIn: Jason Meland

Dietitians Torwen Eerkens and Aidan Muir run through 7 things worth knowing about caffeine and its effects on alertness, performance, sleep and anxiety.    (00:28) - Caffeine Sources (1:41) - The Half-Life of Caffeine (2:00) - Genetic Variability in Metabolism (3:29) - Mechanism  (4:04) - Training Performance (5:30) - Sleep Impacts (6:05) - Anxiety & L-Theanine  WEBSITE:  https://www.idealnutrition.com.au/ PODCAST:  https://www.idealnutrition.com.au/podcast/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/idealnutrition__/?hl=en Our dietitians

What if a doctor tells you there is nothing more they can do to fix your heart blockages, and you've run out of options? In this episode of The Heart of Innovation, hosts Kym McNicholas and Interventional Cardiologist Dr. John Phillips introduce you to EECP (Enhanced External Counterpulsation)—a powerful, non-invasive "Hail Mary" technology that has been saving cardiac patients for decades but remains drastically underutilized in mainstream medicine. In this deep-dive discussion, the team is joined by world-renowned cardiologist Dr. Richard Brown (consultant for Flow Therapy and former head of Johnson & Johnson's Save Legs, Change Lives program) and Jack Clifford, a cardiovascular patient and advocate who famously refused bypass surgery and used EECP to get back to running marathons.

Reflections from host Sarah Olivieri ... Why Your Nonprofit Can't Afford to Outsource Its Own Capacity There is a moment that arrives in almost every mission-driven organization. You build something that works. A program, a platform, a process. It depends on one person, one vendor, one funder, one system that only one set of hands understands. And for a while, that works just fine. Then that one thing disappears. The developer leaves. The funder pulls out. The grant ends. The person who knew how everything fit together walks out the door. And suddenly the thing you built is not just struggling. It is locked. You cannot get in. You cannot fix it. You cannot move. This is not a story about bad luck. When an organization's capacity lives entirely outside its own walls, a single disruption becomes an existential threat. That is a question of nonprofit technology capacity, and it is structural. When the systems your mission depends on are owned by someone else, you are not running an organization. You are renting one. The Source of This Thinking I've been thinking a lot about this lately. I recently had a conversation about exactly this with Chris Conlee, and it sharpened how I think about what actually creates staying power in nonprofits. Not because the ideas were new, but because they explained why certain approaches hold up over time. Outsourced Capacity Is a Structural Vulnerability Here is the pattern I keep seeing. A heart-first leader has a real idea. They do not have the technical skill to build it, so they hire it out. They find a vendor, sign a contract, and hand over the keys. The thing gets built. It even works. What they have actually done is create a dependency they cannot see. The code, the logins, the design files, the institutional knowledge of how it all connects, all of it lives somewhere else. As long as the relationship holds, nobody notices the risk. The risk is invisible right up until the moment it is the only thing that matters. This framing adds risk because it hides the cost. You feel like you saved money by not building in-house. What you actually did was move the most fragile part of your organization outside your own control and hope nothing ever happened to it. When the disruption comes, and it always comes eventually, the bill arrives all at once. You are locked out of your own work. You have already spent more than you raised. And you are facing a choice between starting over and shutting down. Heart-First Is Not the Problem Let me say something clearly, because heart-first leaders carry too much shame about this already. The nonprofit sector is full of people who led with their hearts and figured out the systems later. Very few of them woke up one day and decided to become a nonprofit CEO and then went to school for it. They saw a need. They moved toward it. The leadership skills and the systems came second. There is nothing wrong with that order. The mission should come first. The trouble is what happens when the heart builds something real and then never circles back to build the foundation underneath it. You cannot run a complex business model on heart alone forever. At some point the moving parts multiply, the dependencies stack up, and the gap between what you care about and what you can actually control becomes the thing that breaks you. The answer is not to care less. It is to build the plumbing first, so the thing you care about has something solid to stand on. The Single Point of Failure Is Always a Design Choice When you rely on one developer, one platform, one funder, you have made a design choice, whether you meant to or not. You have decided that the survival of your organization rests on something you do not control. Most leaders never decide this consciously. It happens by default. You build the fastest way you can with the resources you have, and the fastest way almost always means leaning hard on a single source. Speed feels like progress. The hidden cost is concentration. The same logic shows up in budgets, which is why I think of underfunding as a design choice rather than an accident. The work of leadership is to look around the corner before the corner arrives. Where is your organization dangerously concentrated right now? One major donor who covers half your budget. One staff member who is the only one who knows how payroll runs. One vendor who holds the keys to the system your whole program depends on. These are the questions that separate organizations that last from organizations that get one bad season and disappear. The Mechanism, Named Plainly One line from that conversation has stayed with me: "It's not that you need to use AI to stay ahead, because it's now sort of expected. If you're not using AI, you're just by default behind." What I appreciate about this framing is that it explains the mechanism. The ground has shifted. The tools that used to require a hired specialist and a five-figure budget are now within reach of a determined leader with the right guardrails. The barrier that justified outsourcing your capacity is mostly gone. When you keep outsourcing anyway, you are paying the old price for a problem that no longer requires it. Owning Your Capacity Changes What You Can Survive When Chris rebuilt his organization's app himself, the thing that changed was not the app. It was the relationship between the organization and its own infrastructure. A user reports a bug. He opens the logs. He fixes it in minutes, in-house, without waiting on anyone twelve time zones away. That is what owning your capacity buys you. Not perfection. Things still break. Owning your capacity means that when something breaks, you can fix it. The difference between an organization that survives disruption and one that does not is rarely the size of the disruption. It is whether the organization can respond without being locked out of its own work. This is true far beyond app development. The same logic applies to your donor data, your financial systems, your program delivery, your knowledge of how the whole thing runs. Wherever a single external dependency holds your mission hostage, you have found the place that will break you first. What This Makes Possible When a leader sees this clearly, the relationship to technology stops being a source of dread. The fear of the system breaking, of the vendor disappearing, of being locked out, that fear comes from not owning the thing your mission depends on. Build the capacity inside the organization and that weight lifts. What you are left with is an organization that can absorb a bad season without collapsing. One that fixes its own problems instead of waiting on someone else to find the time. One that can take the expertise it already holds and put it in front of the people who need it, at a scale that actually moves the needle. That is what staying power looks like. It is built, not hoped for. Closing This isn't about doing more. It's about owning what your mission depends on. Nonprofits can control their own systems. They can fix their own problems. They can scale the expertise they already have. Not by hiring it all out and hoping it holds, but by building the capacity to stand on their own. About the Guest Chris Conlee is my guest for this episode. Chris is an Army veteran and a long-time Hollywood film editor who traded the red carpet for the server room to build something that matters. After a series of "perfect storm" disasters—including a total industry shutdown and losing our lead developer—I spent six months teaching myself to code with AI to rebuild PIFster from the ground up. My wife Shashana and I now run this community of micro-donors, where we prove every day that a bunch of people giving just $1 a month can collectively change the life of an "underdog" charity. When I'm not in the code, I'm likely at our home in East LA, which we've turned into a bit of a sanctuary for local street rescues. Connect with Chris: Website: ChrisConlee.com (Personal) Website: imdb.com (Other) LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/chris-conlee-editor Be sure to subscribe to Inspired Nonprofit Leadership so that you don't miss a single episode, and while you're at it, won't you take a moment to write a short review and rate our show? It would be greatly appreciated! Let us know the topics or questions you would like to hear about in a future episode. You can do that and follow us on LinkedIn.

Resources for the Community:___________________________________________________________________Linktree Our Favorite ThingsNeed help appealing your GLP-1 denials? www.FindHonestCare.com/KimRo - Telehealth for GLP1 Weight ManagementGLP-1 Stall? Why Your Body Stops Losing Weight | Dr. Michelle GordonHosts Kim Carlos and Kat Carter talk with obesity medicine specialist Dr. Michelle Gordon about the biological factors behind a GLP-1 weight loss plateau. If you are on a medication like tirzepatide or semaglutide and the scale stops moving, it is driven by a complex neuroendocrine response.Dr. Gordon explains that the hypothalamus operates like a stubborn thermostat, defending a specific weight set point. When you lose weight, the brain reads the change as a threat and triggers physiological defenses. To prevent further weight loss, the body increases hunger hormones and simultaneously lowers its energy expenditure.Key topics include:The Mechanism of a Stall: A weight plateau occurs at the exact point where your declining daily energy expenditure meets your rising natural hunger signals.Menopause and Fat Oxidation: Midlife hormonal shifts cause fat oxidation to drop, which alters metabolic burn rates and shifts fat storage to the stomach.The Chronic Disease Reality: Clinical data shows that stopping a GLP-1 medication typically results in regaining about two thirds of the lost weight, proving obesity requires continuous management.Muscle Mass Preservation: Rapid weight loss from any method causes muscle loss, making strength training essential to preserve lean muscle and protect long-term functional health.Connect to Dr. Michelle Gordon:Substack: https://drmichellegordon.substack.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doctormichellegordon/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drmichellegordon/Practice Website: https://drmichellegordon.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drmichellegordon/______________________________________________________________________Join this channel to get access to perks:   / @theplussidez______________________________________________________________________#Mounjaro #MounjaroJourney #Ozempic #Semaglutide #tirzepatide  #GLP1 #Obesity #zepbound #wegovy #ObesityCare #PatientAdvocate #GLP1Community #RealGLP1StoriesSend us Fan Mail!Support the showKim Carlos, Executive Producer TikTokInstagram Kat Carter,  Producer TikTokInstagram 

Could you have metabolic dysfunction even at a normal weight?This episode challenges everything we've been taught about weight and health. Dr. Cooper reveals that up to 25% of normal-weight people have metabolic syndrome, yet they're rarely screened because doctors assume they're healthy based on appearance alone.KEY TAKEAWAYSWeight and metabolic health are not the same thing - you can be metabolically unhealthy at any sizeNormal weight people with metabolic dysfunction are often overlooked and undertreated by healthcare providersKey screening tests include fasting glucose, insulin, HbA1c, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, blood pressure, and inflammatory markers like HSCRPMetabolic dysfunction can start in your 20s and take decades to develop into serious diseaseBoth normal weight and higher weight patients face bias - normal weight people aren't screened enough, while higher weight people have everything blamed on their weightEarly screening and treatment can prevent catastrophic health outcomes later in lifeThe liver plays a crucial role in metabolism and can become insulin resistant regardless of body weightNOTABLE QUOTE"You cannot tell anything about someone's health from their outside, what they look like or what, even what they're doing necessarily, but definitely not their body size. So you can be healthy or unhealthy at any size body, and I think that's what's overlooked quite a bit." — Dr. Emily CooperLinks & ResourcesPodcast Home: fatsciencepodcast.comCooper Center for Metabolism: coopermetabolic.comResources from Dr. Cooper: coopermetabolic.com/resourcesJoin Our Community: patreon.com/cw/FatSciencePodcastSubmit Your Question: questions@fatsciencepodcast.com or dr.c@fatsciencepodcast.comAppendix: Key ReferencesPrimary literature supporting this episode•       Wang et al. Prevalence of Metabolically Unhealthy Normal Weight and Its Influence on the Risk of Diabetes. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2023.•       Review: Beyond BMI — Rethinking Obesity Metrics and Cardiovascular Risk in the Era of Precision Medicine. Journal of Clinical Medicine, December 2025.•       Korean meta-analyses on metabolic dysfunction phenotypes and cardiometabolic risk, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences Journal review, 2024.•       Frontiers in Nutrition, January 2026. Associations of metabolic heterogeneity with the progression of cardiometabolic multimorbidity.•       International Journal of Obesity, September 2025. Cardiovascular risk factors associated with metabolic health phenotypes.Mechanism references•       MASLD — metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease — nomenclature and clinical framework. AASLD/EASL consensus, 2023.•       Insulin signaling, adipose tissue dysfunction, and ectopic fat deposition — reviews on the upstream-downstream relationship.•       Epicardial adipose tissue and cardiovascular dysfunction — Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine, January 2026.Fat Science is supported by the Diabesity Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing access to effective, science-based metabolic care.This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult with a qualified healthcare provider for personalized recommendations.

[Content Warning]: Discussion of childhood sexual abuse, sexual assault in a carceral setting, and graphic statistics related to child sexual abuse material and human trafficking. What if the very thing you've been hiding is the thing that could set you free? Sonny Von Cleveland is an author, speaker, and survivor who spent most of his childhood enduring sexual abuse by multiple perpetrators, beginning before he could form reliable memories of it. At 16, facing the compounded wreckage of an unprotected childhood, he entered the prison system and spent 18 years inside. Today he has recently been appointed as Director of Public Engagement and Content with Our Rescue and works alongside Operation Light Shine to fight child sexual exploitation and trafficking at the source. In this conversation with Jan Broberg, Sonny introduces a framework he calls comparative trauma syndrome, the damaging habit of ranking our pain against someone else's, and based on that, deciding we're not worthy of healing. He and Jan explore why speaking about trauma isn't re-traumatizing but strengthening, why voice is the one healing tool no one can take from you, and what it actually means to interrupt your own trauma cycle. They also go deep on Operation Light Shine's intercept task forces, the staggering gap in government funding for child exploitation prevention, and what every parent and every social media user can do right now to protect children.Where To Find Sonny: Buy Sonny's book: Hey White Boy: Conversations of Redemption Conversations of Redemption on Youtube Our Rescue Mentioned Resources: Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl Operation Light Shine Hunting Warhead If you or someone you know is experiencing emotional distress or suicidal ideation, please access the resources below:National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: Call/Text 988National Sexual Assault Hotline  (RAINN) : 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)National Alliance for Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264  

In this podcast episode, MRS Bulletin's Laura Leay interviews Gideon Segev from Tel Aviv University in Israel and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Shane Ardo from the University of California, Irvine about their ratchet-based ion pumps (RBIPs). Consisting of a nanoporous capacitor-like structure, the RBIP drives a flux of charged particles at voltages as low as 50 mV, while redox reactions need at least 1.23 V. Furthermore, the ratchet is selective where ions can be sorted based on their diffusion coefficient. This opens doors for efficient devices for desalination and selective ion separation. This work was published in a recent issue of Nature Materials. 

Hamilton voted down a data center last week. Hundreds showed up to a planning tribunal, the city council meeting was livestreamed on Reddit, and the proposal was denied. It was a real win.The infrastructure that needed the data center is unaffected.This episode is about that — and about the week Gavin realized he'd been reading off a teleprompter and feeding analytics into AI to optimize his show about how systems optimize people. The vote and the teleprompter are the same mechanism: it feels like resistance, it feels like you're doing something, and the underlying system continues exactly as designed.Not an AI apology video. Not a call-out of the people fighting data centers. Just a loop one person found himself in, and what it looked like from the inside.Equal parts Hamilton local politics, Byung-Chul Han's psychopolitics, and genuine self-incrimination.Welcome to the Collapse.

reference: Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, The Psychic Being — Soul: Its Nature, Mission and Evolution, Section 3 Growth and Development of the Psychic, pp. 79-80This episode is also available as a blog post at https://sriaurobindostudies.wordpress.com/2026/06/03/the-psychic-being-and-the-mechanism-of-choosing-its-next-birth/Video presentations, interviews and podcast episodes are allavailable on the YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@santoshkrinsky871More information about Sri Aurobindo can be found at www.aurobindo.net  The US editions and links to e-book editions of SriAurobindo's writings can be found at Lotus Press www.lotuspress.com#Sri Aurobindo #The Mother #yoga #integral yoga #spirituality #soul #psychic being #rebirth #Dalai Lama

Is American democracy broken, or is it just rigged? In this episode of VarmBlog, we sit down with Travis Misurell, founder of the Think: The Future is Now Coalition (Fink), to discuss a radical new framework for political engagement: moving beyond the traditional left-vs-right binary to an "Up vs. Down" perspective.We dive deep into the Digital Politics Hub (DP Hub), a materialist infrastructure project designed to bypass party gatekeepers and empower the common voter. Misurell explains how current systems manipulate our choices before we even reach the ballot and shares his vision for a citizen-owned democracy powered by transparent, digital infrastructure.Inside This Episode:The Up-Serving vs. Down-Serving Conflict: Why most politicians serve big donors and "power-boosters" rather than the grassroots.The Civic Tag Revolution: How candidates can define themselves in their own words—focusing on advocacy and identity rather than rigid party platforms.The Failure of Civic Tech: Why previous platforms failed (and why a "people-first" movement is the only way forward).AI & Open-Ended Data: How Fink uses AI to aggregate thousands of citizen priorities without the framing biases of traditional polling.The Nevada Pilot: Why Nevada was chosen as the testing ground for this new model of election reform.Digital Democracy Phase 2: A look at the future "toolbox" of citizen-owned technology, from tracking insider trading to creating a national "democracy score" for every candidate.Connect with the Movement:Ready to reclaim your vote? Join the coalition and help build a level playing field for every candidate.Visit the Hub: hub.futureis.orgTake Action: Add your name and share your community's top priorities to help drive the data that candidates need to see.Send us Fan Mail Musis by Bitterlake, Used with Permission, all rights to BitterlakeSupport the showCrew:Host: C. Derick VarnIntro and Outro Music by Bitter Lake.Intro Video Design: Jason MylesArt Design: Corn and C. Derick VarnLinks and Social Media:twitter: @varnvlogblue sky: @varnvlog.bsky.socialYou can find the additional streams on YoutubeCurrent Patreon at the Sponsor Tier: Jordan Sheldon, Mark J. Matthews, Lindsay Kimbrough, RedWolf, DRV, Kenneth McKee, JY Chan, Matthew Monahan, Parzival, Adriel Mixon, Buddy Roark, Daniel Petrovic,Julian, Drea, Free Beer 

Why do anomalous experiences so often arrive in the wake of trauma? And what happens when the people who understand that connection decide to use it as a weapon? This episode of Inquiry follows trauma as the hidden throughline connecting UFOs, consciousness, psychological operations, and the engineering of belief at scale. Kelly Chase starts with how human perception actually works, drawing on Donald Hoffman's "The Case Against Reality," James Madden's umwelt and über-umwelt from "Unidentified Flying Hyperobject," and Jeffrey Kripal's Filter Thesis, then grounds it all in the predictive processing model of the brain and Karl Friston's free energy principle. The picture that emerges is unsettling: trauma doesn't only wound a person, it makes them porous, loosening the filters that hold consensus reality in place. From there the conversation turns toward how that vulnerability has been exploited. It traces belief manipulation from the 1980 "From PSYOP to MindWar" paper by Michael Aquino and Paul Vallely, through MKULTRA and Operation Mockingbird, to the declassified reality of Operation Northwoods and the manufacturing of consent. It brings in Jacques Vallée's control system hypothesis and Colm Kelleher's concept of bidirectional mimicry to ask whether human institutions and the phenomenon itself may be using the same lever: disruption, destabilization, and the reshaping of belief in the rupture's aftermath. Then it turns the dread on its head. Research on openness to experience and Post-Traumatic Growth suggests the architects of mass stress made a critical miscalculation. Trauma creates openings, and openings go both ways. You can crack the shell of consensus reality to make people malleable, but you cannot control what hatches. Topics explored: Trauma and anomalous experience | experiencer patterns | the Filter Thesis | Donald Hoffman | perception as interface | umwelt and über-umwelt | James Madden | Jeffrey Kripal | predictive processing | Karl Friston | free energy principle | belief malleability | shattered assumptions | meaning violation | belief engineering | MindWar | Michael Aquino | Paul Vallely | psychological operations | MKULTRA | Operation Mockingbird | cognitive sovereignty | bidirectional mimicry | Colm Kelleher | black triangle craft | Jacques Vallée | control system hypothesis | Operation Northwoods | manufactured consent | openness to experience | Post-Traumatic Growth | consciousness-level immune response | non-human intelligence | contact experiences Inquiry with Kelly Chase is brought to you by SpectreVision Radio.Produced in partnership with Voltage.fm.  Referenced In This Episode The Case Against Reality: Why Evolution Hid the Truth from Our Eyes — Donald Hoffman (2019) Unidentified Flying Hyperobject: UFOs, Philosophy, and the End of the World — James Madden (2023) How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else — Jeffrey J. Kripal (2024) The Flip: Epiphanies of Mind and the Future of Knowledge — Jeffrey J. Kripal (2019) "The Free-Energy Principle: A Unified Brain Theory?" — Karl Friston (2010) "Trauma or Drama: A Predictive Processing Perspective on the Continuum of Stress" — Valery Krupnik (2020) "Predictive Processing and the Varieties of Psychological Trauma" — Sam Wilkinson, Guy Dodgson & Kevin Meares (2017) "Assumptive Worlds and the Stress of Traumatic Events" — Ronnie Janoff-Bulman (1989) Shattered Assumptions: Towards a New Psychology of Trauma — Ronnie Janoff-Bulman (1992) "PTSD as Meaning Violation: Testing a Cognitive Worldview Perspective" — Crystal L. Park, Mary Alice Mills & Donald Edmondson (2012) "Making Sense of the Meaning Literature: An Integrative Review of Meaning Making and Its Effects on Adjustment to Stressful Life Events" — Crystal L. Park (2010) From PSYOP to MindWar: The Psychology of Victory — Paul E. Vallely & Michael Aquino (1980) MindWar: The New Battle for the Mind — Michael Aquino (2016) Project MKULTRA, the CIA's Program of Research in Behavioral Modification — U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (1977) MKULTRA Collection — CIA Reading Room Intelligence Activities and the Rights of Americans, Book II (Church Committee Report) — U.S. Senate (1976) Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba (Operation Northwoods) — Joint Chiefs of Staff (1962) "The Anxious State: Stress, Polarization, and Elections in America" — The Conversation (2025) "Politics Is Taking a Toll on People's Well-Being" — Psychology Today (2025) "Stressful Life Events and Openness to Experience: Relevance to Depression" — Chiappelli et al. (2021) "The Social Psychology of Responses to Trauma: Social Identity Pathways Associated with Divergent Traumatic Responses" — Orla Muldoon et al. (2019) "Posttraumatic Growth: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Evidence" — Richard Tedeschi & Lawrence Calhoun (2004) "The Post-Traumatic Growth Approach to Psychological Trauma" — Richard Tedeschi (2023) "Confidence in U.S. Institutions Down; Average at New Low" — Gallup (2022) 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer — Edelman (2025) Support The Show Patreon: inquirywithkellychase.com Substack: inquirywithkellychase.substack.com Connect with Kelly Website: kellychase.media X: @kellychasemedia Instagram: @kellychasemedia TIMESTAMPS 04:12 Trauma and The Anomalous 07:01 Perception Is an Interface 11:05 Umwelt and Uber Umwelt 14:05 Kripal and Filter Thesis 18:27 Predictive Brain and Trauma 23:11 Belief Becomes Malleable 28:08 MindWar Doctrine 32:36 MKUltra and Mockingbird 36:58 Mimicry and Control System 42:17 False Flags and Consent 46:09 Algorithms as Trauma Engine 49:23 Openness and Growth 55:59 Consciousness Immune Response 57:18 Closing and Next Steps Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Data in Biotech, host Ross Katz sits down with Arvind Rao, Professor of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics at the University of Michigan, for a discussion on the gap between what biomedical AI can do and what it can reliably be trusted to do in clinical practice. Arvind's research sits at the intersection of computational oncology and AI governance and his lab works across H&E histopathology, multiplex immunofluorescence, spatial transcriptomics, and single-cell RNA sequencing, not just to build predictive models, but to understand the full lifecycle from data to model to inference, and to ask where that lifecycle can be trusted and where it can't.  The conversation moves through two of his recent papers on SPIFEE, a graph-based framework that replaces scalar interaction scores in the tumor microenvironment with spatially resolved functional representations, and a multimodal framework that traces a path from stained tissue slides to nominated drug targets via morphological pattern discovery and spatial transcriptomic mapping.  What you'll learn in this episode:  >> Why the field's central failure is not algorithmic but translational and the gap between a model that performs well on a benchmark and one that can be consistently trusted in a high-stakes clinical setting  >> How SPIFEE replaces the conventional scalar edge representation of cell-cell interactions in the tumor microenvironment with spatially resolved functional edges >> How Arvind's multimodal framework moves from H&E pathology slides labeled with clinical outcomes, through morphological pattern discovery via multiple instance learning, to spatial transcriptomic mapping, to the nomination of molecular mechanisms and actionable drug targets >> Why Goodhart's Law applies directly to foundation model evaluation in biology  >> What the AI literacy gap costs when it goes unaddressed in healthcare and pharma organizations  Meet our guest: Arvind Rao is a Professor of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, with a joint appointment in Radiation Oncology, at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on establishing trust in biomedical AI predictions across the full data-to-decision pipeline, integrating H&E histopathology, spatial transcriptomics, multiplex immunofluorescence, and single-cell RNA sequencing to build models that are predictive, interpretable, and biologically credible. Alongside his research, Arvind develops AI literacy programs for healthcare and pharma professionals, helping clinical and procurement teams evaluate and govern AI systems with the rigor those decisions demand. Connect with Arvind Rao on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvind-rao-3301301ba/ About the host: Ross Katz is Principal and Data Science Lead at CorrDyn. Ross specializes in building intelligent data systems that empower biotech and healthcare organizations to extract insights and drive innovation. Connect with Ross Katz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/b-ross-katz/ Connect with us: Follow the podcast for more insightful discussions on the latest in biotech and data science.Subscribe and leave a review if you enjoyed this episode! Sponsored by… This episode is brought to you by CorrDyn, the leader in data-driven solutions for biotech and healthcare. Discover how CorrDyn is helping organizations turn data into breakthroughs at CorrDyn. https://www.linkedin.com/company/corrdyn/

On the bird's "one siman" being severed, does it make a difference which of the esophagus or the trachea is cut? It's a machloket, whether "either one" is enough or one specific one needs to be cut. The Gemara provides a mnemonic to support 5 different arguments, half of which support the one view above and the other half the other view. Plus, the order of when the simanim themselves are examined in the context of shechitah, and then the order of cutting. Also, what if one of the simanim were cut to be 50/50 cut/not cut -- does that count as the majority being cut or not at all cut? But how can anyone be certain, to that degree of precision?

The Alan Cox Show

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In this episode Ed interviews Dr. David Shapiro-Ilan of the USDA-ARS. They discuss the work of David's lab using entomopathogenic nematodes as a form of biocontrol. Additional Resources https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=411611   Time Stamps 00:00 Introduction to Entomopathogenic Nematodes 03:21 Life Cycle and Mechanism of Action 06:19 Host Specificity and Target Insects 09:15 Applications in Agriculture 12:04 Production and Formulation of Nematodes 14:55 Cost and Economic Considerations 17:37 Future of Entomopathogenic Nematodes 20:37 Wrap-Up and Final Thoughts 28:53 outro with logo Zaworski, E. (Host) and Shapiro-Ilan, D. (Interviewee). S5:E9 (Podcast). Nematode Allies: Exploring Entomopathogenic Nematodes. 5/27/2026. In I See Dead Plants. Crop Protection Network.   Transcript

What if every time you reached for a packaged snack… you were quietly increasing your risk of a heart attack? In this urgent and deeply personal solo episode, Darin breaks down groundbreaking new research showing that each serving of ultra-processed food may increase cardiovascular risk by over 5%, not over time, but every single time you eat it. This isn't about calories. It's about chemistry, biology, and a system engineered for convenience at the expense of your health. From the shocking data to the underlying mechanisms: gut destruction, visceral fat accumulation, brain hijacking, and toxic exposure, this episode exposes the real cost of ultra-processed food and gives you the tools to reclaim control of your health and your life. What You'll Learn The shocking stat: 5% increased heart risk per serving of ultra-processed food Why ultra-processed foods act like compounding debt on your health The difference between calories vs chemical toxicity in food How emulsifiers and additives destroy your gut microbiome Why ultra-processed foods increase visceral fat around your organs How these foods are engineered to override your brain's satiety signals The hidden toxins from processing and packaging (PFAS, bisphenols, AGEs) Why this crisis disproportionately impacts certain communities The truth: you can't "out-exercise" ultra-processed food damage Practical ways to transition back to real, whole foods Chapters 00:00:04 – Opening: SuperLife mission and setting the stage 00:00:33 – Sponsor: Alkemis Paint and hidden indoor toxicity 00:01:24 – Why conventional paints off-gas harmful chemicals for years 00:02:27 – Cradle-to-Cradle certification and non-toxic living 00:03:24 – Entering the episode: the 5% heart risk question 00:03:34 – The shocking claim: every serving increases heart risk 00:04:16 – Ultra-processed food as "compounding debt" 00:05:08 – Leaning into discomfort as a path to growth 00:06:33 – The convenience trap: food delivered instantly 00:07:15 – The real cost: trading time for lifespan 00:08:07 – 2026 study overview (MESA dataset, 6,800 participants) 00:09:01 – 5.1% increased cardiovascular risk per serving explained 00:09:29 – 66.8% higher risk in high-consumption groups 00:10:08 – Risk is independent of calories, weight, and fitness 00:10:56 – "This is not a calorie story—it's a chemistry story" 00:11:10 – Racial disparities and food system inequality 00:12:08 – Additional studies confirm elevated heart risk 00:13:04 – Global meta-analysis: over 1 million participants 00:13:26 – The conclusion: the science is no longer debatable 00:14:18 – Sponsor: Shakeology and nutrient density 00:15:36 – What is ultra-processed food? (NOVA classification) 00:16:18 – Examples: chips, cereals, protein bars, fast food 00:16:57 – "These foods are engineered—not real food" 00:17:00 – Mechanism #1: gut microbiome disruption 00:18:03 – Emulsifiers and inflammation explained 00:18:49 – Gut inflammation triggers systemic disease 00:19:18 – Mechanism #2: visceral fat accumulation 00:19:56 – Why visceral fat is more dangerous than visible fat 00:20:18 – Mechanism #3: brain hijacking and satiety override 00:20:47 – Engineered foods and addictive eating patterns 00:21:04 – Mechanism #4: toxins from processing and packaging 00:21:30 – PFAS, bisphenols, and chemical contamination 00:21:37 – The solution: whole food first 00:22:02 – Breaking habits and reclaiming control 00:22:20 – Simple swaps: fruit, nuts, whole ingredients 00:23:00 – "If you can't trace it back to a real food, put it down" 00:23:32 – Making whole food convenient 00:24:06 – Batch cooking and preparation strategies 00:24:16 – Personal story: losing a friend to diet-related illness 00:24:40 – The emotional reality: this is life or death 00:25:00 – Community support and accountability 00:25:25 – Call to action: share this message 00:25:41 – Closing: courage, awareness, and living a SuperLife 00:26:23 – Outro Thank You to Our Sponsors: Shakeology: Get 15% off with code DARINO1BODI at Shakeology.com. Alkemis Paint: Go to https://alkemispaint.com/ and use code DARIN10 for 10% off your order. Join the SuperLife Patreon: This is where Darin now shares the deeper work: - weekly voice notes - ingredient trackers - wellness challenges - extended conversations - community accountability - sovereignty practices Join now for only $7.49/month at https://patreon.com/darinolien Connect with Darin Olien: Website: darinolien.com Instagram: @darinolien Book: Fatal Conveniences Platform & Products: superlife.com New Show: Roadmap to Happiness Key Takeaway "Every time you reach for ultra-processed food, you're not just making a small decision—you're compounding a biological cost that your body has to pay later. But the moment you become aware, you reclaim your power. Because the same way those choices can slowly take your health away… different choices, repeated daily, can give it all back." Bibliography/Sources Primary Study — News Hook Haidar, A., Rikhi, R., Watson, K. E., Wood, A. C., & Shapiro, M. D. (2026). Association between ultraprocessed food consumption and cardiovascular disease risk: MESA. JACC: Advances. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacadv.2025.102516 Supporting Studies — 2026 Willett, Y., Yang, C., Dunn, J., et al. (2026). Consumption of ultra-processed foods and increased risks of cardiovascular disease in U.S. adults. The American Journal of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2026.01.012 Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses Dose-response meta-analysis: UPF consumption and cardiovascular events risk — 20 studies, 1.1M participants. (2024). eClinicalMedicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2024.102480 Ultra-processed foods and cardiovascular disease: Analysis of three large US prospective cohorts and a systematic review and meta-analysis. (2024). The Lancet Regional Health – Americas. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanam/article/PIIS2667-193X(24)00186-8/fulltext Mechanisms — Gut, Inflammation & Additives Ultra-processed foods and cardiovascular diseases: Potential mechanisms of action. (2021). Advances in Nutrition. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8483964/ Ultra-processed foods and food additives in gut health and disease. (2024). Nature Reviews. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38388570/ Ultra-processed foods and incident cardiovascular disease in the Framingham Offspring Study. (2021). Journal of the American College of Cardiology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2021.01.047 Ultraprocessed foods and their association with cardiometabolic health: A science advisory from the American Heart Association. (2023). Circulation. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIR.0000000000001365 Visceral Fat Konieczna, J., et al. (n.d.). Contribution of ultra-processed foods in visceral fat deposition: Prospective analysis nested in the PREDIMED-Plus trial. Clinical Nutrition. https://www.explorationpub.com/Journals/edd/Article/100523 NOVA Classification Monteiro, C. A., Cannon, G., Levy, R. B., et al. (2019). Ultra-processed foods: What they are and how to identify them. Public Health Nutrition, 22(5), 936–941. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30744710/ Policy & Public Health Context American College of Cardiology. (2025). ACC 2025 concise clinical guidance: Front-of-package labeling endorsement. Journal of the American College of Cardiology. U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Dietary guidelines for Americans, 2025–2030. https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov General Coverage — News Hook Food Safety Magazine. (2026, April). Study links diets high in ultra-processed foods to increased heart attack, stroke risk. https://www.food-safety.com/articles/11290-study-links-diets-high-in-ultra-processed-foods-to-increased-heart-attack-stroke-risk ScienceDaily. (2026, March). Ultra-processed foods linked to 67% higher risk of heart attack and stroke. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/03/260319074604.htm