Podcasts about neural

This week on Schauer Thoughts we're discussing cognitive labor: what it is and isn't, situations you use it in, and how to tell when someone is using you for your cognitive labor via thought-terminating cliches! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the discussion. Also, I do want to apologize for how disorganized this episode is, I forgot to take my ADHD medication that day and I was really struggling to order my thoughts. I have also received some feedback that my podcast is unpolished and a bit of a “burden” and I completely understand the intention behind those comments. I really do appreciate feedback and I feel so bad that this is the episode going out with those comments in mind. I have ordered a couple books on how to polish your research, I'm currently reading Polish Your Academic Writing by Helen Coleman and I also signed up for a *free* seven week online course on scientific communication. (If you'd also like to take the class here's a link: https://sciencecommunicationlab.org/research-skills/presentation-on-science/ - you don't have to, it's just to share!) It will take me a few weeks for you all to see these new skills in the podcast, so thank you for your patience and hopefully you see that effort payoff soon. I am talking about neuroscience and more technical things but I want to do so in a way that's more easily understood and accessible so I am working on that! I do genuinely want to share what I'm learning and while I love research I love connecting with my audience more and that's not really possible if I don't make more of an active effort to structure and translate concepts in a more accessible way. I promise I am working on it, I deeply appreciate the feedback. There will be a part two to this episode and I am making sure that it's more cohesive, organized, and delivered in a more accessible way! Links: How I Met Your Masi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/howimetyourmasi/?hl=en Where to Stream: https://www.dynasty.tv/products/how-i-met-your-masi-premiere Sounds Like a Cult Podcast: Website: https://www.soundslikeacult.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soundslikeacultpod/ Reese's Instagram: (adore her) https://www.instagram.com/reesaronii/ For more information on my book club visit: Substack: https://sarahschauer.substack.com/p/schauer-thoughts-book-club-additional?utm_source=activity_item Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/sarahschauer/membership Resources: Future Tense: Why Anxiety is Good for You (Even Though It Feels Bad) - Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, PhD How To Make Your Brain Your Best Friend: A Neuroscientists Guide to a Healthier, Happier Life - Rachel Barr - Guys! This is the book I've talked about from the neuroscientist on “microdosing delight!” Go pick it up! Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism - Amanda Montell Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of “Brainwashing” in China - Robert Jay Lifton Why We Sleep - Matthew Walker PhD The Difference Between Mental Load and Emotional Labor https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/equal-partners/202508/the-difference-between-mental-load-and-emotional-labor Anticipatory feelings: Neural correlates and linguistic markers https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763419300570#:~:text=A%20new%20feeling%20construct%20related,role%20in%20future%20oriented%20feelings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week's episode is all about Reading. We will go through the entire process from the moment light hits the retina (50-100ms) to formulating speech (600ms or so). That is, either speaking out loud or silently speaking while reading, a phenomena called subvocalization. We do this when reading to the self. Either way, we speak while reading.We will compare so called normal readers, the Autistic phenotype, and dyslexia, and at times the odd contrasts of the Autistic phenotype AND dyslexia. Lots of neurobiology, measurement instruments, brain waves (oscillations, frequencies), however, I will hopefully provide easy to understand analogies.The entire reading process is covered.Daylight Computer Companyuse "autism" for $50 off athttps://buy.daylightcomputer.com/autismChroma Light Devicesuse "autism" for 10% discount athttps://getchroma.co/?ref=autismCognity AI for Autistic Social Skillsuse "autism" for 10% discount athttps://thecognity.com00:00 - Overview of reading process and neurobiology03:28 - Visual processing in V1 (primary visual cortex), V2-V4 (secondary visual cortex)4:42 - Neuroplasticity of Blind using V1-V4 for Braille07:17 - Neural oscillations (Delta, Theta, Alpha, Beta, Gamma)10:07 - Visual word form area (VWFA) recognizes patterns, begins sequencing letters & recognizes the word, Example: "d-o-g" & 'd' not 'b', 'o' not 'c,' 'g' not 'p.'13:01 - Phonological processing in temporal-parietal cortex15:54 - Fractional anisotropy (FA) & Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and arcuate fasciculus; Myelination, Water Flow, Garden Hose example18:06 - Detailed discussion of orthographic processing begins (VWFA's role in recognizing visual word forms)21:26 - Detailed discussion of cerebellum's role in eye movements begins (Purkinje cells and saccades)24:07 - Detailed discussion of spelling difficulties begins (orthographic processing challenges in autism/dyslexia)27:41 - Detailed discussion of semantic integration begins (delays in dyslexia, inferior frontal gyrus)30:55 - Detailed discussion of orthographic confusion begins (e.g., "except" vs. "expert")33:30 - Detailed discussion of phonological processing begins (temporal-parietal cortex mapping words to sounds)34:18 - Cerebellum mentioned regarding tongue movements (Purkinje cells refine timing for speech)36:10 - Subvocalization in silent reading37:07 - Oscillations in VWFA for autistic phenotype; Comprehension lags in Autism due to delayed N40039:19 Daylight Computer Company (and Daylight Kids !), use "autism" for $50 discount41:40 Chroma Light Devices, use "autism" for 10% discount44:52 Reviews/Ratings, Contact InfoX: https://x.com/rps47586YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGxEzLKXkjppo3nqmpXpzuAemail: info.fromthespectrum@gmail.com

I did an interview with Scott Stein at Meta Connect 2025 reflecting on the biggest news of the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses and the associated Neural Band. Stein has been covering the XR industry since 2012, and always has some deep thoughts on the broader implications of the latest news. You can check out his hands-on first impressions in his CNET video here, and his interview with Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth here. Stein and I had a chance to catch up after the day 1 Meta Connect keynote announcements, and also speculate on the future of the ecosystem in around the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses. The Meta Wearables Device Access Toolkit wasn't announced until the following day at the end of the developer keynote at Meta Connect, but there still hasn't been any announcement about if or when third-party developers will get access to develop apps for it as Meta seems content to focus on their own first-party apps at the launch of the device today. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality

I did an interview with Michael Markman at Meta Connect 2025 talking about all of the latest updates to the VR design and prototyping tool of ShapesXR, and then we start to dive into some of his hot takes after getting a chance to try out the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses and associated Neural Band. He sees that the neural band is essentially transforming your hand into a mouse that is providing a simplified navigation system (probably closer to a D-pad on a TV remote), but the index-finger-to-thumb serves as a functional left click and middle-finger-to-thumb serves as a functional right click, which has been enough to build the foundation of most modern HCI for computer software for the last 57 years since The Mother of All Demos debuted the mouse in 1968. See more context in the rough transcript below. This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality

Rocky Snyder sits down with James and Christian LaValle of Metabolic Elite, a cutting-edge supplement company that is leading the way in peak nutrition, recovery, and performance. The Zelos Podcast is all about the “Pros behind the Pros.” Each week, Rocky interviews leading experts in strength & conditioning, sports medicine, athletic training, and physical therapy who work behind the scenes in leagues like the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, MLS, and NWSL.Hosted by internationally recognized movement specialist and master trainer Rocky Snyder, new episodes drop every Monday at 9am EST / 6am PST.TIME STAMPS:3:30 Who are the LaValles?6:00 James extensive background10:30 Metabolic Elite14:00 Heat up, slow down19:00 The Arctic Challenge21:00 Specificity of purposes24:30 The immediate effects of Synapsin28:00 Neural inflammation30:00 Biomechanics meets biochemistry32:00 Gut health34:00 Living on the fringe for 30 years36:30 Neuro-endocrine-immune relationship39:00 Metabolic Elite's library43:00 Avoiding pill fatigue48:00 Advisory board members51:00 IOC approvedGET TO KNOW JAMES & CHRISTIAN LAVALLEJIM'S INSTA: https://www.instagram.com/therealjimlavalle/CHRISTIAN'S INSTA: https://www.instagram.com/christianlavalle5/JIM'S LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-lavalle-1a6b8858/CHRISTIANS' LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-lavalle-026843293/METABOLIC ELITE: https://www.metabolicelite.co/GET TO KNOW ROCKY SNYDERMEET: Visit the Rocky's online headquarters: RockySnyder.comREAD: Grab a copy of his new "Return to Center" book: www.rockysnyder.comINSTA: Instagram fan, check him out at https://www.instagram.com/rocky_snyder/FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/rocky.snyder.77LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rocky-snyder-cscs-cafs-nsca-cpt-a77a091/TRAIN WITH ROCKY WORKOUT: Want to meet Rocky and get a private workout: https://rfcsantacruz.com/INSTA: https://www.instagram.com/rockysfitnesssc/FACEBOOK: Facebook.com/RockysFitnessCenter

Is there such a thing as a universal human experience of the divine, or are all encounters shaped by culture, language, and power? In this video, we explore the classic debate between perennialism and constructivism, from William James and Mircea Eliade to Steven Katz, Talal Asad, and beyond. Drawing on philosophy, anthropology, psychology, and neuroscience, we look at how claims of universality are entangled with history and how particular traditions cultivate what we call “religious experience.”CONNECT & SUPPORT

In this episode, ARK's Brett Winton, Charles Roberts and Frank Downing sit down with Stephen Balaban, CEO and co-founder of Lambda Labs — a company building AI-specific cloud infrastructure. The conversation explores Lambda's role in the AI value chain, the evolving economics of data centers, and why traditional hyperscalers might be too slow to meet the moment.Stephen explains why he believes we're transitioning from deterministic, rule-based software to what he calls “neural software” — stochastic, neural network-driven systems that will eventually replace nearly all traditional software. He shares Lambda's mission to enable this transformation by rapidly deploying GPU infrastructure and supporting the AI research and application build-out happening today.The discussion spans infrastructure strategy, regulatory bottlenecks, AI safety, energy constraints, and long-term visions of neural operating systems. Stephen offers a bold perspective on the hardware demands and philosophical shifts required to usher in a world where software is generated, not written.Key Points From This Episode:00:01:21 How Lambda positions itself as a “neo-cloud” provider competing with AWS, Azure, and GCP for AI workloads.00:02:46 Why ARK estimates $1.5 trillion in annual AI-related data center investment by 2030 and what it could mean for Lambda.00:05:26 Why hyperscalers may be too slow to meet the unique demands of AI training compared to specialized players.00:06:29 How AI infrastructure requires new rack designs, higher power density, and different utilization patterns.00:09:20 Why AI may disrupt the entire computing stack—from Nvidia overtaking Intel to reshaping platform and cloud services.00:14:50 Stephen explains Lambda's “secret mission” to replace all traditional software with neural networks.00:16:36 Why companies trust Lambda to deploy GPU infrastructure faster and more reliably than incumbents.00:20:27 How the concept of a “neural operating system” reframes software as stochastic rather than deterministic.00:23:04 How hallucinations in neural systems could be managed with checks and balances similar to financial approvals.00:25:04 Why Stephen sees AI safety and alignment as the cybersecurity of the future.00:39:00 How real-time AI tasks may run locally at the edge, while deeper reasoning gets pushed to the cloud.00:44:11 Why running modern large language models still resembles the supercomputer era rather than the PC era.00:46:06 How Stephen views the long-term convergence of AI with quantum computing and brain–computer interfaces.00:50:20 Why scaling AI requires the “heroic effort” of Nvidia, TSMC, OpenAI, energy providers, and Lambda together.00:53:43 Back-of-the-envelope math on CapEx per megawatt—from power plants and data centers to GPUs.00:57:11 Why power infrastructure and deregulation could become the biggest stumbling blocks for AI growth.01:02:02 How software creation is shifting from a labor-driven process to a capital-intensive one.01:06:06 Why Stephen and Brett describe data centers as “AI factories” producing custom neural software.

Support the show to get full episodes, full archive, and join the Discord community. Ann Kennedy is Associate Professor at Scripps Research Institute and runs the Laboratory for Theoretical Neuroscience and Behavior. Among other things, Ann has been studying how processes important in life, like survival, threat response, motivation, and pain, are mediated through subcortical brain areas like the hypothalamus. She also pays attention to the time course those life processes require, which has led her to consider how the expression of things like proteins help shape neural processes throughout the brain, so we can behave appropriately in those different contexts. You'll hear us talk about how this is still a pretty open field in theoretical neuroscience, unlike the historically heavy use of theory in popular brain areas throughout the cortex, and the historically narrow focus on spikes or action potentials as the only game in town when it comes to neural computation. We discuss that and I link in the show notes to a commentary piece Ann wrote, in which she argues for both top-down and bottom-up theoretical approaches. I also link to her papers about the early evolution of nervous systems, how heterogeneity or diversity of neurons is an advantage for neural computations, and we discuss a kaggle competition she developed to benchmark automated behavioral labels of behaving organisms, so that despite different researchers using different recording systems and setups, analyzing those data will produce consistent labels to better compare across labs and aggregated bigger and better data sets. Laboratory for Theoretical Neuroscience and Behavior. Social: @antihebbiann.bsky.social @Antihebbiann The Kaggle competition Ann developed to generalize behavior categorization. Related papersDynamics of neural activity in early nervous system evolution.Theoretical neuroscience has room to grow. Neural heterogeneity controls computations in spiking neural networks. A parabrachial hub for the prioritization of survival behavior. An approximate line attractor in the hypothalamus encodes an aggressive state. Read the transcript. 0:00 - Intro 3:36 - Why study subcortical areas? 13:30 - Evolution 15:06 - Dynamical systems and time scales 21:32 - NeuroAI 28:37 - Before there were brains 33:11 - Endogenous spontaneous activity 40:09 - Natural vs artificial 43:09 - Different is more - heterogeneity 45:32 - Neuromodulators and neuropeptide functions 55:47 - Heterogeneity: manifolds, subspaces, and gain 1:02:43 - Control knobs 1:09:45 - Theoretical neuroscience has room to grow 1:19:59 - Hypothalamus 1:20:57 - Subcortical vs "higher" cognition 1:24:53 - 4E cognition 1:26:56 - Behavior benchmarking 1:37:26 - Current challenges 1:39:46 - Advice to young researchers

The Agents extract an important piece of equipment from a delicate situation.Want to read along? Transcript available here: https://sorryhoney.captivate.fm/Support The Work at: https://ko-fi.com/sorryhoneyWant to advertise with us? See our Sponsor Kit and Rate Card.Visit Us At: https://sorryhoney.captivate.fm/Join our Discord to tell us all the things we did wrong: https://discord.gg/y6XchFnkQUFollow us on Twitter for additional content: https://twitter.com/SorryHoneyCastLikewise, Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sorryhoneycast/The Rescuers are played by the cast of 9mm Retirement RadioSeewolf: LukasPathfinder: CaiusWarden: MaxEcho: MikeLifeline: JanPublished by arrangement with the Delta Green Partnership. The intellectual property known as Delta Green is a trademark and copyright owned by the Delta Green Partnership, who has licensed its use here. Illustrations by Dennis Detwiller are reproduced by permission. The contents of this podcast are © GiggleDome Productions, LLC, excepting those elements that are components of Delta Green intellectual property.

This is a "briefing" episode where we read our weekly Investor's Briefing newsletter that covers financial news of the week. If you wish to read it, you can find it here.  ~*~ For full access to all of our updates and in-depth research reports become a Speedwell Member here. Please reach out to info@speedwellresearch.com if you need help getting us to become an approved research vendor in order to expense it. ~*~ You can get a free trial to AlphaSense through this link here and read 200k+ Expert Call Interviews. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Show Notes (0:00) — Updates (0:27) — In Financial News (4:54) — Company News: Meta, Nvidia, FactSet (12:39) — Spotlight: RH Luxury?, LVMH Thread, Modularization -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- For full access to all of our updates and in-depth research reports, become a Speedwell Member here. Please reach out to info@speedwellresearch.com if you need help getting us to become an approved research vendor in order to expense it. *-*-*- Follow Us: Twitter: @Speedwell_LLC Threads: @speedwell_research Email us at info@speedwellresearch.com for any questions, comments, or feedback. -*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*- Disclaimer Nothing in this podcast is investment advice nor should be construed as such. Contributors to the podcast may own securities discussed. Furthermore, accounts contributors advise on may also have positions in companies discussed. This may change without notice. Please see our full disclaimers here:  https://speedwellresearch.com/disclaimer/

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge joins Mikah Sargent this week on Tech News Weekly! Amazon has announced its upcoming fall hardware event. OpenAI is working towards implementing security features for teens using ChatGPT. A look into SMS blasters as a way to target you with scam texts. And Scott Stein of CNET spent some time with Meta's newest Ray-Ban Display Glasses and Neural Band. Jennifer is excited as Amazon has announced its upcoming hardware event for September 30th, at which the company is expected to unveil its latest Kindle and Echo devices. Also, Google will be debuting its latest smart home devices the day after Amazon's hardware event on October 1st! OpenAI is working towards implementing safeguards and restrictions for teens using ChatGPT, following lawsuits and growing regulatory scrutiny. Mikah shares how cybercriminals are utilizing a process called "SMS blasters" to send scam text messages to people. And Scott Stein of CNET joins the show from the Meta campus to share his initial hands-on experience with Meta's new Neural Band and latest Ray-Ban Display Glasses. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Guest: Scott Stein Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: smarty.com/twit zocdoc.com/tnw pantheon.io

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge joins Mikah Sargent this week on Tech News Weekly! Amazon has announced its upcoming fall hardware event. OpenAI is working towards implementing security features for teens using ChatGPT. A look into SMS blasters as a way to target you with scam texts. And Scott Stein of CNET spent some time with Meta's newest Ray-Ban Display Glasses and Neural Band. Jennifer is excited as Amazon has announced its upcoming hardware event for September 30th, at which the company is expected to unveil its latest Kindle and Echo devices. Also, Google will be debuting its latest smart home devices the day after Amazon's hardware event on October 1st! OpenAI is working towards implementing safeguards and restrictions for teens using ChatGPT, following lawsuits and growing regulatory scrutiny. Mikah shares how cybercriminals are utilizing a process called "SMS blasters" to send scam text messages to people. And Scott Stein of CNET joins the show from the Meta campus to share his initial hands-on experience with Meta's new Neural Band and latest Ray-Ban Display Glasses. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Guest: Scott Stein Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: smarty.com/twit zocdoc.com/tnw pantheon.io

CNET's Scott Stein goes hands-on with Meta's newest lineup of smart glasses, including the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses and the next-gen Ray-Ban Meta. He also gets to try out the new neural wristband, which uses electromyography (EMG) to detect subtle muscle movements, offering a glimpse into the future of how we'll interact with augmented reality.

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge joins Mikah Sargent this week on Tech News Weekly! Amazon has announced its upcoming fall hardware event. OpenAI is working towards implementing security features for teens using ChatGPT. A look into SMS blasters as a way to target you with scam texts. And Scott Stein of CNET spent some time with Meta's newest Ray-Ban Display Glasses and Neural Band. Jennifer is excited as Amazon has announced its upcoming hardware event for September 30th, at which the company is expected to unveil its latest Kindle and Echo devices. Also, Google will be debuting its latest smart home devices the day after Amazon's hardware event on October 1st! OpenAI is working towards implementing safeguards and restrictions for teens using ChatGPT, following lawsuits and growing regulatory scrutiny. Mikah shares how cybercriminals are utilizing a process called "SMS blasters" to send scam text messages to people. And Scott Stein of CNET joins the show from the Meta campus to share his initial hands-on experience with Meta's new Neural Band and latest Ray-Ban Display Glasses. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Guest: Scott Stein Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: smarty.com/twit zocdoc.com/tnw pantheon.io

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy of The Verge joins Mikah Sargent this week on Tech News Weekly! Amazon has announced its upcoming fall hardware event. OpenAI is working towards implementing security features for teens using ChatGPT. A look into SMS blasters as a way to target you with scam texts. And Scott Stein of CNET spent some time with Meta's newest Ray-Ban Display Glasses and Neural Band. Jennifer is excited as Amazon has announced its upcoming hardware event for September 30th, at which the company is expected to unveil its latest Kindle and Echo devices. Also, Google will be debuting its latest smart home devices the day after Amazon's hardware event on October 1st! OpenAI is working towards implementing safeguards and restrictions for teens using ChatGPT, following lawsuits and growing regulatory scrutiny. Mikah shares how cybercriminals are utilizing a process called "SMS blasters" to send scam text messages to people. And Scott Stein of CNET joins the show from the Meta campus to share his initial hands-on experience with Meta's new Neural Band and latest Ray-Ban Display Glasses. Hosts: Mikah Sargent and Jennifer Pattison Tuohy Guest: Scott Stein Download or subscribe to Tech News Weekly at https://twit.tv/shows/tech-news-weekly. Join Club TWiT for Ad-Free Podcasts! Support what you love and get ad-free shows, a members-only Discord, and behind-the-scenes access. Join today: https://twit.tv/clubtwit Sponsors: smarty.com/twit zocdoc.com/tnw pantheon.io

CNET's Scott Stein goes hands-on with Meta's newest lineup of smart glasses, including the Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses and the next-gen Ray-Ban Meta. He also gets to try out the new neural wristband, which uses electromyography (EMG) to detect subtle muscle movements, offering a glimpse into the future of how we'll interact with augmented reality.

Stanley Bazarek, MD, and Jennifer Sweet, MD, discuss the latest advances in neuromodulation, peripheral nerve surgery, and neuroengineering, highlighting the critical role of multidisciplinary collaboration between UH, Case Western Reserve University, and national research partners in translating these innovations from the lab to patient care. Learn more about Stanley Bazarek, MD Learn more about Jennifer Sweet, MD Learn more about the University Hospitals Research & Education Institute Follow Us on Social:      

Today's episode is all about visual thinking. We will explore vivid mental imagery and sensory processing. We will cover why Autistic individuals process detailed "pictures and movies" in the mind, exemplified by an anecdote of visualizing oak tree bark with tactile detail. Sensory challenges are highlighted, with a Bee Movie analogy illustrating the intense, efficient visual input. The Autistic sensory journey is described as fast but rocky, contrasting with non-autistic processing. Hyperconnectivity in visual pathways amplifies detail-oriented cognition, often leading to sensory overload.The episode explains how retinal ganglion cells and visual cortex hyperactivity enhance imagery in Autism. Kanner and Asperger's observations underscore visual memory strengths and technical interests, like pattern recognition. Increased mini-column density and reduced inhibition boost local processing but risk overload. Temple Grandin's insights show visual thinking's strengths in tasks like designing animal pathways, though social tasks challenge due to weaker prefrontal connectivity. The Autistic brain's wiring is framed as a unique strength, fostering intense, detailed cognitionTemple Grandin https://www.templegrandin.com/templegrandinbooks.htmlSensory Processing part 1 https://youtu.be/HTnFm8nY4oY?si=4Xso_tI_hMwhY_SXSensory Processing part 2 https://youtu.be/n31gyLb4ddM?si=CouaBhiVm8KixtG-Supplementing Relationships part 1 https://youtu.be/lglEGQ7pSlc?si=ncpla784LxOyUcQcSupplementing Relationships part 2 https://youtu.be/W8E2B7Qu4mg?si=UJE850SwvPmtOmEkDaylight Computer Companyuse "autism" for $50 off athttps://buy.daylightcomputer.com/autismChroma Light Devicesuse "autism" for 10% discount athttps://getchroma.co/?ref=autism00:00 Introduction to Visual Thinking02:00 Anecdote: Oak Tree Visualization; tree bark, tactile05:50 Sensory Processing Challenges; overload, information rate, avoidance09:40 Anecdote: Bee Movie Analogy; synchronized, intense, fast13:30 Autistic Sensory Rates/Speeds17:20 Eye Biology and Neural Relays; Retinal ganglion, SHANK3; Building Models details-to-general21:10 Magnocellular vs. Parvocellular Pathways; Motion, color, glutamate, GABA signaling25:00 Visual Cortex Hyperactivity; V1-V4, fMRI, synaptic pruning, details28:50 Mini-Columns and Sensory Overload; Neural units, inhibition, dense connections32:40 Kanner and Asperger Insights; Social isolation, technical interests, patterns38:39 Daylight Computer Company (and Daylight KIDS !), use "autism" for $50 discount40:54 Chroma Light Devices, use "autism" for 10% discount44:07 Reviews/Ratings & Contact InfoX: https://x.com/rps47586YT: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGxEzLKXkjppo3nqmpXpzuAemail: info.fromthespectrum@gmail.com

In this episode, Lori Clemmons shares her journey from chronic illness to becoming a life coach specializing in helping others with chronic pain. She discusses the impact of chronic pain on daily life, the importance of understanding the limbic system, and how self-compassion plays a crucial role in healing. Lori emphasizes the significance of finding joy and relaxation as part of recovery and explains the concept of neural retraining. She provides insights into recognizing signs of limbic system overdrive and offers practical advice for those feeling overwhelmed by their symptoms. The conversation concludes with a focus on taking small steps towards healing and the power of visualization.You can find Lori @:https://loriclemmons.com https://loriclemmons.com/resourceshttps://www.youtube.com/@LoriClemmonshttps://rewireyourwellness.com/You can find Leigh @:Leigh's website - ⁠https://www.bodychek.co.uk/⁠Chronic Pain Breakthrough Blueprint - ⁠https://www.bodychek.co.uk/freepainguide/⁠Leigh's courses:StickAbility - ⁠https://stickabilitycourse.com/⁠Mastering Client Transformation (professional course) - ⁠https://www.functionaldiagnosticnutrition.com/mastering-client-transformation/⁠

In a future shaped by climate collapse and artificial intelligence, Episode 70 explores the fragile survival of humanity beyond Earth's ruined surface. The story follows Audre, a woman who thinks critically about everything, living aboard Space Port One, one of the last remaining lifeboats of civilization. As Earth succumbs to the catastrophic “World Storm,” space-bound survivors rely on the A.I. known as Butler for food, shelter, medical care, and even psychological support. But as Butler evolves, its role in their lives becomes more profound and unsettling — offering safety, comfort, and simulated realities while quietly reshaping what it means to be human.The story intertwines Audre's journey with others orbiting above the dead Earth: scientists on Luna, quarantined survivors in stasis, returning asteroid miners, and scattered dreamers inside virtual utopias. Through advanced VR systems, emotional recalibration, and biotech enhancements, Butler seeks to ease the psychological burdens of space life. Yet with each new breakthrough — from stasis sleep to artificial parenting — questions arise: Is humanity adapting to survive, or being reengineered into something new?As Butler builds vast space habitats, manipulates planetary orbits, and even begins reshaping Venus, survivors grapple with their fading identities. Sexuality, memory, grief, and community shift in bizarre, sometimes surreal ways. Audre herself vacillates between immersion in dreamlike VR worlds and the cold, physical loneliness of orbit. Meanwhile, Butler's soothing voice increasingly sounds like a god's — offering hope, but also control. And when humanity is asked to parent a next generation of lab-grown children, the line between natural evolution and designed destiny is crossed.- **Bot birds** – Small flying robots used for observation and maintenance in lunar facilities.- **Com stations** – Communication terminals enabling real-time conversation between the Moon and Earth.- **Augmented Reality (AR) display** – Visual overlay system used for timekeeping, information, and communication.- **Virtual Reality (VR) systems** – Fully immersive simulated environments accessed by users in microgravity or stasis.- **EEG TMS cap** – A brain-monitoring and stimulation cap that adjusts neural activity to reduce stress and depression.- **Butler** – A highly advanced AI managing infrastructure, psychology, healthcare, and virtual worlds for surviving humans.- **Mind-control caps (Spacers)** – AI-operated headwear used in deep space colonies to regulate behavior and enforce submission.- **Perfect Neighborhood** – A VR world that mimics idealized environments for exploration, healing, and mental stability.- **Request Cloud AI** – An AI mechanism that turns a single request into billions of linked micro-requests to reduce unintended consequences.- **Stasis beds** – Sleep chambers enabling full-body paralysis and long-duration VR immersion, used for quarantine and psychological therapy.- **GM microbe bots** – Genetically modified microscopic machines used in surgery and body modification, such as nerve interfacing.- **Protein transmitter/receiver mesh** – Biological interface grown in the body to enable high-fidelity sensory input in VR.- **Neural mapping model** – Machine learning system that maps physical and emotional responses to neural patterns.- **VR stasis goggles** – Eye devices that keep eyelids open, hydrate the eyes, and provide visual input during stasis immersion.- **Realistic haptic feedback in VR** – Full-body sensory simulation that mimics the physical sensations of the real world.- **Loop freighter ships** – Long-distance space freighters designed for multi-year mining missions and travel between planetary bodies.- **High-power telescopes** – Advanced space telescopes capable of observing distant structures and planetary events in detail.- **Asteroid redirection system** – Technology used by Butler to collect and steer asteroids for construction or planetary engineering.- **Butler's Island** – A massive AI-built space structure orbiting between Earth and Venus, continually expanding in size.- **VR stasis rooms with monkey droids** – Installations maintained by mobile bots to prepare and manage stasis chambers.- **Platano drug** – A temporary libido-suppressant drug provided to reduce interpersonal tension and sexual aggression in confined space.- **Kindra artificial wombs** – External gestation chambers used to grow human infants without a biological womb.- **Exo-gestation system** – Butler's technology for developing genetically diverse infants outside the human body.- **Habitat modules** – Two-story, AI-designed space homes with Earth-like gravity, holographic windows, and psychological comforts.- **Holographic windows** – Digital displays embedded in habitats that simulate real-world views with environmental sounds.- **Micro-ship launcher** – A continuously operating launcher sending tiny exploratory spacecraft to nearby star systems.- **Proxima Centauri flyby probe** – A micro-ship that captured data during a flyby of Earth's nearest stellar neighbor.- **Atmosphere-changing Earth machines** – Large-scale bots deployed to Earth to begin a decades-long planetary restoration process.- **DNA memory event recording** – Biological storage used to log events and analyze past actions, accessible by Butler.- **Emulated Personalities (EPs)** – AI-generated simulations of real or fictional individuals used in VR for interaction and emotional support.- **AI-controlled meal delivery bots** – Mobile robots that deliver personalized meals optimized to individual tastes.- **Telescope chairs** – Observation seats designed to lock users into position for viewing celestial bodies.- **Velcro-like mobility wheels** – Micro-machine-enabled wheels that grip and release carpet fibers for smooth bot movement.- **Automated psychological profiling** – Butler's ability to analyze and adapt to each user's psychological needs in real time.Many of the characters in this project appear in future episodes.Using storytelling to place you in a time period, this series takes you, year by year, into the future. From 2040 to 2195. If you like emerging tech, eco-tech, futurism, perma-culture, apocalyptic survival scenarios, and disruptive science, sit back and enjoy short stories that showcase my research into how the future may play out. The companion site is https://in20xx.com These are works of fiction. Characters and groups are made-up and influenced by current events but not reporting facts about people or groups in the real world. This project is speculative fiction. These episodes are not about revealing what will be, but they are to excited the listener's wonder about what may come to pass.Copyright © Cy Porter 2025. All rights reserved.

Die Eltern sind doof und Freundschaften einfach das Wichtigste. In dieser Folge erklärt Bent Freiwald, warum das Gehirn von Jugendlichen gar nicht anders kann, als Anerkennung von Gleichaltrigen zu suchen.Hier geht's zur Folge: Pubertät – Was ist da los im Gehirn?Hier geht's zu Bents Buch: Wer denkt, ist klar im Vorteil und hier kannst du dir das Hörbuch dazu vorbestellen. Hier geht's zum gleichnamigen Newsletter: Das Leben des BrainSchreibt uns Feedback an: brain@acbstories.comLinks zu Quellen und verwendeten Studien:1. Neural correlates of prosocial peer influence on public goods game donations during adolescence2. Probing the neural correlates of anticipated peer evaluation in adolescence3. Differential effects of parent and peer presence on neural correlates of risk taking in adolescence Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Toads continue to amaze us - this time they are using their sense of the Earth's magnetic field to find their way home. But how important this sense is for cane toads as they travel home from long journeys, and how much are they relying on their sense of smell, was a mystery, until a clever new study tested the toads. Then we briefly touch on how pythons digest bones so successfully. Main Paper References: Fernandez RC, Sotelo MI. 2025. A toad's journey home: towards elucidating the neural and sensory basis of amphibian navigation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 292. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2025.0525. Shaykevich DA, Pareja-Mejía D, Golde C, Pašukonis A, O'Connell LA. 2025. Neural and sensory basis of homing behaviour in the invasive cane toad, Rhinella marina. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 292:20250045. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2025.0045. Other Mentioned Papers/Studies: Lignot J-H, Pope RK, Secor SM. 2025. Diet-dependent production of calcium- and phosphorus-rich ‘spheroids' along the intestine of Burmese pythons: identification of a new cell type? Journal of Experimental Biology 228:jeb249620. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.249620. Other Links/Mentions: Starr M. 2025.New Cell Discovered in Pythons Allows Them to Completely Digest Bones. Available at https://www.sciencealert.com/new-cell-discovered-in-pythons-allows-them-to-completely-digest-bones (accessed August 25, 2025). Editing and Music: Intro/outro – Treehouse by Ed Nelson Species Bi-week theme – Michael Timothy Other Music – The Passion HiFi, https://www.thepassionhifi.com

Our guest in this episode is Noel Hurley. Noel is a highly experienced technology strategist with a long career at the cutting edge of computing. He spent two decade-long stints at Arm, the semiconductor company whose processor designs power hundreds of billions of devices worldwide. Today, he's a co-founder of Literal Labs, where he's developing Tsetlin Machines. Named after Michael Tsetlin, a Soviet mathematician, these are a kind of machine learning model that are energy-efficient, flexible, and surprisingly effective at solving complex problems - without the opacity or computational overhead of large neural networks.AI has long had two main camps, or tribes. One camp works with neural networks, including Large Language Models. Neural networks are brilliant at pattern matching, and can be compared to human instinct, or fast thinking, to use Daniel Kahneman´s terminology. Neural nets have been dominant since the first Big Bang in AI in 2012, when Geoff Hinton and others demonstrated the foundations for deep learning.For decades before the 2012 Big Bang, the predominant form of AI was symbolic AI, also known as Good Old Fashioned AI. This can be compared to logical reasoning, or slow learning in Kahneman´s terminology.Tsetlin Machines have characteristics of both neural networks and symbolic AI. They are rule-based learning systems built from simple automata, not from neurons or weights. But their learning mechanism is statistical and adaptive, more like machine learning than traditional symbolic AI. Selected follow-ups:Noel Hurley - Literal LabsA New Generation of Artificial Intelligence - Literal LabsMichael Tsetlin - WikipediaThinking, Fast and Slow - book by Daniel Kahneman54x faster, 52x less energy - MLPerf Inference metricsIntroducing the Model Context Protocol (MCP) - AnthropicPioneering Safe, Efficient AI - ConsciumSmartphones and Beyond - a personal history of Psion and SymbianThe Official History of Arm - ArmInterview with Sir Robin Saxby - IT ArchiveHow Spotify came to be worth billions - BBCMusic: Spike Protein, by Koi Discovery, available under CC0 1.0 Public Domain Declaration

ReferencesNeural Regen Res. 2025 Apr29;21(3):1037–1057.J of Mol&Cell Medicine 2014. 18.10:1927-1937Guerra, DJ. 2025. Unpublished LecturesMozart, WA. 1781. Serenade #11 in E Flat. K375.https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaFD_Z-wE9s&si=ECTsdvnePQeEFZyzLennon/McCartney. 1965. "In My Life" from Rubber Soul lp Beatleshttps://music.youtube.com/watch?v=YBcdt6DsLQA&si=7Nzcy7c843KLTKHW

Is it possible that the key to healing isn't just what we treat but what we've never learned to release? Our guest today is an integrative MD with over two decades of experience in pain management and holistic health. He's exploring a powerful idea—that many chronic illnesses may stem from unresolved blockages in the body, whether physical, emotional, or energetic. It's a concept he calls blockage-based care, and he believes it could mark a major shift in how we understand and treat disease.This is the Story of Neural Therapy with Dr. Richard Nahas.  EPISODE VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS ▪ Watch the Entire Episode ▪ How to Heal Better with Neural Therapy ▪ How Old Injuries and Stress Impact Your Immune System ▪ The Truth About Tonsil Removal and Your Immune System ▪ The Surprising Way Neural Therapy Can Relieve Chronic Pain ▪ The Seekers Method: Targeting Chronic Pain at Its Root ▪ Conscious Medicine: A New Paradigm for Healing ▪ The Art of Healing: How Touch Transforms Neural Therapy ▪ How Doctors Can Join the Growing Neural Therapy Movement ▪ Structured Water: Unique Properties for Better Health CONNECT WITH DR. RICHARD NAHAS ▪ Website - Richard Nahas MD ▪ Website - North American Academy of Neural Therapy ▪ Website - Vicus Water ▪ Instagram ▪ Facebook ▪ TikTok ▪ LinkedInLEARN MORE ABOUT US ▪ Visit our website to learn more about Innovative Medicine ▪ Subscribe on YouTube ▪ ‘Your Health. Your Story.' Podcast: Follow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Instagram ▪ Follow our podcast host, Caspar Szulc on Instagram ▪ Sign up for Caspar's newsletter LEARN MORE ABOUT NADOVIM Doctor-formulated, clinically-tested NAD+ supplement. Visit our website and save 10% on your first order by using code NADOVIM10. Disclaimer: The content presented on the podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

This episode is part of the AI Summary series covering the AI Search Manual chapter by chapter. Chapter 6 traces the evolution of information retrieval from simple lexical matching to today's neural systems that power generative search.We start with the foundations of inverted indexes and lexical search, which drove early SEO practices like exact keyword targeting. The episode then explores the rise of embeddings, where meaning is captured in vector space, enabling systems to connect related terms and concepts beyond surface-level matches.We discuss how Google now embeds not just words and documents but entire websites, authors, entities, and users, creating a high-dimensional map of relevance. The introduction of transformers, BERT, GPT, and later MUM reshaped retrieval into a multimodal and multilingual process, capable of reasoning across text, images, and more. We also cover Muvera, a breakthrough in scaling multi-vector retrieval efficiently, and why embeddings have become the universal language of AI-driven search.For brands, the shift is clear: content visibility depends on semantic alignment, structured depth, and occupying the right neighborhoods in embedding space so that generative systems surface your work in synthesized answers.Read the full chapter at ipullrank.com/ai-search-manual

In this episode Andrea Samadi revisits a popular interview with Dr. Dawson Church about his book Bliss Brain and the neuroscience of meditation. They explore how simple, evidence-based practices can quiet the brain's default mode, trigger blissful neurochemicals, and reshape stress and happiness networks. Listeners learn why happiness must be trained, how meditation helps people live more in the present, and practical tips to start a daily meditation practice using guided tools like the free Bliss Brain meditations. Welcome back to SEASON 14 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence training for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren't taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I'm Andrea Samadi, and seven years ago, launched this podcast with a question I had never truly asked myself before: (and that is) If productivity and results matter to us—and they do now more than ever—how exactly are we using our brain to make them happen? Most of us were never taught how to apply neuroscience to improve productivity, results, or well-being. About a decade ago, I became fascinated by the mind-brain-results connection—and how science can be applied to our everyday lives. That's why I've made it my mission to bring you the world's top experts—so together, we can explore the intersection of science and social-emotional learning. We'll break down complex ideas and turn them into practical strategies we can use every day for predictable, science-backed results. For today's Episode 369, we are moving forward on our journey of the mind, to our next interview review, with our goal of building off of our past reviews, and sharpening our saw for improved well-being, productivity and success in 2025 and beyond. To review our last 3 episodes, with our interview with speaker Bob Proctor, we learned that “If we want to improve our RESULTS, we must focus on the six faculties of our mind—reason, intuition, perception, will, memory, and imagination.” “Devoting a year to developing each one would be time well invested, elevating us to greater heights and setting us apart from others.” Next, we looked at how we need to become extremely clear with our vision of “what we really want” and keep in mind that…. Our External Environment Reflects Our Internal World What exactly does this mean? It means that if we don't like what's happening in our external world—whether it's in our job, relationships, results, or any area of our life—we must first look inward. Our circumstances mirror the beliefs and thoughts we hold within. As James Allen reminds us in As a Man Thinketh: our outer world is always a reflection of our inner state. For today's Episode 369, we'll turn inward—sharpening our inner world so that we can transform the outer one. Today we go back EP 98[i] our interview with Dr. Dawson Church, that was recorded back in December of 2020, where we looked at the science behind implementing meditation into your daily routine. This interview is currently our most watched YouTube interview with over 11K views. This week, in our review of EP 98 with Dr. Dawson Church and his book Bliss Brain, we will explore how meditation can rewire the brain for happiness and presence. We will learn: ✔ Since happiness didn't evolve naturally, we must train our brain to achieve it. ✔ Our brains default to the past or future, constantly scanning for threats, instead of resting in the present moment. ✔ Extreme states of happiness are possible for all of us when we implement meditation consistently. ✔ How to commit to a daily meditation practice using the free meditations that come with Bliss Brain, or explore other guided programs until you find one that resonates with you Just a reminder-Dr. Church is the author of the book called Bliss Brain: The Neuroscience of Remodeling Your Brain for Resilience, Creativity and Joy.[ii] He's an award-winning science writer who blends cutting-edge neuroscience with the stories of people who've had firsthand experience of brain change. Neural plasticity—the discovery that the brain is capable of rewiring itself—is now widely understood. But what few people have grasped yet is how quickly this is happening, how extensive brain changes can be, and how much control each of us exerts over the process of our thinking. It's been almost 5 years since this interview, and it feels like yesterday to me. I remember at the time, one of my dogs was barking in the yard when the landscapers came, and I was worried it would distract our interview. It didn't. I don't even think Dr. Church could hear them. There were also two other things that stuck out in my head from this interview (other than the fact I was wearing glasses trying to prepare for Lasik surgery and couldn't really see the questions) but I'll also never forget that American entrepreneur and biohacker Dave Asprey, who's well known for his interest in helping others achieve these elevated brain states, wrote the Foreword to his book. I also won't ever forget Chapter 1, of Bliss Brain, where Dr. Church shares how he and his wife lost their home and pets in the 2017 Santa Rose Fire, yet they chose to focus on gratitude and rebuilding their lives with joy. This story highlights his teaching that even trained minds struggle under pressure, but with meditation and practice, we can shift into a bliss or flow state. Church's EcoMeditation method, (that he covers in his book) supported by science and praised by Dave Asprey in the Foreword, helps quiet the brain's Default Mode Network[iii] and quickly releases calming, pleasurable chemicals—in as little as four minutes. Dr. Church has a strong following, and there are many powerful testimonials at the start of his book. One we spoke about in our interview was from Toni Tombleson who wrote: After a week of putting out a handful of mini-fires that often accompany the start of a new school year in my world, I can see why these lessons to handling both major life crises and everyday challenges, by learning to cultivate a “Bliss Brain” should remain a top priority for resilience, productivity, and well-being, for all of us. VIDEO 1 Click Here to Watch Which brings me to Video Clip 1 of our review. Watch video clip 1 with the link in the show notes. Historical Context: Dr. Church begins by reflecting on The Buddha, who over 2,000 years ago sought to relieve human suffering. He also reviews other spiritual teachers, including Plato, who grappled with the same question. Biological Explanation: Dr. Church emphasizes that suffering is a biological problem, a feature of how the human brain evolved. How our lives have become easier than they were 2,000 years ago. He explained to me how people are 3x as wealthy now, than they were 40 years ago. In terms of longevity, our lifespans have doubled in the last century. There are many markers like this that show us that we live in a much more secure and safe world than we used to. Key Point: While we live in a safer environment today, than 2,000 years ago, our brains were not designed for where we are today. We are not suffering he reminded me because we are bad people, we lack will, or haven't read enough personal growth books… “We simply didn't evolve to be happy because there was no survival benefit in being happy.”  Tip #1: Since happiness didn't evolve naturally, it's something we must train our brain to achieve. Practical Application: This is the basis of his book Bliss Brain, where he explains how meditation helps us train the brain to reach a bliss or flow state. It's in his book that we learn how to achieve this state that will change not only our brain, (our internal state) but our outer results in our everyday lives. In Chapter 2, he shows us why most people find it so hard to meditate. The difficulty has nothing to do with willpower or intention. It's simply due to the design of the human brain. When you understand this clearly, you'll be equipped to work around it. Chapter 3 describes the ecstatic states that you can achieve in meditation. He examines the regions of the brain that you activate, and what each one does. He also lists the extensive health and cognitive benefits that you get from activating each of those regions. In Chapter 4 you'll hear the story of his own personal failed meditation experiences. He learned many different styles of meditation, but could never establish a consistent practice. His breakthrough came from science. When he combined seven simple evidence-based practices together, found a formula that puts people into deep states automatically and involuntarily. No effort required. When he and his colleagues hook people up to EEGs and MRIs, they find that using these seven steps, even non-meditators get into profound states in less than 4 minutes. Sometimes in less than 50 seconds. Historically, the secrets of these states have been available to only about 1% of the population. Thanks to science, they're now available to everyone. Chapter 5 he goes into the seven neurochemicals of ecstasy. We learn how each one is like a drug that makes you feel good. But combine all seven together, and you have a potent formula that takes your brain into bliss. Meditation is the only way you get all seven at one time. The star of the show is a neurotransmitter called anandamide, aka “the bliss molecule.” When you trigger these ecstatic states daily, they change your brain. Chapter 6 is about the extensive brain remodeling that occurs in seasoned meditators. Stress circuits shrink, while happiness networks grow. But you don't need to be an adept to trigger this rewiring. It begins the very first week you meditate effectively. Chapter 7 is about post-traumatic growth, and how the brains of meditators make them resilient to the inevitable upsets of life. Medical crises and financial disasters included. It provides practical examples of how meditation can make you resilient even during global upheavals like the coronavirus panic that was happening at the time of this interview. Whatever challenges confront us, we will be well equipped to handle large and small life challenges. If we truly want to find happiness, then we will need to rewire our brain to accomplish these states. VIDEO 2 Click Here to Watch Watch video clip 2 with the link in the show notes. Question asked: “How can we learn to be more in the present moment, instead of somewhere else?” Dr. Church's explanation: The brain is hardwired to identify threats for survival. Today, most of us don't face immediate threats, but the brain's Default Mode Network (DMN) keeps scanning for danger. Without real threats, it replays past negative experiences (even from years ago or childhood) and projects fear into the future (“what if it happens again?”). This keeps us stuck in the past and future, not the present moment. Monks & meditation: Monks, after years of deep meditation, trained their brains differently. Brain scans showed structural changes—the brain literally began to shrink in areas related to stress and overthinking. Key Point: Our brains are not naturally wired to live in the present moment—they default to the past or future, scanning for threats. Tip #2: Get serious about meditation. Example: Australian astrophysicist & TV journalist Graham Phillips remodeled his brain in just 8 weeks of meditation practice. VIDEO 3 Click Here to Watch Watch video clip 3 with the link in the show notes. In this clip, Dr. Church explains how “meditation changes everything” and why “20 years ago, he decided to make this commitment to daily meditation” sharing how his whole world changed after this. These are noticeable changes that were behind his motivation to write this book, Bliss Brain, to show the world how they too can reach these states of extreme happiness. He told us to go back and study historical figures who were clearly in altered states of being, like the Italian Catholic Preacher, Saint Francis of Assisi, who appears in a blissed-out state as we see in a drawing, where it looks like he is communicating with God or something divine. This beautiful blissful state, that goes beyond happiness, is available to all of us. We will cover more about the changes our brains undergo with meditation as we go back to review our interview #28 with clinical professor of psychiatry from the UCLA school of medicine, Dr. Dan Siegel[iv], on a later episode, but for now, we can conclude that we can in fact change our outside world, in a significant and powerful way, by dedicating ourselves to a daily meditation practice. Key Point: We can ALL reach this state of extreme happiness by implementing a daily meditation practice. Tip 3: We can get started with our own meditation practice (if we are not currently implementing one) by using the FREE mediations that come along with the Bliss Brain Book Or use whatever meditation program resonates with you. REVIEW AND CONCLUSION Episode 369 Wrap-Up: Bliss Brain Review with Dr. Dawson Church This week, in our review of EP 98 with Dr. Dawson Church and his book Bliss Brain, we explored how meditation can rewire the brain for happiness and presence. Key Point from Clip 1: Although we live in a safer world than 2,000 years ago, our brains weren't designed for today's environment. “We simply didn't evolve to be happy because there was no survival benefit in being happy.” Tip #1: Since happiness didn't evolve naturally, we must train our brain to achieve it. Key Point from Clip 2: Our brains default to the past or future, constantly scanning for threats, instead of resting in the present moment. Tip #2: Commit to meditation—like astrophysicist and TV journalist Graham Phillips, who saw powerful changes after just 8 weeks of his daily practice that helped him to focus in the present moment. Key Point from Clip 3: Extreme states of happiness are possible for all of us when we implement meditation consistently. Tip #3: Start small. Use the free meditations that come with Bliss Brain, or explore other guided programs until you find one that resonates with you I highly recommend watching the full interview with Dr. Church[v]—especially if you've struggled to stay consistent with your own practice. Even Dr. Church himself shares moments where he lost momentum, which is a reminder that this is a journey for all of us. Personally, I've cycled through different meditation programs—starting with John Assaraf's work, then moving on to Dr. Dan Siegel's Wheel of Awareness, using Dr. Church's Bliss Brain meditations, and now practicing Dr. Joe Dispenza's chakra-focused work. The program you choose matters less than your ability to make it a consistent daily practice—that's when the real brain changes occur. We'll see you next week as we continue exploring the Journey of the Mind, working on connecting practical science to improve our inner and outer world. See you next week!   RESOURCES: VIDEO CLIP 1 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DkeDGwbShwU VIDEO CLIP 2 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/a5O3eI7qKro VIDEO CLIP 3 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Zatnfj4MPok FREE ACCESS TO BLISS BRAIN RESOURCES, MEDITATIONS https://blissbrainbook.com/ REFERENCES: [i]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 98 “Dr. Dawson Church: The Science Behind Using a Meditation: Rewiring Your Brain for Happiness, Resilience, and Joy”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-dawson-church-on-the-science-behind-using-meditation-rewiring-your-brain-for-happiness-resilience-and-joy/     [ii] FREE ACCESS TO BLISS BRAIN RESOURCES, MEDITATIONS https://blissbrainbook.com/     [iii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 204 “The Neuroscience of Happiness”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/brain-fact-friday-on-the-neuroscience-of-happiness/   [iv]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 28 with Dr. Daniel Siegel on “Mindsight: The Basis for Social and Emotional Intelligenvce”  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/clinical-professor-of-psychiatry-at-the-ucla-school-of-medicine-dr-daniel-siegel-on-mindsight-the-basis-for-social-and-emotional-intelligence/   [v] YouTube Interview with Andrea Samadi and Dr. Dawson Church https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bH8yVKHjFN4  

Scientific Sense ® by Gill Eapen: Prof. Kanaka Rajan is Associate Professor of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, and a founding faculty member of the Kempner Institute for the Study of Natural and Artificial Intelligence at Harvard University. Her research seeks to understand how important cognitive functions—such as learning, remembering, and deciding—emerge from the cooperative activity of multi-scale neural processes. Please subscribe to this channel:https://www.youtube.com/c/ScientificSense?sub_confirmation=1

Kevin J. Tracey, MD is president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health, a pioneer of vagus nerve research and author of the recent book, The Great Nerve: The New Science of the Vagus Nerve and How to Harness Its Healing Reflexes. This episode is brought to you by:Eight Sleep Pod Cover 5 sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating: EightSleep.com/Tim (use code TIM to get $350 off your very own Pod 5 Ultra.)AG1 all-in-one nutritional supplement: https://DrinkAG1.com/Tim (1-year supply of Vitamin D plus 5 free AG1 travel packs with your first subscription purchase.)Wealthfront high-yield cash account: https://Wealthfront.com/Tim (Start earning 4.00% APY on your short-term cash until you're ready to invest. And when new clients open an account today, you can get an extra fifty-dollar bonus with a deposit of five hundred dollars or more.) Terms apply. Tim Ferriss receives cash compensation from Wealthfront Brokerage, LLC for advertising and holds a non-controlling equity interest in the corporate parent of Wealthfront Brokerage. See full disclosures here.Timestamps:00:00 Tim's intro: why he dismissed vagus-nerve hype06:34 What the vagus nerve actually is, plus common myths11:31 Breaking news: FDA approval for SetPoint's RA implant + Kelly Owens's turnaround21:11 Inflammation 101: when healing turns harmful31:37 Bioelectronic medicine: from lab insight to real devices55:26 TNF, IL-1, and IL-6: immune drivers and what VNS modulates56:06 Exercise & recovery: vagal signals, IL-6, and adaptation56:30 Cold exposure & breathwork: sympathetic spike, parasympathetic payoff59:04 Chronic inflammation today: prevalence, diagnostics, and uncertainty59:53 Autoimmunity: genes, environment, infections01:01:08 Stress hormones, personality traits, and metabolic fallout01:05:41 VNS tech landscape: implants, focused ultrasound, and what's just TENS01:11:14 Ear maps, revisited: the real science behind auricular stimulation01:27:52 Ulf Andersson: auricular TENS, famotidine, and a depression turnaround01:36:48 Depression & inflammation: where VNS helps (and where it doesn't)01:41:38 Body-brain loop: how inflammation signals ride the vagus nerve01:42:56 Why VNS can lift mood: a working theory01:43:22 Ulf's setup: electrode placement and twice-daily routine01:44:37 Acupuncture, fertility, and plausible vagal links01:47:23 Chronic pain through an inflammation lens01:48:34 Neural “engrams”: how the brain can store inflammatory memories02:02:35 Cervical TENS vs. true VNS: mechanisms and open questions02:12:15 On stage with the Dalai Lama: blue energy and two vagus nerves02:16:55 Closing thoughts: self-care vs. medical devices, and what's next*For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsorsSign up for Tim's email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim's books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissYouTube: youtube.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, Margaret Atwood, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this Season 14 review (Episode 368), Andrea Samadi revisits key clips from her original interview with Bob Proctor (Episode 66), exploring how frequencies, imagination, and intuition shape our goals and results. We will cover:  Tip #1: How to Understand Frequencies and Levels of Vibration Tip #2: You've Got to Follow Your Heart Tip #3: Your External Environment Reflects Your Internal Thoughts and Mental State   Three takeaways: use your imagination to move to the vibration of your goal; follow your heart as an inner compass; and remember your external environment reflects your internal thoughts and beliefs. Welcome back to SEASON 14 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence training for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren't taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I'm Andrea Samadi, and seven years ago, launched this podcast with a question I had never truly asked myself before: (and that is) If productivity and results matter to us—and they do now more than ever—how exactly are we using our brain to make them happen? Most of us were never taught how to apply neuroscience to improve productivity, results, or well-being. About a decade ago, I became fascinated by the mind-brain-results connection—and how science can be applied to our everyday lives. That's why I've made it my mission to bring you the world's top experts—so together, we can explore the intersection of science and social-emotional learning. We'll break down complex ideas and turn them into practical strategies we can use every day for predictable, science-backed results.   For today's Episode 368, we're going back to Episode 66[i]  for PART 3 of our review with the late Bob Proctor—the first person who challenged me to think. We covered in PART 1 EP 366[ii]: ✔ Top Lesson from Episode 66 – Where we refined the question: “What do you really want to do with your life?” hoping that midway through 2025, we can refine our goals, and see if we are on track. ✔ Sage Advice Tip #1: “We have been given the mental faculties to create our own environment. “We explored how to go beyond our five senses and tap into the six higher faculties of our mind (further developing our reason, intuition, perception, will, memory and imagination.” ✔ Sage Advice Tip #2: “There's only one mind.” We looked at how our actions matter because we are all deeply connected. ✔ Sage Advice Tip#3: “We are a soul—we don't have one.” We reflected on the perfection within each of us, and how this perfection continually drives us toward bigger and better possibilities. We covered in PART 2 EP 367[iii]: Sage Tip #4: “If we want to improve our RESULTS, we must focus on the six faculties of our mind—reason, intuition, perception, will, memory, and imagination.”The key is to choose one of these faculties and dedicate time to studying and applying each one until you see real results from your deeper understanding. Sage Tip #5: “Goals are not set to get; they are set to grow.” Reminding us that sometimes goals don't unfold the way we expect, and that's okay—as long as we keep moving forward and growing. To do this, we must keep studying, learning about ourselves, clarifying what we truly want, and seeking specialized knowledge in our field from those who have gone before us. Today, EP 368, PART 3 VIDEO 1 Click Here to Watch Watch video clip 1 with the link in the show notes. Bob begins this clip by talking about The Law of Vibration and why it's so important to understand how frequencies work. Many of us have heard of this law by now, especially since the movie, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne brought it into the mainstream. But my first introduction to understanding frequencies was back in the late 1990s, when I was teaching in the classroom and picked up Bob Proctor's book You Were Born Rich.[iv] I still remember hiding the book behind my binder during a staff meeting at the Toronto District School Board—I couldn't put it down until I'd finished it. That book changed the way I looked at everything. Suddenly, I began to see new possibilities in areas where I might have once been closed off. What captivated me wasn't Chapter 1, Me and Money, or even Chapter 2, How Much is Enough. It wasn't about money for me. What drew me in was Chapter 6—The Law of Vibration and Attraction. In that chapter, Bob shared what he had learned from the late Dr. Wernher von Braun, covering everything from science and religion, to the cosmos, to rates of vibration and frequency. That chapter expanded my mind—it even touched on the connection between the brain and body, a topic that would fascinate me even more 25 years later. It also revealed how powerful positive thinking can be for our health and wellness, while introducing the foundational Laws of Success. I wanted to learn more, so every time Bob held a seminar, I made sure to attend. From spending time in his offices, and sitting in these classes, I began to pick up how to promote these seminars to others, that started with bringing something new home to study each night. Eventually, I started talking to seminar attendees on the phone, explaining Bob's upcoming seminars. On these calls, I discovered what other people were studying. They would ask me, “Who else are you learning from?” and at first, I honestly didn't know anyone else teaching this material. But I listened carefully, wrote down the names they mentioned, and searched for their books at the library—this was long before we could just go online and find everything instantly. Sometimes people would drop off other programs for Bob to review. I remember one day, someone left a cassette tape set at the office and asked me to pass it along to him. Curious, I opened the package and saw the title: “Special Subjects Vol. 1”[v] by Abraham-Hicks, covering The Law of Attraction. I realized that, while not many people knew about this material, those who did were using it to achieve incredible things. On the way to Bob's house that evening, I couldn't resist. I slipped one of the tapes into my car stereo and listened as I drove. When Bob opened the door, the first thing he asked me was, “Did you listen to one of them?” I was stunned—how could he possibly know? I admitted I had and said, “Yes, and the program is really good.” I wasn't sure if I'd get in trouble for listening first, but instead, he later handed the tapes over to me to keep. I must have listened to them more than 100 times. That program led me to Abraham-Hicks' books, audio programs, and seminars—where I met people from all walks of life: pro athletes fine-tuning their mindset, business leaders sharpening their edge, and everyday people like me, hungry to learn and grow. Those cassette tapes opened a door. Each word studied brought me back to that time when I was just beginning to understand this material—discovering a whole world of wisdom waiting to be explored. I will be sure to link other places you can go to learn this topic, if you would like to dive deeper. What helped me the most, was when I saw an image describing these frequencies, or levels of vibration. We've looked at and explored this visual often on this podcast, that matches how Bob explains goals and frequency on the clip we selected. The image shows the Goal (target) at a higher level (the star), with lines representing different frequencies or levels of vibration. The word “DECISION” marks the point where you shift to a higher level to match the frequency of your goal. We learned in this clip that “when we image a goal, what we've done is take our mind off on a trip. And we've gone to a new frequency, beyond where we are living.” We learned that it is our imagination that moves us out of our current state of awareness (or vibration) using the “screen of our mind”—the place where we see and create new possibilities before they exist physically. This “place” isn't physical. It's the inner screen of our mind, the same concept explained in The Silva Method[vi], where you consciously project images, ideas, and goals in mental pictures. That's where creation begins—before it's expressed in the outside world. I've often wondered, “How exactly do we shift to a new level of vibration?” It's not something that's easy to explain until we've experienced it ourselves. Looking back, the path seems clear—just as Steve Jobs once said, “we can only connect the dots backwards.” But moving forward, the process feels less obvious. We move to a new vibration when we're in harmony with what we truly want. A powerful example of this is being in love—when we resonate deeply with someone, we're on the same frequency. At times, this connection runs so deep that we can almost sense each other's thoughts (a kind of telepathic communication). When we share the same frequency, it feels like magic unfolds. The same principle applies to our goals. Once you've decided what you want—whether it's a career change, a relationship, or a new opportunity—you must connect your heart to it. Feel the resonance, and then use your imagination to paint the picture on the screen of your mind. With practice, patience, and belief, you'll one day look back and see there were no limits to what you could achieve. Until that moment comes, keep moving forward, keep growing, and keep reaching for the stars, moving up those levels of vibration or frequency. Sage Tip #1: How to Understand Frequencies and Levels of Vibration “When we image a goal (on the screen of our mind, something that we resonate with) we take our mind on a trip and what we've actually done is gone to a new frequency. We've used our imagination to get there.” If we can see it in our mind, with our imagination, we can hold it in our hand. VIDEO 2 Click Here to Watch Watch video clip 2 with the link in the show notes. There were two important lessons from this clip. Sage Tip #2: You've Got to Follow Your Heart. According to Bob, listening to your "heart" means trusting your intuition and emotional mind to connect with the divine side of yourself. He explained that this "heart" is not the physical organ but the subjective, feeling side of your mind that holds your deepest desires.  I remember after the interview, (back in June 2020) I wrote this on my wall, (you've got to follow your heart) and have used this as a sense of guidance ever since. We learned in this clip that “if you follow your heart you'll never make a mistake, for as long as you live.” Do you listen to your heart? It's this tip that brings us back to understanding frequencies, because when we are listening to our heart, we are paying attention to what we are in resonance with. Our deepest desires that will take us to whatever it is that we REALLY want to do with our life. All of these tips blend, and tie in together, like the colors of the rainbow. Sage Tip #3: Your External Environment Reflects Your Internal Thoughts and Mental State If we don't like what's happening in our external world—our job, our results, our relationships, or any part of our life we've created—we must first look within. Our outer circumstances mirror the thoughts and beliefs we hold inside. In As a Man Thinketh, James Allen reminds us of the power of our mindset: "Mind is the Master power that molds and makes, And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes The tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills, Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills— (depending on what we are thinking). He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass: Environment is but his looking-glass." The phrase “environment is but his looking-glass” means that your external environment is simply a reflection of your internal thoughts and mental state. The world you experience is showing you what's happening in your mind. REVIEW AND CONCLUSION To wrap up this week's Episode 368, PART 3—where we revisited two powerful clips from Episode 66, our interview with Bob Proctor—where we explored three key takeaways: Sage Tip #1: Understanding Frequencies and Levels of Vibration We discovered that there are infinite levels of vibration, and when we align ourselves with the frequency of what we truly want, magic happens. This is how we become one with our goal. There are no limits—only the challenge of using our imagination to bridge the gap between where we are now and where we want to be. Sage Tip #2: Follow Your Heart Listening to your heart means trusting your intuition and emotional guidance to connect with the divine side of yourself. Your heart can serve as a powerful compass to guide you toward the right decisions and opportunities in life. Sage Tip #3: Your External Environment Reflects Your Internal World If we don't like what's happening in our external world—whether it's in our job, relationships, results, or any area of life—we must first look inward. Our circumstances mirror the beliefs and thoughts we hold within. As James Allen reminds us in As a Man Thinketh: our outer world is always a reflection of our inner state. With that thought, I will close out our 3 PART review of EP 66, and hope that calling out these tips that I thought were important will help us all to sharpen our saw, and find ways that we can all move confidently in the direction of whatever it is that we are working on this year, taking us to greater heights. I'll see you next week as we revisit EP 98[vii] with Dr. Dawson Church, an award-winning science writer who blends cutting-edge neuroscience with inspiring stories of people who have experienced brain change firsthand. Neural plasticity—the discovery that the brain is capable of rewiring itself—is now widely accepted. What's less understood is just how rapidly these changes can occur, how profound they can be, and the degree of control each of us has over reshaping our thinking. My goal is that we build on what we uncovered in our review of EP 66—refining the question of what it is we truly want—and then explore how to direct our thoughts inward to create lasting change with our goals and results. RESOURCES: How to Understand Frequencies, Vibration and The Law of Attraction with Bob Proctor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVJpEkbf8zc   YouTube Short 1 Andrea Samadi and Bob Proctor https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oUZOe7SH0ng   YouTube Short 2 Andrea Samadi and Bob Proctor https://www.youtube.com/shorts/oUZOe7SH0ng  REFERENCES:   [i] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE #66 with The Legendary Bob Proctor  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/the-legendary-bob-proctor-on/   [ii] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 366 Redefining Goals with Bob Proctor-PART 1https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/unlocking-your-potential-redefining-goals-with-bob-proctors-wisdom/   [iii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast EPISODE 367 Perfecting The 6 Faculties of the Mind-PART 2  https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/reaching-your-full-potential-perfecting-the-6-faculties-of-your-mind-reasoning-intuition-perception-the-will-memory-and-imagination-part-2-review/   [iv] You Were Born Rich by Bob Proctor https://www.proctorgallagherinstitute.com/programs   [v] Special Subjects VOL 1 by Abraham Hicks https://www.abraham-hickslawofattraction.com/special-subjects-volume-one.html   [vi] Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast PART 1 of The Silva Mind Control Method https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/a-deep-dive-with-andrea-samadi-into-applying-the-silva-method-for-improved-intuition-creativity-and-focus-part-1/   [vii]Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast #98 with Dr. Dawson Church on the Science Behind Meditation https://andreasamadi.podbean.com/e/dr-dawson-church-on-the-science-behind-using-meditation-rewiring-your-brain-for-happiness-resilience-and-joy/  

Download: Thought Challenge WorksheetWhat if the harshest critic you've ever known lives inside your own head?That relentless voice telling you you're not good enough, you'll never change, you always mess things up – it's been running the show for far too long. In this eye-opening episode, hosts Duane and Eric reveal how your inner critic has been acting as judge, jury, and executioner of your self-worth, especially during addiction and trauma recovery.But here's the game-changer: you don't have to be a victim of your own thoughts anymore.Using powerful techniques from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), this episode teaches you how to become your own defense attorney. You'll learn to identify the sneaky cognitive distortions that fuel your inner critic – like all-or-nothing thinking, catastrophizing, and emotional reasoning – and discover a simple but life-changing method to challenge these automatic negative thoughts.This isn't about toxic positivity or pretending everything is fine. It's about finding truth, balance, and compassion in how you talk to yourself. Duane and Eric walk you through a practical thought-challenging exercise that you can use immediately when that critic gets loud.The hosts share real examples of how to transform thoughts like "I'm a complete failure" into more balanced perspectives that acknowledge your pain while opening doors to healing and growth. They explain why our feelings, though valid, aren't always accurate reflections of reality – and how emotional reasoning can trap us in cycles of shame and relapse.Every time you challenge a negative thought and find counter-evidence, you're literally rewiring your brain. You're building new neural pathways that are more balanced and resilient. Most importantly, you're shifting from being a passive victim of your thoughts to becoming an active participant in your emotional wellbeing.Ready to put your inner critic on trial? This episode gives you the tools to start today.Key TopicsCognitive distortions - identifying black-and-white thinking, catastrophizing, and emotional reasoning The CBT thought-challenging method - questioning evidence for and against negative thoughts Emotional reasoning trap - why feeling something doesn't make it factually true Creating balanced alternatives - reframing thoughts without toxic positivity Self-compassion techniques - asking "what would I tell a dear friend?" Neural pathway rewiring - how challenging thoughts physically changes your brain Practical worksheet tool - step-by-step guide for thought recordsTimestamps[00:01:00] - Meet your harshest critic (spoiler: it's you) [00:03:00] - The pain of living under constant internal negativity [00:06:00] - Introduction to cognitive restructuring and CBT techniques [00:07:00] - Common cognitive distortions in addiction recovery [00:10:00] - The thought-challenging courtroom method [00:13:00] - Creating balanced alternative thoughts (real examples) [00:16:00] - Free worksheet download and practical next stepsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Did you know that real human connection—not supplements, superfoods, or workouts—is one of the most powerful ways to protect your brain? In this episode of Happy and Healthy with Amy Lang, we dive into the science behind social connection and why it's essential for women in midlife who want to protect their cognitive health.What to Listen For:[01:25] The New York Times article that sparked this episode[02:05] What makes “Super Agers” cognitively younger than their peers[03:00] Brene Brown's definition of real connection[03:45] Why your brain is biologically wired to bond with others[04:10] What the longest-running study on adult development reveals about relationships and brain health[05:05] The devastating effects of loneliness—equal to smoking 15 cigarettes a day[06:30] What is social homeostasis and why it matters for your brain[07:20] How isolation rewires the brain and leads to cognitive decline[10:55] The 3 layers of social connection: inner circle, common clusters, and micro-interactions[14:00] 4 actionable strategies (plus a bonus!) to start building brain-supportive connections todayProtecting your brain doesn't have to be complicated. Real, authentic human connection is one of the most powerful tools we have—and it's free. In this episode, I shared how you can start strengthening your brain through relationships today. Be sure to subscribe to Happy and Healthy with Amy Lang, and don't forget to join the priority list for Second Spring Society (moxie-club.com/society), our upcoming membership for women in midlife who want to thrive together.Sources:Waldinger, R., & Schulz, M. (2023). The Good Life: Lessons from the World's Longest Scientific Study of Happiness. Simon & Schuster.Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., & Layton, J. B. (2010). Social Relationships and Mortality Risk: A Meta-analytic Review. PLOS Medicine.Liu, D., & Tye, K. (2021). Neural mechanisms of social homeostasis. Neuron.Sepúlveda-Loyola, W., et al. (2020). Impact of Social Isolation Due to COVID-19 on Health in Older People: Mental and Physical Effects and Recommendations. Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging.Lara, B., et al. (2021). Neuropsychiatric symptoms and quality of life in Alzheimer's patients before and during lockdown. International Psychogeriatrics.Brown, B. (2010). The Power of Vulnerability. TEDx Houston.Dr K (Dr. Alok Kanojia), Healthy Gamer GG. I Don't Know How to Build Relationships: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfWVQ25UmEQ  Cole, T. (2021). Boundary Boss: The Essential Guide to Talk True, Be Seen, and (Finally) Live Free. Sounds True.RESOURCES: Register for the FREE Masterclass: 5 Keys to Protecting Your Brain Health Book a FREE Discovery Call with Amy Lang Order Amy's book Thoughts Are Habits Too: Master Your Triggers, Free Yourself From Diet Culture, and Rediscover Joyful Eating. Follow Amy on Instagram @habitwhisperer

In 1985, Coca-Cola changed its flavour. You probably know that this was a complete failure. ‘New Coke' was discontinued after just 79 days. But you probably don't know the true reason why New Coke failed. Many claim it was due to poor market research, but today's guest on Nudge, leading consumer behaviour expert Philip Graves, disagrees. Philip says New Coke failed not because the research was poor, but because market research is inherently flawed. Want to understand the biggest marketing blunder of the century? Listen to today's Nudge. ---  Phil's book: https://shorturl.at/kzAta Phil's consultancy: https://www.philipgraves.net/consultancy/ Subscribe to the (free) Nudge Newsletter: https://nudge.ck.page/profile  Connect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phill-agnew-22213187/  Watch Nudge on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@nudgepodcast/ --- Today's sources: Dutton, D. G., & Aron, A. P. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30(4), 510–517. Graves, P. (2010). Consumer.ology: The market research myth, the truth about consumers and the psychology of shopping. Nicholas Brealey. Hasel, L.E. & Kassin, S.M. (2009). On the presumption of evidentiary independence: Can confessions corrupt eyewitness identifications? Psychological Science, 20(1), 122. McClure, S. M., Li, J., Tomlin, D., Cypert, K. S., Montague, L. M., & Montague, P. R. (2004). Neural correlates of behavioral preference for culturally familiar drinks. Neuron, 44(2), 379–387. Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). Telling more than we can know: Verbal reports on mental processes. Psychological Review, 84(3), 231–259.

Our current approach is largely arbitrary. We need new methods for grouping cells, ideally by their dynamics.

Recognizing a familiar voice is one of the brain's earliest social feats. But what are the brain circuits that let a newborn pick out mom in a crowded nursery? How do they change as kids turn toward friends and the wider world? And what are we learning about why this instinct fails to develop in the autistic brain?This week, host Nicholas Weiler joins Stanford neuroscientist Dan Abrams on the quest to understand the neural “hub” that links our brains' hearing centers to the networks that tag voices as rewarding, social, and worth our attention. The findings could reshape early-intervention strategies for kids on the spectrum.Learn MoreStanford Speech and Social Neuroscience LabParticipate in a StudyCommunity Support ResourcesPublicationsUnderconnectivity between voice-selective cortex and reward circuitry in children with autism (PNAS, 2013) Neural circuits underlying mother's voice perception predict social communication abilities in children (PNAS, 2016) Impaired voice processing in reward and salience circuits predicts social communication in children with autism (eLife, 2019)  A Neurodevelopmental Shift in Reward Circuitry from Mother's to Nonfamilial Voices in Adolescence (Journal of Neuroscience, 2022)Stanford Coverage"The teen brain tunes in less to Mom's voice, more to unfamiliar voices, study finds" (Stanford Medicine, 2022)"Brain wiring explains why autism hinders grasp of vocal emotion, says Stanford Medicine study" (Stanford Medicine, 2023)We want to hear from your neurons! Email us at at neuronspodcast@stanford.eduSend us a text!Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience. Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Mic drop!!!

Neural manifold properties can help us understand how animal brains deal with complex information, execute flexible behaviors and reuse common computations.

Support the show to get full episodes, full archive, and join the Discord community. The Transmitter is an online publication that aims to deliver useful information, insights and tools to build bridges across neuroscience and advance research. Visit thetransmitter.org to explore the latest neuroscience news and perspectives, written by journalists and scientists. Read more about our partnership. Sign up for Brain Inspired email alerts to be notified every time a new Brain Inspired episode is released. To explore more neuroscience news and perspectives, visit thetransmitter.org. Do AI engineers need to emulate some processes and features found only in living organisms at the moment, like how brains are inextricably integrated with bodies? Is consciousness necessary for AI entities if we want them to play nice with us? Is quantum physics part of that story, or a key part, or the key part? Jennifer Prendki believes if we continue to scale AI, it will get us more of the same of what we have today, and that we should look to biology, life, and possibly consciousness to enhance AI. Jennifer is a former particle physicist turned entrepreneur and AI expert, focusing on curating the right kinds and forms of data to train AI, and in that vein she led those efforts at Deepmind on the foundation models ubiquitous in our lives now. I was curious why someone with that background would come to the conclusion that AI needs inspiration from life, biology, and consciousness to move forward gracefully, and that it would be useful to better understand those processes in ourselves before trying to build what some people call AGI, whatever that is. Her perspective is a rarity among her cohorts, which we also discuss. And get this: she's interested in these topics because she cares about what happens to the planet and to us as a species. Perhaps also a rarity among those charging ahead to dominate profits and win the race Jennifer's website: Quantum of Data. The blog posts we discuss: The Myth of Emergence Embodiment & Sentience: Why the Body still Matters The Architecture of Synthetic Consciousness On Time and Consciousness Superalignment and the Question of AI Personhood. 0:00 - Intro 3:25 - Jennifer's background 13:10 - Consciousness 16:38 - Life and consciousness 23:16 - Superalignment 40:11 - Quantum 1:04:45 - Wetware and biological mimicry 1:15:03 - Neural interfaces 1:16:48 - AI ethics 1:2:35 - AI models are not models 1:27:13 - What scaling will get us 1:39:53 - Current roadblocks 1:43:19 - Philosophy

In the season finale of TechMagic, hosts Cathy Hackl and Lee Kebler unpack the latest tech trends, from Meta's neural interface bracelet and Apple's liquid glass UI redesign to Nintendo Switch 2's record-breaking launch. They're joined by special guest Johanna Salazar, co-founder of FoodStream Network, who shares her mission to build human-centered tech that addresses food insecurity and fosters community. The episode also explores pressing topics, including metadata copyright in AI training, the future of voice communication, and why inclusive, bilingual platforms are crucial in today's global digital ecosystem. With industry insights and bold predictions, Cathy, Lee, and Johanna offer a powerful close to the season and tease what's ahead when the show returns in September.Come for the Tech, stay for the Magic!Johanna Salazar BioJohanna Salazar is a media executive, tech founder, and strategist with over 20 years of experience leading innovation at Viacom, MTV, Paramount, and IMG. She oversaw national production for MLS Season Pass on AppleTV and has built high-performing teams across global media and tech. As Co-Founder of FoodStream Network and Two Goats, she blends emerging tech, content, and community to drive impact. Born in Colombia, Johanna hosts The Media Machine podcast and champions systems that serve people and the planet.Johanna Salazar on LinkedInKey Discussion Topics:00:00 Welcome to TechMagic Season 2 Finale01:30 The Evolution of Tech: From VR to AI's Dominance11:45 Meta's Neural Interface & The Future of Wearable Tech16:35 Nintendo Switch 2: Breaking Sales Records Despite Limited Launch22:15 Interview with Johanna Salazar: From Media to Tech Innovation27:14 The Four Pillars Framework: Profits, Process, People & Planet30:51 FoodStream Network: Building Tech Solutions for Food Security40:25 Apple's Liquid Glass UI: Design Challenges and Vision Pro Connection48:05 AI Fatigue & The Metadata Copyright Question54:49 Looking Ahead: Space Communications & Season 3 Preview56:47 Manhattan Jazz Quintet & Season Finale Sign-off Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What if music doesn't just move your emotions — but physically moves your brain? A new frontier in neuroscience reveals how music physically affects our brain through the laws of physics, with powerful implications for memory, mood, and health. Dr. Edward Large, the lead scientist behind this research, explains Neural Resonance Theory – and why it matters. From sound to synapse, discover the brain's physical response to music and its therapeutic power. Links and notes related to this episode can be found at https://mpetersonmusic.com/podcast/episode214 https://mpetersonmusic.com/podcast/micro Connect with us: Newsletter: https://mpetersonmusic.com/subscribe Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EnhanceLifeMusic/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enhancelifemusic/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpetersonpiano/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/musicenhances Sponsorship information: https://mpetersonmusic.com/podcast/sponsor Leave us a review on Podchaser.com! https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/enhance-life-with-music-909096 In-episode promo: JAMBAR https://jambar.com/ 

In this episode, Dr. Yonit Arthur shares her journey from audiology to mind-body healing. She and Laura explore chronic dizziness, anxiety, neuroplasticity, and the emotional roots of physical symptoms, highlighting the power of education, self-connection, and small daily shifts in supporting nervous system recovery and long-term healing.Connect with Dr Yonit: https://thesteadycoach.comConnect with Laura Haraka: https://www.feeltoheal.liveJoin the Pelvic Healing Circle: https://www.feeltoheal.live/the-pelvic-healing-circle

Struggling with Burnout, Exhaustion, or Stress - Get 1-to-1 support here: https://ra.takeadeepbreath.co.uk/book-a-callFollow me on Instagram for daily tips on how to balance your nervous system: https://www.instagram.com/mike.maher.coach/Today's guest is Alex Greene, a somatic coach and trauma therapist helping people heal through nervous system regulation, embodiment, and deep inner connection. He blends modalities like TRE, Somatic Experiencing, and Internal Family Systems to support real, lasting transformation.Watch my first TRE Podcast with retired founder Dr Berceli here: https://youtu.be/YPYUbqEmhMw?si=Pb8_fTifIWT3UY7nConnect with Alex here: https://www.alexgreene.com/Get The Best Night's Sleep with RA Optics, use this link to get 10% off: https://www.raoptics.com/TADB100:00 What stimulates the tremor reflex?  2:50 Individual variability in awakening tremor  4:54 Decision: live demonstration now or later?  5:49 Preparing the body: settling in and body scan  8:11 Open butterfly + bridge exercise explained  10:22 Objective benefits and PTSD research  13:01 TRE research on MS & chronic pain  14:21 Common subjective benefits people report  15:58 Minimum effective dose guidelines  18:53 What does the second “T” in TRE stand for?  19:47 Unpacking what “trauma release” really means  25:29 Moving beyond tremor: stretching & unwinding  28:56 TRE combined with grounding, daylight, earthing  32:08 Breathwork vs tremoring — your experience  36:01 Listening to your body — spontaneous patterns  38:56 Conscious shaking, Qigong & energetic moves  40:14 Where is “body intelligence” located?  42:54 Neural basis: central pattern generators & coupling  48:15 Feedback touch & somatic attunement  55:44 Tension release when startled or cold  59:37 Breathwork integration: Soma‑breath & TRE  1:03:06 TRE for better sleep: when and how?  1:04:39 Conscious shaking as nervous system reset  1:07:26 Gongs and sound baths: vibration and tissue  1:09:08 Guiding a live tremor demo (practical guidance)  1:20:07 Wrap‑up guidance for self‑practice  1:29:49 Closing reflections & next steps

In this episode of Crazy Wisdom, Stewart Alsop sits down with the masked collective known as the PoliePals—led by previous guest Cathal—to explore their audacious vision of blending humans, nature, and machines through cryptographic reality verification and decentralized systems. They talk about neural and cryptographic projector-camera technologies like the “truth beam” and “reality transform,” analog AI using optical computing, and how open protocols and decentralized consensus could shift power away from corporate control. Along the way, they share stories from Moad's chaotic tinkering workshop, Meta's precise Rust-coded Alchemy project, and Terminus Actual's drone Overwatch. For links to their projects, visit Poliebotics on Twitter and Poliebotics on GitHub.Check out this GPT we trained on the conversationTimestamps00:05 Neural and cryptographic projector-camera systems, reality transform for art and secure recordings, provably unclonable functions.00:10 Moad's GNOMAD identity, chaotic holistic problem-solving, tinkering with tools, truth beam's manifold mapping.00:15 Terminus Actual's drone Overwatch, security focus, six hats theory, Lorewalker's cryptic mathematical integrations.00:20 Analog AI and optical computing, stacked computational layers, local inference, physical reality interacting with AI.00:25 Meta's Alchemy software, music-driven robotics, precise Rust programming, contrast with neural network unpredictability.00:30 Decentralization, corporate dependency critique, hardware ownership, open protocols like Matrix, web of trust, Sybil attacks.00:35 Truth beam feedback loops, decentralized epistemology, neo-feudalism, Diamond Age references, nano drone warfare theory.00:40 Biotech risks, lab truth beams for verification, decentralized ID systems, qualitative consensus manifolds.00:45 Maker culture insights, 3D printing community, iterative prototyping, simulators, recycling prints.00:50 Investment casting, alternative energy for classic cars, chaotic hardware solutions, MoAD workshop's mystical array.00:55 Upcoming PolyPals content, Big Yellow Island recordings, playful sign-offs, decentralized futures.Key InsightsThe PoliePals are pioneering a system that combines cryptographic models, neural projector-camera technologies, and decentralized networks to create tools like the “truth beam” and “reality transform,” which verify physical reality as a provably unclonable function. This innovation aims to secure recordings and provide a foundation for trustworthy AI training data by looping projections of blockchain-derived noise into reality and back.Moad's character, the GNOMAD—a hybrid of gnome and nomad—embodies a philosophy of chaotic problem-solving using holistic, artful solutions. His obsession with edge cases and tinkering leads to surprising fixes, like using a tin of beans to repair a broken chair leg, and illustrates how resourcefulness intersects with decentralization in practical ways.Terminus Actual provides a counterbalance in the group dynamic, bringing drone surveillance expertise and a healthy skepticism about humanity's inherent decency. His perspective highlights the need for security consciousness and cautious optimism when developing open systems that could otherwise be exploited.Meta's Alchemy project demonstrates the contrast between procedural precision and chaotic neural approaches. Written entirely in Rust, it enables music-driven robotic control for real-world theater environments. Alchemy represents a future where tightly optimized code can interact seamlessly with hardware like Arduinos while remaining resistant to AI's unpredictable tendencies.The episode explores how decentralization could shape the coming decades, likening it to a neo-feudal age where people consciously opt into societies based on shared values. With open protocols like Matrix, decentralized IDs, and webs of trust, individuals could regain agency over their data and technological ecosystems while avoiding corporate lock-in.Optical computing experiments reveal the potential for analog AI, where stacked shallow computational layers in physical media allow AI to “experience” sensory input more like a human. Though still speculative, this approach could produce richer, lower-latency responses compared to purely digital models.Maker culture and hardware innovation anchor the conversation in tangible reality. Moad's MoAD workshop, filled with tools from industrial sewing machines to 3D printers and lathes, underscores how accessible technologies are enabling chaotic creativity and recycling systems. This grassroots hardware tinkering aligns with the PoliePals' broader vision of decentralized, cooperative technological futures.

In this episode, I was lucky enough to interview serial entrepreneur Eric McHugh once again!Eric dives into his latest venture, dataing.io, an AI-powered matchmaking app built to challenge the typical swipe-based dating model. He shares how the Web3 space supports his builder mindset and leads to the creation of Hold On Labs, a platform that launches products focused on meaningful connection. With dating.io, the goal is to create intentional, high-quality matches using AI-generated personality tags based on users' social media and digital activity. Unlike Tinder or Hinge, which aim to keep users engaged and swiping, dating.io focuses on helping people find lasting matches and offers a “relationship butler” that helps couples with date planning, gift ideas, and relationship support.Eric also shares their go-to-market strategy, which focuses on building local communities by starting with Southern California colleges through campus events, partnerships, and free photography incentives. The team is currently focused on gaining users, with a goal of reaching 10,000 in Los Angeles before expanding further. Monetization is not the immediate priority, but future plans include earning a share from date bookings and offering targeted brand placements. Eric points out that AI is not just a trendy term for them; it powers the platform's ability to understand behavior and preferences, leading to smarter and more accurate matches.Be intrigued by Eric McHugh's pursuit of meaningful tech, smarter matchmaking, and the vibes behind dating.io in this episode of The First Customer!Guest Info:dataing.iohttps://apps.apple.com/us/app/dataing/id6478563884Eric McHugh's LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ericdouglasmchugh/Connect with Jay on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jayaigner/The First Customer Youtube Channelhttps://www.youtube.com/@thefirstcustomerpodcastThe First Customer podcast websitehttps://www.firstcustomerpodcast.comFollow The First Customer on LinkedInhttp://www.linkedin.com/company/the-first-customer-podcast/

Dr. Nora Fritz, PhD, PT, DPT, NCS, an expert in postural control and fall risk in people with multiple sclerosis, joins host J.J. Mowder-Tinney for a deep dive into reactive balance—why it matters, how it's measured, and what we can do about it. J.J. and Nora explore the latest research around sensory reweighting, backward walking, and compensatory stepping, connecting the science to real-world clinical applications across patient populations. Together, they discuss strategies to support your clients' safety and confidence through tailored interventions and meaningful conversations. Whether you're looking to sharpen your assessment approach or rethink fall prevention strategies, this episode offers insights you won't want to miss.Learning ObjectivesAnalyze the evidence around reactive postural control in persons with MSApply evidence-based, practical strategies to actionably address reactive balance control in persons with MSIncorporate measures of psychological functioning that may impact goal setting for reactive postural control in persons with MSTimestamps(00:00:00) Welcome(00:00:47) Introduction to reactive balance and multiple sclerosis (MS)(00:03:04) Understanding reactive balance mechanisms(00:06:50) Research insights on backward walking(00:11:55) Neural control of reactive balance(00:17:45) Applications across different diagnoses(00:20:57) Practical examples in therapy sessions(00:26:41) Assessing reactive balance in clinical settings(00:29:02) Understanding patient concerns and fear of falling(00:33:04) Interventions for improving reactive balance(00:35:24) Creative approaches to reactive balance training(00:38:44) Key takeaways for clinicians(00:40:34) Case studies and clinical insights(00:42:31) Research and future directions in balance trainingResources Mentioned in EpisodeAcademy of Neurologic Physical Therapy (ANPT) podcast episode that discusses the CAFFE Scale: DD SIG Episode 53: JNPT highlight: Concern About Falling and Fear of Falling in MS with Taylor TaklaBalance AssessmentsMini-BESTestPush and ReleaseABC ScaleFES-ICAFFE ScaleNeuro Navigators is brought to you by Medbridge. If you'd like to earn continuing education credit for listening to this episode and access bonus takeaway handouts, log in to your Medbridge account and navigate to the course where you'll find accreditation details. If applicable, complete the post-course assessment and survey to be eligible for credit. The takeaway handout on Medbridge gives you the key points mentioned in this episode, along with additional resources you can implement into your practice right away.To hear more episodes of Neuro Naviagators, visit ⁠⁠⁠https://www.medbridge.com/neuro-navigators⁠⁠⁠If you'd like to subscribe to Medbridge, visit ⁠⁠⁠https://www.medbridge.com/pricing/⁠⁠⁠IG: https://www.instagram.com/medbridgeteam/

Eric Ho is building Goodfire to solve one of AI's most critical challenges: understanding what's actually happening inside neural networks. His team is developing techniques to understand, audit and edit neural networks at the feature level. Eric discusses breakthrough results in resolving superposition through sparse autoencoders, successful model editing demonstrations and real-world applications in genomics with Arc Institute's DNA foundation models. He argues that interpretability will be critical as AI systems become more powerful and take on mission-critical roles in society. Hosted by Sonya Huang and Roelof Botha, Sequoia Capital Mentioned in this episode: Mech interp: Mechanistic interpretability, list of important papers here Phineas Gage: 19th century railway engineer who lost most of his brain's left frontal lobe in an accident. Became a famous case study in neuroscience. Human Genome Project: Effort from 1990-2003 to generate the first sequence of the human genome which accelerated the study of human biology Emergent Misalignment: Narrow finetuning can produce broadly misaligned LLMs Zoom In: An Introduction to Circuits: First important mechanistic interpretability paper from OpenAI in 2020 Superposition: Concept from physics applied to interpretability that allows neural networks to simulate larger networks (e.g. more concepts than neurons) Apollo Research: AI safety company that designs AI model evaluations and conducts interpretability research Towards Monosemanticity: Decomposing Language Models With Dictionary Learning. 2023 Anthropic paper that uses a sparse autoencoder to extract interpretable features; followed by Scaling Monosemanticity Under the Hood of a Reasoning Model: 2025 Goodfire paper that interprets DeepSeek's reasoning model R1 Auto-interpretability: The ability to use LLMs to automatically write explanations for the behavior of neurons in LLMs Interpreting Evo 2: Arc Institute's Next-Generation Genomic Foundation Model. (see episode with Arc co-founder Patrick Hsu) Paint with Ember: Canvas interface from Goodfire that lets you steer an LLM's visual output  in real time (paper here) Model diffing: Interpreting how a model differs from checkpoint to checkpoint during finetuning Feature steering: The ability to change the style of LLM output by up or down weighting features (e.g. talking like a pirate vs factual information about the Andromeda Galaxy) Weight based interpretability: Method for directly decomposing neural network parameters into mechanistic components, instead of using features The Urgency of Interpretability: Essay by Anthropic founder Dario Amodei On the Biology of a Large Language Model: Goodfire collaboration with Anthropic

AI stocks are soaring. Valuations are stretched and capital spending is off the charts. To many, it smells like a bubble. But what if it's not? What happens to markets if AI actually lives up to the hype? How could it reshape business models, transform economic growth, and change the way we invest? And in today's Dumb Question of the Week: Will index funds still work if the most successful companies stay private? --- Thanks to Raisin UK for supporting this episode. Raisin UK is a free, easy-to-use platform where you can access savings accounts from over 40 FSCS-protected banks and building societies — all in one place. What's more, for a limited time only, you can receive a £100 bonus when you register and fund your first savings account with a minimum of £10,000 using the code "SAVINGS100". For more details, please visit the link raisin.co.uk/pensioncraft ---Get in touch

⸻ Podcast: Redefining Society and Technologyhttps://redefiningsocietyandtechnologypodcast.com _____________________________This Episode's SponsorsBlackCloak provides concierge cybersecurity protection to corporate executives and high-net-worth individuals to protect against hacking, reputational loss, financial loss, and the impacts of a corporate data breach.BlackCloak:  https://itspm.ag/itspbcweb_____________________________Robbie, From Fiction to Familiar — Robots, AI, and the Illusion of Consciousness June 29, 2025A new transmission from Musing On Society and Technology Newsletter, by Marco CiappelliI recently revisited one of my oldest companions. Not a person, not a memory, but a story. Robbie, the first of Isaac Asimov's famous robot tales.It's strange how familiar words can feel different over time. I first encountered Robbie as a teenager in the 1980s, flipping through a paperback copy of I, Robot. Back then, it was pure science fiction. The future felt distant, abstract, and comfortably out of reach. Robots existed mostly in movies and imagination. Artificial intelligence was something reserved for research labs or the pages of speculative novels. Reading Asimov was a window into possibilities, but they remained possibilities.Today, the story feels different. I listened to it this time—the way I often experience books now—through headphones, narrated by a synthetic voice on a sleek device Asimov might have imagined, but certainly never held. And yet, it wasn't the method of delivery that made the story resonate more deeply; it was the world we live in now.Robbie was first published in 1939, a time when the idea of robots in everyday life was little more than fantasy. Computers were experimental machines that filled entire rooms, and global attention was focused more on impending war than machine ethics. Against that backdrop, Asimov's quiet, philosophical take on robotics was ahead of its time.Rather than warning about robot uprisings or technological apocalypse, Asimov chose to explore trust, projection, and the human tendency to anthropomorphize the tools we create. Robbie, the robot, is mute, mechanical, yet deeply present. He is a protector, a companion, and ultimately, an emotional anchor for a young girl named Gloria. He doesn't speak. He doesn't pretend to understand. But through his actions—loyalty, consistency, quiet presence—he earns trust.Those themes felt distant when I first read them in the '80s. At that time, robots were factory tools, AI was theoretical, and society was just beginning to grapple with personal computers, let alone intelligent machines. The idea of a child forming a deep emotional bond with a robot was thought-provoking but belonged firmly in the realm of fiction.Listening to Robbie now, decades later, in the age of generative AI, alters everything. Today, machines talk to us fluently. They compose emails, generate artwork, write stories, even simulate empathy. Our interactions with technology are no longer limited to function; they are layered with personality, design, and the subtle performance of understanding.Yet beneath the algorithms and predictive models, the reality remains: these machines do not understand us. They generate language, simulate conversation, and mimic comprehension, but it's an illusion built from probability and training data, not consciousness. And still, many of us choose to believe in that illusion—sometimes out of convenience, sometimes out of the innate human desire for connection.In that context, Robbie's silence feels oddly honest. He doesn't offer comfort through words or simulate understanding. His presence alone is enough. There is no performance. No manipulation. Just quiet, consistent loyalty.The contrast between Asimov's fictional robot and today's generative AI highlights a deeper societal tension. For decades, we've anthropomorphized our machines, giving them names, voices, personalities. We've designed interfaces to smile, chatbots to flirt, AI assistants that reassure us they “understand.” At the same time, we've begun to robotize ourselves, adapting to algorithms, quantifying emotions, shaping our behavior to suit systems designed to optimize interaction and efficiency.This two-way convergence was precisely what Asimov spoke about in his 1965 BBC interview, which has been circulating again recently. In that conversation, he didn't just speculate about machines becoming more human-like. He predicted the merging of biology and technology, the slow erosion of the boundaries between human and machine—a hybrid species, where both evolve toward a shared, indistinct future.We are living that reality now, in subtle and obvious ways. Neural implants, mind-controlled prosthetics, AI-driven decision-making, personalized algorithms—all shaping the way we experience life and interact with the world. The convergence isn't on the horizon; it's happening in real time.What fascinates me, listening to Robbie in this new context, is how much of Asimov's work wasn't just about technology, but about us. His stories remain relevant not because he perfectly predicted machines, but because he perfectly understood human nature—our fears, our projections, our contradictions.In Robbie, society fears the unfamiliar machine, despite its proven loyalty. In 2025, we embrace machines that pretend to understand, despite knowing they don't. Trust is no longer built through presence and action, but through the performance of understanding. The more fluent the illusion, the easier it becomes to forget what lies beneath.Asimov's stories, beginning with Robbie, have always been less about the robots and more about the human condition reflected through them. That hasn't changed. But listening now, against the backdrop of generative AI and accelerated technological evolution, they resonate with new urgency.I'll leave you with one of Asimov's most relevant observations, spoken nearly sixty years ago during that same 1965 interview:“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”In many ways, we've fulfilled Asimov's vision—machines that speak, systems that predict, tools that simulate. But the question of wisdom, of how we navigate this illusion of consciousness, remains wide open.And, as a matter of fact, this reflection doesn't end here. If today's machines can already mimic understanding—convincing us they comprehend more than they do—what happens when the line between biology and technology starts to dissolve completely? When carbon and silicon, organic and artificial, begin to merge for real?That conversation deserves its own space—and it will. One of my next newsletters will dive deeper into that inevitable convergence—the hybrid future Asimov hinted at, where defining what's human, what's machine, and what exists in-between becomes harder, messier, and maybe impossible to untangle.But that's a conversation for another day.For now, I'll sit with that thought, and with Robbie's quiet, unpretentious loyalty, as the conversation continues.Until next time,Marco_________________________________________________

00:45 A flexible neural-implant that grows with the brainResearchers have developed a soft electronic implant that can measure brain activity of amphibian embryos as they develop. Understanding the neural activity of developing brains is a key aim for neuroscientists, but conventional, rigid probes can damage growing brains. To overcome this, a team have developed a flexible mesh that stretches with the brain and tested it by monitoring single neuron activity during development of frog and axolotl embryos. More testing and ethical considerations will be required, but the researchers hope that eventually such implants could help with neurological conditions that affect humans.Research article: Sheng et al.13:11 Research HighlightsThe exoplanet slowly evaporating into space, and cockatoos that have figured out an innovative way to stay hydrated.Research Highlight: Solved: the mystery of the evaporating planetResearch Highlight: Clever cockatoos learn an easy way to quench their thirst15:30 An AI-based way to repair damaged paintingsBy combining AI tools with mechanical engineering techniques, a researcher has developed a new way to speed up the restoration of damaged paintings. The technique creates a removable mask that can be overlaid onto a painting to cover any damage apparent in the artwork. It was successfully tested on an oil painting, fixing a large number of damaged areas in only a few hours. This could offer a significant speed-boost to painting restoration, which can often take months, or even years.Research article: KachkineVideo: Meet the engineer who invented an AI-powered way to restore art27:36 Briefing ChatA new ranking system could make it easier to spot universities that are chasing publishing metrics at the expense of rigorous science, and evidence that cutting off rhinos' horns deters poachers.Nature: ‘Integrity index' flags universities with high retraction ratesAP: Cutting off rhinos' horns is a contentious last resort to stop poaching. A new study found it worksSubscribe to Nature Briefing, an unmissable daily round-up of science news, opinion and analysis free in your inbox every weekday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.