Shows
From Our Neurons to YoursThe cannabinoids within: how marijuana hijacks an ancient signaling system in the brain | Ivan SolteszGiven the widespread legalization of cannabis for medical and recreational uses, you'd think we'd have a better understanding of how it works. But ask a neuroscientist exactly how cannabinoid compounds like THC and CBD alter our perceptions or lead to potential medical benefits, and you'll soon learn just how little we know.We know that these molecules hijack an ancient signaling system in the brain called the "endocannabinoid" system (translation: the "cannabinoids within"). These somewhat exotic signaling molecules (made of fatty lipids and traveling "backwards" compared to other transmitters) have been deeply mysterious until recently...2024-10-1037 minFrom Our Neurons to YoursMemory Palaces: the science of mental time travel and the brain's GPS system | Lisa Giocomo (Re-release)Today we are re-releasing an episode we did last year with Stanford neurobiologist Lisa Giocomo exploring the intersection of memory, navigation and the boundaries we create between ourselves and the world around us.This episode was inspired by the idea of memory palaces. The idea is simple: Take a place you're very familiar with, say the house you grew up in, and place information you want to remember in different locations within that space. When it's time to remember those things, you can mentally walk through that space and retrieve those items.This...2024-09-2625 minFrom Our Neurons to YoursWhy new Alzheimer's drugs don't work | Mike Greicius, Stanford University School of MedicineIn the past few years, Big Pharma has released not one, but three new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease. Aducanemab (2021), Lecanemab (2023), and Donanemab (2024), are the first treatments to effectively clear the brain of amyloid plaques — the sticky protein clumps whose build-up in the brain has defined the disease for decades. The problem? They may not help patients at all.Today’s guest, Stanford neurologist Mike Greicius, considers the new amyloid-clearing drugs a major disappointment — and worse, says they likely do more harm than good for patients.Despite this critique, Greicius, thinks that the...2024-09-1225 minFrom Our Neurons to YoursDepression's distinctive fingerprints in the brain | Leanne Williams, Stanford UniversityGetting help for depression can be like purgatory. Setting aside for a moment the stigma and other barriers to seeking treatment in the first place, finding the right combination of medication and/or therapy can be a months- or years-long process of trial and error. And for about one third of people, nothing seems to work.Today we're talking with Dr. Leanne Williams, the founding director of the Stanford Center for Precision Mental Health and Wellness and Vincent V.C. Woo Professor in the Stanford Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Williams and...2024-08-2928 minFrom Our Neurons to YoursHow the brain helps cancers grow | Michelle MonjeToday, we're talking with Stanford neuro-oncologist, Michelle Monje. This is actually the third time we've had Michelle on the show, in part because she's been a pioneer of three exciting frontiers in neuroscience — so far! This week, we're going to talk about cancer neuroscience. Michelle founded this new field with her discovery that deadly brain tumors not only link up physically with the healthy brain tissue surrounding them, but the cancers actually need the brain's electrical activity to grow and spread.It turns out that many cancers — not only in the brain — depend on nervous system...2024-08-1521 min
« Splann ! » en studio« La destruction des haies s'accélère depuis 10 ans en Bretagne », Nolwenn Weiler sur Canal BNolwenn Weiler a été interviewée par Lucie Louâpre, dans l’émission L’Arène, sur Canal B, le 3 avril 2024. Notre journaliste a présenté son enquête « Bocage, la fin d’un paysage », menée avec Yann-Malo Kerbrat.
En dépit des idées reçues et des moyens alloués, bien après le remembrement opéré après-guerre, la destruction du bocage breton se poursuit. Il s’accélère même depuis dix ans, en lien avec la concentration du nombre d’exploitations agricoles. Il s’agit pourtant d’un allié précieux pour la préservation de la biodiv...2024-08-0317 minFrom Our Neurons to YoursUnraveling Timothy Syndrome: the new science of human brain development | Sergiu PascaThis week on From Our Neurons to Yours, we're talking about using new techniques for growing human brain tissue in the lab to solve a rare neurological disorder.Host Nicholas Weiler sits down with Sergiu Pasca an innovative Stanford scientist who has developed groundbreaking technologies to grow human brain tissue in the lab, creating "organoids" and "assembloids" that model brain disorders like autism and schizophrenia. Pasca describes the process of turning patient skin cells into embryo-like stem cells and then into functional brain cells that can live and develop for over two years, a...2024-08-0130 minFrom Our Neurons to YoursHow VR could help treat depression with "radical behaviorist" Dr. Kim BullockToday, we're going to talk about virtual reality and how it could be used to treat depression. We're talking with psychiatrist Kim Bullock, the founding director of Stanford's Neurobehavioral Clinic and Virtual Reality & Immersive Technologies (VRIT) program. Dr. Bullock — a physician certified in Neuropsychiatry, Psychiatry, and Lifestyle Medicine — calls herself a "radical behaviorist." Like other practitioners of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), she sees the troublesome thoughts and emotional states of many psychiatric disorders as just another form of behavior, which can be reshaped through self awareness and practice — much like you might work at avoi...2024-07-1821 minFrom Our Neurons to YoursElectronic skin and the future of wearable technology | Zhenan BaoThe skin is full of contradictions. It’s soft and sensitive, but also tough and resilient, even self-healing. It’s both the barrier that protects us from infections and our most intimate connection with the outside world. Today’s guest, Zhenan Bao, has spent the last two decades reverse engineering the skin’s many remarkable properties in order to create wearable electronics that are just as soft, flexible, and versatile as the skin itself.Bao envisions a world where stick-on devices could help heal injuries, manage anxiety, and even enhance o...2024-07-0423 minFrom Our Neurons to YoursHow a new kind of brain plasticity could help make sense of addiction | Michelle Monje and Rob MalenkaThis week, we're diving into recent research that sheds light on a new form of brain plasticity involving changes in the insulation of nerve fibers — called myelin. It turns out that myelin plasticity is implicated in a number of serious conditions, from epilepsy to drug abuse and addiction.We're excited to bring back two previous guests on the show to share their insights on this previously unknown form of plasticity: Stanford psychiatry professor Rob Malenka (S1 E1 - Psychedelics and Empathy), a pioneer in the study of synaptic plasticity and addiction, and neuro-oncologist Michelle Monje (S1 E1...2024-06-2022 minFrom Our Neurons to YoursOur plastic brains: learning, memory and aging with the one and only Carla Shatz (Rerelease)-- We're re-releasing our conversation with Carla Shatz, one of our favorites from the archive, which comes up all the time on the show in the context of brain plasticity and aging. Enjoy, and see you next time! -NW -- When we're kids, our brains are amazing at learning. We absorb information from the outside world with ease, and we can adapt to anything. But as we age, our brains become a little more fixed. Our brain circuits become a little less flexible. You may have heard of a concept called neuroplasticity, our b...2024-06-0621 min