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PODCAST

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson

Conversations with neuroscientists, neurologists, evolutionary biologists, anthropologists, computer scientists, and others that ponder the brain. Here are a few of the questions that BRAIN PONDERINGS will tackle: How have brains evolved to enable success in diverse environments? How does the brain develop in the womb and in early life? What are the mechanisms responsible for learning and memory, language, and emotions? How does the brain respond to life’s challenges? In what ways does the brain

science natural sciences

All Episodes

01:10:09

Bruno Rossion: Elucidating the Remarkable Ability of...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/12/03

Humans have the amazing ability to instantly recognize the faces of hundreds or even thousands of people they have previously met or seen in pictures or movies. Studies of people with brain injuries that render them incapable of recognizing faces and recordings of neuronal activity in people during face recognition have shown that networks in the occipital and temporal lobes adjacent to the visual cortex mediate facial recognition. Professor Bruno Rossion is at the forefront of research that is

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01:27:21

Bioenergetics and Brain Health 4: Brain Aging,...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/11/26

In this final episode of the Bioenergetics and Brain Health series I talk about changes that occur in brain cells during normal aging, and in Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and stroke with emphasis on alterations upstream and downstream of cellular energy metabolism. The episode concludes with examples of therapeutic interventions that target those age- and disease-related alterations. LINKS: Hallmarks of Brain Aging

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01:12:40

Bioenergetics and Brain Health 3: How Exercise and...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/11/19

In this third podcast in the Bioenergetics and Brain Health series I talk about how intermittent exercise and fasting affect brain function, neuroplasticity, and resilience. Research has shown that both of these bioenergetic challenges can enhance learning and memory, improve mood, counteract aging, and protect neurons against injury and disease. I provide an overview of evidence that over periods of weeks and months cycling between challenge (exercise and fasting) and recovery (resting, eating,

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01:16:22

Bioenergetics and Brain Health 2: Mitochondrial...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/11/11

This is the second in a series of presentations on the interrelationships between energy metabolism, brain function and resilience, and disease processes. In this episode I describe how mitochondria are moved about within axons and dendrites, how mitochondria divide, fuse with each other, and are eliminated when they become dysfunctional. Importantly, mitochondria influence and respond to activity in neuronal networks in ways that optimize energy efficiency and promote the formation and maintenance

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01:04:33

Josh Dubnau: Endogenous Retroviruses and...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/11/05

More than 40 percent of the human genome consists of retrotransposons which are DNA sequences related to retroviruses that can jump within the genome and have the ability to replicate although most are dormant. In this episode Professor Josh Dubnau at the University of Stony Brook talks about endogenous retroviruses and retrotransposons and recent evidence that some of them are activated in neurons during brain aging and may play roles in the pathogenesis of ALS, frontotemporal dementia, and

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51:49

Bioenergetics and Brain Health 1: Evolutionary...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/10/29

This is the fist in a short series of presentations on the interrelationships between energy metabolism, brain function and resilience, and disease processes. Overindulgent sedentary lifestyles are increasingly common with adverse consequences for trajectories of brain health in current and future generations. In this series I review findings from studies of humans and animals that are elucidating the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which energy intake and exercise affect structural and

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01:09:18

Ziv Williams: Encoding Social Cognition and Language...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/10/22

Every day we communicate with and influence others via language, decision-making, and actions. The complexities of human social interactions and language begs the question of how the brain processes the relevant incoming information and then generates responses so rapidly and effortlessly. Neurosurgeon Ziv Williams and his team at Harvard Medical School have made major advances in answering these questions. By recording the activities of hundreds of individual neurons in the brains of non-human

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01:11:36

Antoinette M van den Brink and Rolf Fronczek: Causes...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/10/15

One in seven people experience migraine headaches while others suffer with even more debilitating cluster headaches. The causes of these headaches are not fully understood and current treatments provide only partial relief. In this episode pharmacologist Antoinette van den Brink and neurologist Rolf Fronczek describe the clinical features of these headaches, the current understanding of their causes, and hormonal and environmental factors that can trigger the headaches. Drugs that inhibit the

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01:04:43

Andrea Luppi: Consciousness and Brain Function...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/10/08

Consciousness is one’s awareness of electrochemically conveyed information coming into the brain from the environment via sensory pathways or generated within the brain’s neuronal networks (i.e., thoughts). In popular culture ‘consciousness’ is often portrayed as a mysterious concept or process. However, research that examines the effects of anesthetics, sleep, brain injuries, and psychedelics on neuronal network activity using fMRI, EEG and other technologies is revealing the circuits and activity

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01:01:59

Richard Lu: OPCs and Oligodendrocytes – Roles in...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/10/01

In this episode Richard Lu – a professor of pediatrics at the University of Cincinnati Chldren’s Hospital talks about a type of stem cell in the brain called oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPC). OPC normally differentiate into the oligodendrocytes that wrap around the axons of neurons providing insulation that greatly speeds up the propagation of electrical impulses. These cells also provide nutrients to neurons and produce proteins that promote the survival of the neurons. But OPC can and

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53:56

Visar Berisha and Julie Liss: Automated Speech...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/09/24

Arizona State University Professors Visar Berisha and Julie Liss have combined their expertise in engineering and speech communication to develop and apply novel automated speech analysis technology to the field of neurological disorders. Because of the complexity of human speech and the brain circuits involved speech analysis can provide a window into multiple domains of brain function. In this episode they talk about their research and how speech analysis can be used as a tool for cross sectional

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57:19

Erika Augustine: Challenges of Rare Childhood...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/09/19

There are approximately 7000 rare diseases each affecting fewer than 200,000 Americans. Most rare disorders are caused by gene mutations, manifest in childhood, include neurological problems, and progress rapidly resulting in death in the first several decades of life. Examples include fragile X and Rett syndromes, some childhood epilepsies, Batten diseases, and several types of ataxias, In most instances there are no treatments that slow or reverse the disease process. In this episode I talk with

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59:42

Understanding and Counteracting Brain Aging

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/09/12

In this episode I provide an overview of what happens in brain cells during aging and how those changes result in impaired brain function and predispose to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. I then describe three lifestyle anti-aging interventions that are known to slow brain aging and counteract disease process: physical exercise; intermittent fasting; and intellectual challenges. LINKS Hallmarks of brain aging: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6039826/pdf/nihms979409.pdf Exercise

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01:00:17

Shiqian Shen: Gut – Immune – Brain Communications in...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/08/30

Chronic pain is a highly prevalent problem in need to improved treatments. In this episode I talk with Dr. Shiqian Shen of Harvard Medical School about his research on interactions between the immune and nervous systems in chronic pain. He has found an interesting connection between the gut microbiota, immune cells, and neurons in chronic pain. These findings suggest new approaches for treating chronic pain. LINKS https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5575957/pdf/nihms887104.pdf

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59:45

Daniel Pine: Understanding and Treating Anxiety...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/08/21

Anxiety disorders are all too common in children and adolescents and their incidence has increased considerably during the past decade. Social interactions (positive or negative) in the home, schools, and the digital world have a major influence on a child’s risk for anxiety and major depression. In this episode I talk with Dr. Danny Pine at the National Institute of Mental Health who has devoted his career to the problem of mental health problems in children. His research has advanced an

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01:12:11

Ronald DePinho: Aging and Cancer Research Elucidates...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/08/14

Cells in all organ systems experience the same ‘hallmarks of aging’ which include the accumulation of oxidatively damaged proteins, DNA, membranes and mitochondria, impaired DNA repair and autophagy, senescence, and inflammation. In this episode Professor Ron DePinho of the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston talks about his remarkable career during which he and his trainees established fundamental mechanisms that control cell proliferation and differentiation in normal development and how

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01:18:38

Dimitrios Kapogiannis: Messages in Neural...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/08/07

All cells including neurons in the brain release tiny (~ 100 nanometers in diameter) bubble-like vesicles that contain various molecules produced by the cell. These extracellular vesicles (EVs) are thought to have a variety of functions including sending molecular messages between cells and removing molecular garbage from the cells. Some EVs released from cells throughout the body and brain make their way into the bloodstream. Dimitrios Kapogiannis at the National Institute on Aging Biomedical

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01:25:24

Sebastian Ocklenburg – Left – Right Asymmetries,...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/08/01

While upon casual inspection the left and right sides of the human brain seem symmetrical. But it turns out there are left – right differences in both the structure and functionality of neuronal networks in many brain regions. One well-known example of a brain asymmetry is that regions involved in language comprehension and speech which are located in the left hemisphere. Another example concerns handedness for which neural circuits are more robust on the contralateral side of the brain. In this

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55:28

Eva Feldman: The Exposome, Brain Health, and...

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/07/29

The ‘exposome’ is a term used to describe all of the environmental exposures encountered by an individual throughout their life and how these exposures affect their health and contribute to (or protect against) aging and disease. The exposures may be physical (e.g., temperature), chemical (e.g., toxic chemicals), biological (e.g., viruses), or social (psychological trauma). In this episode I talk with University of Michigan professor of neurology Eva Feldman, about research aimed at identifying

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58:04

Hubert Hondermarck – The Neural Addiction of Cancers

Brain Ponderings podcast with Mark Mattson ·

2024/07/22

It turns out that regardless of which organ they affect tumors contain a web of axons coursing throughout them. Recent research has shown that interactions between the neurons and the cancer cells influence the proliferation of the cancer cells within the tumor as well as metastasis (the spread of cancer cells to other organs). In this episode I talk with University of Newcastle Professor Hubert Hondermarck about his research on interactions between neurons and cancer cells, and the roles of

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