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Smart cities, personal assistants, and human longevity; what do each of these things have in common? They're all—in one technical way or another—possible only by virtue of the fact that neural networks and other models for AI processing exist. Alexey Potapov, PhD, is a researcher in the area of AI at SingularityNET, and he joins the podcast to talk about a number of topics, including the limitations of neural networks and how natural symbolic networks can compensate for them, areas of research in AI that are continuing to grow, the demand for improved AI presented by the rise of smart cities, and the current popularity of natural language processing models.
Tune in for the details and learn more at https://singularitynet.io/.
Robin Eric Weiner, author, The Geography of Genius, talks about his book, his interests, and why geniuses are the way they are.
In The Geography of Genius, the New York Times bestselling author, Weiner, author of The Geography of Bliss, journeys from Athens to Silicon Valley—and takes a look back at history to show how truly creative geniuses flourished in very specific places at very specific times.
Weiner explains how we have been looking at geniuses all wrong. He talks about the myths of geniuses. Weiner states that myth number one is that geniuses are 'born.' He provides the example of Mozart, who was certainly born with amazing talent, but Weiner states that we must also consider that he was born into a very musical family in area that was musically-oriented, in an extremely musical period in history. Myth number two, he states, is that genius is made through hard work. Weiner states that hard work does play a role, but that's not enough. Thus, Weiner proposes that geniuses are actually grown, cultivated. Weiner's point: geniuses are not random, but there are groupings—certain places produce more geniuses, and he talks about the many factors that are involved. Weiner provides detailed information about some of the places in the world, and their companion times, that produced the world's greatest geniuses.
Continuing, Weiner talks about the tyranny of expertise, and how there is a now common problem in academia in which individuals are not allowed to freely expound upon their ideas unless those ideas are specifically in their exact area of expertise. And Weiner talks about how we romanticize geniuses, but as the times change so do our perceptions.
Josep Bassaganya-Riera, DVM, PhD, founder, Chairman and CEO of Landos Biopharma, delivers a fact-filled overview of his company's work, developing safer therapeutics for autoimmune disease.
Dr. Bassaganya-Riera has received numerous research grants from a wide variety of science and health institutions, including the National Institutes of Health, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), as well as many industrial corporations. Dr. Bassaganya-Riera holds the title of Principal Investigator and Director for the Modeling Immunity to Enteric Pathogens (MIEP) project, which investigates the various immunoregulatory mechanisms underlying infections with certain gut pathogens by introducing mathematical systems to current mucosal immunology.
Dr. Bassaganya-Riera discusses his work with Landos Biopharma, an emerging biotech company that is already an integral player in the development of groundbreaking oral treatments for patients who suffer from autoimmune diseases. He discusses the unmet needs in Crohn's disease treatment in detail, as well as colitis—a chronic digestive disease recognized by inflammation of the colon's inner lining. Dr. Bassaganya-Riera discusses their successful completion of phase one clinical trials, and he talks about his enthusiasm for further advancement of their therapeutics.
The research doctor discusses other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. He outlines their progress thus far and explains their lead clinical asset, BT-11, which is a unique, oral, locally-acting tiny molecule that targets the Lanthionine Synthetase C-Like 2 (LANCL2) pathway in the gastrointestinal tract for the treatment of IBD (inflammatory bowel
disease).
Dr. Bassaganya-Riera has a prolific track record of publishing and securing his important work and has published over 100 scientific papers, and secured 9 patents. He was awarded the 2018 Research Excellence Award from the prestigious Biocomplexity Institute of Virginia Tech.
Samantha "Sam" Bond is a Certified Medical Illustrator and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago. In this podcast, Bond discusses her work, and her excitement about illustration, medical game development, and much more.
Sam Bond wears many diverse hats in the business world. She is a successful medical illustrator, Unity developer, and innovative interactive designer. In 2016, Bond graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Master's of Science in Biomedical Visualization (BVIS). She is an Atlanta, Georgia native and proudly attended the University of Georgia where she received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Scientific Illustration.
Bond talks about her background and journey. She enthusiastically explains the emerging medical game field, and how these beneficial games can educate people about medicine and healthcare. She discusses the wide audience for select games, from technical games designed for neurosurgery residents, and more general games for the average person who wants to learn more about health. From general anatomy to vaccines, the topics are wide and varied, for a seemingly unending receptive audience of diverse inquisitive minds. By using the power, and fun, of games, Bond explains that gaming can be a great tool to educate and inform.
The medical gaming technology guru talks about some of the institutions that are interested in utilizing this groundbreaking platform. From companies that focus on surgical training and beyond, the need is clearly real. Bond talks about the success of the immunity and vaccination games and how they are changing the way we learn.
After obtaining his medical degree, Dr. Joseph Mercola practiced conventional medicine for about five or six years before discovering more natural approaches that were actually more effective for improving his patients' health, allowing him to heal people that other healthcare professionals couldn't. When people began coming from around the world seeking his help, he decided to create a website that would allow him to educate a greater number of people. Dr. Mercola is passionate about improving people's health without the use of drugs or surgery.
Click play to hear practical tips that you can incorporate into your lifestyle, learn about why life expectancy in the U.S. is declining, and get specific advice on how you can take hold of your own health to change this trajectory.
For more information, visit Mercola.com. Keep an eye out for his book on the dangers of electric and magnetic fields, EMF'd.
Steve Zarpas, President and CEO at PHK Inc. (phketo.com) discusses ketones, and his company's mission. Zarpas' company, PowerHouse Ketones is a beverage company that features 100% bioavailable, all-natural ketones that mimic ketones that our livers naturally produce.
Steve attended George Washington University where he majored in the scientific areas of chemistry and biology. Zarpas talks about his early interest in ketones, and the exciting new field of exogenous ketone supplementation that has created a buzz in the health community. Zarpas discusses the many and varied, immense benefit of ketones and ketone supplementation. And as ketones produce more energy per each breath of air than carbohydrates do, they are an excellent way to not only improve health but make our bodies more efficient in processing. Unfortunately, to date, many people do not experience the incredible physical and cognitive energy benefits that come with a ketone-fueled body and mind, because the American diet is largely carbohydrate based.
Zarpas discusses bioactivity, and how ketones work. He explains the differences—ketone esters versus salts, but makes the distinction that his particular focus is on ketone acid, which is exactly what the liver makes when the body converts fat into ketones. The ketone and good health enthusiast talks about some of the best ways to utilize ketone acid. Zarpas talks about their upcoming products, such as their functional beverage that some early testers have said tastes great. Effects can be seen quickly, and it promotes the production of endogenous ketones. He talks about the benefits to athletes as well as sedentary people. The cognitive effects are obvious and the improvements in energy level and sharpness are demonstrable. And Zarpas explains how he uses the product to increase his endurance, increase recovery, and energy.
During the Ebola outbreak in Africa in 2014, a response camp was designed in order to create a clinical environment that included observation bays, recovery bays, and areas for isolation. When the project didn't go through at the last minute, the assets in place had to be burned due to an inability to disinfect the canvas structures that made up the camp. Not only is this an unsustainable use of resources, but the lack of pre-existing medical public health infrastructure created conditions conducive to an outbreak in the first place.
Clinics On Wheels wants to develop medical public health infrastructure in austere environments in order to provide general public healthcare on a regular basis, while also being ready to respond immediately should an outbreak occur. In this episode, Tony Cowan, Director of Emergency Response Technology for Clinics on Wheels explains the varied uses and economic benefits of quality care that has mobile capabilities.
For more information, visit www.clinicsonwheels.com, or their parent company, World Housing Solution, at www.worldhousingsolution.com. You can also email Cowan directly at tonyc@worldhousingsolution.com.
Around 2001, Dr. Cate Shanahan acquired a mysterious pain and inflammation in her knee, which her medical providers could not explain and even surgery could not fix. The pain sometimes made her febrile and even unable to walk. When she finally learned that it was caused by a virus in her knee resulting from a diet she had once believed to be healthy, she became inspired to learn more.
A medical professional herself, Dr. Cate is familiar with the nutritional science training, or lack thereof, provided in medical school. She has turned her pursuit of knowledge of nutrition into a book, Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food, with a new edition recently out. She joins us today to share her insights on nutrition. Press play to hear more.
Find her book on most online retailers, including Amazon and Audible. You can find out more about Dr. Cate and what she does at drcate.com
BIOLIFE4D is back to tell us more about the technology they are using to create a bioengineered heart! In the United States, there are about 200,000 people who could use a heart transplant to save their lives, but only about 3,500 heart transplants take place each year.
This discrepancy is due to a lack of viable donor hearts. BIOLIFE4D is addressing this problem by developing the technology to create a heart out of the cells of the very patient who will receive the heart for transplantation. Listen in to hear Steven Morris, CEO, and president of BIOLIFE4D, explain how such a heart can be made, why such a method reduces rejection risk, and how it can improve accuracy and ethics in drug testing.
Learn more at www.BIOLIFE4D.com.
According to Nitish Padmanaban, the problem in vision is deceivingly simple: as a person ages, the lenses in their eyes stiffen and become unable to change shape enough to focus on different objects in their environment. As a result, a person might get reading or bifocal lenses to help them see what they need to. As a fifth-year Ph.D. student at Stanford University, Padmanaban is working on a unique solution to this problem, which is a focused, tunable lens that replaces the functionality that's lost by the eyes over time.
These autofocus function as a combination of two types of eye-tracking software and a depth camera, and are able to determine exactly which object a person is looking at, how far from the person the object is located, and change shape accordingly so that the person can seamlessly focus on anything in their line of vision.
In today's episode, Padmanaban discusses the technical details of how the product works, how the technology of the lenses is based upon the technology behind virtual reality headsets, what they're aiming to improve about the product in the future, and more. Tune in to hear the full conversation and check out https://www.computationalimaging.org/ to learn more.
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