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Peter Saunders, Co-Director of The Institute of Science in Society, London, and Emeritus professor of Applied Mathematics, King's College London, provides a thorough and interesting overview of catastrophe theory and its many real and relevant applications.
Saunders holds a BA in Applied Mathematics from the University of Toronto as well as a PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics from the University of London. He is a sought-after lecturer and keynote speaker and has presented his findings and theories for many groups and events, notably at Queen Elizabeth College and then at King's College.
Saunders discusses the etymology of the word, 'catastrophe,' and discusses the background of catastrophe theory. Saunders explains that catastrophe theory is a theory that allows us to deal mathematically with things that change suddenly. And as he states, things that change suddenly are often the most interesting. He details catastrophe theory, explaining that if you have a system that is displaying certain jumps of one kind or another that these jumps will occur in a pattern. Saunders outlines the five basic properties that tend to go together: sudden jumps, hysteresis, divergence, inaccessibility, and bimodality. As Saunders explains, when you observe one, you begin looking for the other four. He talks about the many applications of the theory and how it enables researchers to come to conclusions within their research.
Saunders explains that when a researcher is considering what has been observed, he or she makes a statement, and what is most desired is a theory that enables one to take that statement, that is based on observable actions, and do something with it. He discusses the relevance to applied mathematicians, and elaborates on how they seek to utilize what they do know, and little else, so their applications are based on truth. Saunders discusses the many possible applications for catastrophe theory, and he specifically talks about utilizing the theory to study important issues such as climate change. He provides interesting examples, regarding extreme fluctuations and how they can be indicators of increasing instability in regard to climate changes. As he explains catastrophe theory doesn't provide absolute proof, but in fact it only provides signs and indicators. Saunders states that if you want absolute proof, the only way to get that is to sit back and let something happen, but by then it will be too late to prevent that 'something' from happening.
Saunders' groundbreaking book on the subject, An Introduction to Catastrophe Theory, breaks down catastrophe theory for everyone, even those who may have only a basic understanding of mathematics. The book explains the basic tenets of the theory and discusses practical applications, often citing biological science examples due to their particular ability to demonstrate catastrophe theory's distinctive nature. The celebrated book is a good read for theoretical biologists, scientists in general, and anyone who has an inquisitive mind and seeks to learn more about the theory and its applications.
Lynn Helena Caporale, independent scholar and author of Darwin in the Genome, discusses DNA sequencing and all things related to the genome.
Caporale is a career biochemist whose research in the areas of natural selection and genome variation has created a buzz in the scientific community. Caporale is a regular chair of various international interdisciplinary conferences and workshops. In addition to authoring books on the subject, Caporale has also been the editor of many volumes such as, The Implicit Genome, Molecular Strategies in Biological Evolution, and The Effect of Genome Sequence and Structure on Genome Variation in Evolution.
Caporale discusses her background and the personal journey to her current career. She talks about her early study of chemistry, her interest in observing the relationships in protein families, and discovering how they might have evolved as well. She details information on genetic coding and DNA sequencing, and its relevance to her work today. She explains overlapping protein coding in regard to amino acids and variations. And as she states, there is much information within the genome that we are not aware of but we're learning more over time.
Caporale states evolutionary theory says selection acts on variations. What Caporale proposes is that selection acts on the variations of probability along the genome, just as it acts on variations in beaks and wings, and so forth. She talks about a feedback control as it relates to variation and selection in a loop. Genomes that generate variants that are more likely to survive are the genomes that would be more effective at adapting and would therefore tend to survive. Caporale cites examples to support her thoughts, such as bacteria that have code proteins. As she states, bacteria can infect us, and our immune system can see the surface of the bacterium and mount an immune response, and Caporale explains what happens when the code mutates and how that affects the outcome. Additionally, she provides extensive information on adaptations and mutations within organisms.
The biological scientist discusses human population in regard to the genome. She outlines the three important concepts that relate to her studies: cooperation, diversity, and feedback control. Caporale talks about stress responses that produce specific variation in the genome, and explains how, miraculously, enzymes can move DNA around. Caporale talks about the many different theories in the building blocks of life and she provides more information on some of the unsettled issues that relate to life and how it is created.
Jen Fisch, founder, Keto In The City (ketointhecity.com), is hungry—hungry for knowledge, and she always has been. She is a self-described autoimmune warrior and single mom who is incredibly passionate about the ketogenic lifestyle. In this interesting podcast Jen talks about her journey and the power of the ketogenic diet. A ketogenic diet is a high-fat, moderate protein, and very low-carbohydrate nutrition plan. As we restrict carbs and sugars our bodies convert fat, instead of sugar, into energy.
Jen Fisch's life is a busy one, but somehow she made time to release three best-selling keto cookbooks in one prolific year, The Easy 5-Ingredient Ketogenic Diet Cookbook, The Big Book of Keto, and Keto In 30 Minutes. The books are the culmination of years of intensive study and research in the area of ketogenic nutrition.
Jen talks about her journey to a new life. Diagnosed with psoriasis at the tender age of 18 and then psoriatic arthritis just one year later, Jen slowly began her path to understanding, and about a decade later she began to fully grasp the correlation between inflammation of the body and food. She underscores the importance of understanding carbs and sugar, when beginning a new way of eating. She expounds upon the benefits of keto. One of the most valuable benefits she states is sleep—when on a ketogenic diet, those sugars aren't in the way of your ability to get quality restorative sleep.
The keto expert talks about the importance of tweaking your diet, that we must look at it like a lifestyle and continually make decisions about our diet and how it is affecting us. We don't need to follow exact directions and rules, but we need to find our way in the journey and continually evaluate our food intake and listen to our bodies. She underscores that keto is not a cure for medical conditions, and that many people certainly need medications. But keto is a great compliment to the medications that patients are taking to improve their conditions.
Jen talks about the amazing feedback that she gets from the many people who have watched her YouTube videos and ead her books. And she states that the ability to help people is very rewarding. Jen takes great satisfaction in helping people get on board with the keto lifestyle and improve their health, heal their bodies, lose weight, and feel so much better living life.
Keith Baverstock is a physical chemist by training whose primary career interest lies in the effects of ionizing radiation on public health and genomic instability. He's carried out research with the World Health Organization and published several scientific articles, including Genes without Prominence: A Reappraisal of the Foundations of Biology. He joins the podcast today to discuss a variety of topics, including cellular and molecular genetics, the effects of ionizing radiation on cells, mutational damage to DNA, how phenotypic expression works and the influence of epigenetics on this process, what he believes to be the basis of cancer versus other types of diseases, and why a focus on environmental causes of disease is called for. Along the way, he shares information from past experiments that shed light on important inquiries in this field, and asks questions that encourage you to think deeply about these topics and how they influence our everyday lives. To learn more about Keith Baverstock's theories and work, visit his website at kbaverstock.org.
Certified in both sports medicine and neurology, Dr. Gabriele Barthlen, PhD, MD has directed several sleep centers and authored three books, 33 abstracts, and 15 peer-reviewed articles throughout her career. She's also been invited to speak at over 250 lectures, and today she's accepted the invitation to speak on the podcast about the work that she's currently doing at Sleep Center Hawaii and the latest in the world of sleep medicine. Contrary to much of her previous work researching sleep apnea, periodic limb movement disorder, insomnia, and a range of other sleep disorders, Dr. Barthlen now focuses almost exclusively on the clinical treatment of sleep apnea using the most established treatment options. She explains what each of those options are, how she treats patients who can't travel to the sleep clinic, the stage of sleep during which apnea is most likely to occur, and the life-threatening consequences of leaving sleep apnea untreated.
Learn more by visiting sleepcenterhawaii.com and feel free to give them a call at 808 456 REST.
Dr. Emily Splichal knows all about your feet. In fact, she has spent a lifetime studying feet, in her practice as a successful podiatrist, and also as a foot technology entrepreneur. In this podcast we'll learn all about the foot and the many benefits we can get from understanding what its nerves are communicating.
Dr. Splichal spends her time helping people with their feet in a clinical setting as a podiatrist, but also helping them by developing new products that provide for better posture, rehabilitation, wellness and more. Her work in the field is innovative and she is a leader in the research of movement dysfunction and neuromuscular issues.
Dr. Splichal discusses her company's many products that improve health. The company she leads is Naboso Technology, which offers the preeminent line of insoles and mats designed for increasing ease of movement and improving posture.
As she states, Naboso's prime objective is to improve foot function and foot stimulation from a neurosensory perspective.
The foot physician talks about the texture of their Naboso insoles and she explains how the insoles create powerful stimulation and provide benefits that everyone can experience. Dr. Splichal explains how their products work to improve neuro rehabilitation and wellness, and can assist with podiatry and orthopedics issues, pediatric development and more. She details the ways nerves in the foot relate to our posture and movement, and she explains just how important our feet truly are. If you thought feet were just for walking, then tune in to this podcast and discover the amazing truth about the power of the foot.
"As we have learned more and more about the mechanisms of toxicity and drug mechanisms, we've come to appreciate how different… people are from animals, and it makes us realize why drugs still fail 30% of the time for safety in people," says Dr. Ellen Berg, reflecting on the current state and usefulness of animal-based drug testing. For many years, product developers and the pharmaceutical industry has relied upon the assumption that what's toxic to non-human animals is more likely to be toxic to human animals; while this is true, it is not the best we can do, it does not account for the growing number of differences being identified between the animal model and human being, and it comes at a price.
As the founder of Alto Predict, it is Dr. Ellen Berg's goal to introduce alternative approaches to product safety testing that remove the animal model and replaces it with human in vitro technologies, such as organs-on-chips, organoids, bioprinted tissues, and stem cell-based assays. She explains that despite many innovative advances in these methods over the past decade, there's been a significant lag in adoption by product developers. Why?
According to Dr. Berg, the answer is multifold, but one of the primary reasons is because validation data showing predictivity of the assays is either limited or simply hard to access. This means that those who critically need this data in order to feel confident in moving forward with adoption of these technologies simply don't have it, and don't have an easy way to obtain it. The same type of problem exists with animal testing data but for different reasons: "A lot of in vivo animal data is in silos within pharmaceutical or consumer products companies and nobody has access to it, so…the lack of predictivity of animal testing has been hidden," explains Dr. Berg.
Alto Predict is addressing this problem by building a platform that provides easy access to human in vitro technology validation data, alongside specialized analytics and data visualization tools as a way to bring business intelligence analysis to complicated scientific data. Having spent the last 15 years developing this platform, Dr. Berg has discovered many novel mechanisms of toxicity that are contributing to the safer selection of molecules with assay predictivity.
The team at Alto Predict is currently working on the beta version of the platform and have already partnered with Collaborative Drug Discovery to showcase various in vitro assays relevant to cardiovascular toxicity. Tune in and visit altopredict.com to learn more.
Adrian Bejan, J.A. Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University, delivers a thought-provoking analysis of the mechanics of life, energy, and the science of our natural world.
Bejan is world renowned for his pioneering work in engineering and applied science. Specifically, his extensive research has delved deep into multiple areas of science—engineering and applied physics covering thermodynamics, heat transfer and convection, as well as design and evolution in the natural world. Bejan has been celebrated for his work, receiving 18 honorary doctorates from prestigious universities around the world, and he has authored 30 books and in excess of 650 articles on various subjects in his many areas of expertise. His recent book, The Physics of Life The Evolution of Everything, is considered a must-read for the scientific community and anyone who is interested in practical science and the origin of living things.
Professor Bejan delivers a robust overview of the areas of practical science that are misunderstood, and some that are simply incorrect. Bejan lists a few of the commonly held theories that are inaccurate: that nature is complicated, that we cannot predict nature, and that we are threatened by a population explosion. He cites specific examples that prove his theories about the aforementioned. He states that many of those who speak about science publicly are not actually trained in science. As such, ideas can float around in the public discourse that may not be based in hard science.
The engineering and science professor discusses thermodynamics, which is, as he describes, everything that has to do with movement—movement that comes from power, with the power coming from burning fuels, etc. Two things are certain: thermodynamics is about everything, and changes are occurring continually in science. The physics of evolution is constantly pushing all life and manufacturing to become a better version of itself. Changes occur, and science is the reason. Professor Bejan talks about the details of the physics of evolution, touching on the topic of power, as he states that nature is full of engines. He details the structure of the greatest engines of Earth. The earth, as an engine, drives our atmosphere and heating from the sun and cooling by the sky drive the earth engine. And this immense power delivery drives all the things on Earth.
Bejan explains energy within animals and life in general. He talks about the elements of life and predictable design in nature. He states that much in science is recognizable and easy to draw, and all too often we overcomplicate the basic elements and structures of life. Bejan talks about the meaning of the word evolution, and how it is used in every language in western civilization and was certainly not invented or coined by Darwin. Bejan speaks of evolution as a 'moving forward' that assures us that tomorrow will be different than today—the future will be different than the past.
Professor Bejan talks about the laws of physics as they relate to evolution, and how the laws of physics help us to see oneness in nature as opposed to blinding complexity. Further, Bejan discusses our organic preference for certain forms in nature, such as the golden ratio. As he explains, there is a globally accepted preference for forms due to the fact that certain shapes are the easiest to be perceived and scanned by the human eye. From business cards to flags to computer screens, we have shaped our world with the shapes that the physics of our humanity prefers.
Professor Bejan continues to explore his interests in thermodynamics and applied physics, as well as evolution in nature, and his work is pushing the scientific world forward, advancing the understanding of life itself.
As an interested scientific mind, Kenneth Weiss has been fascinated by biology and genetic research through his long career in science. In this podcast, the Evan Pugh Professor Emeritus of Penn State's biology department discusses genetics and variations.
Dr. Weiss has spent years studying the effects of genetic variations and how they impact disease. He details how genes play a part in the development of complex traits such as blood pressure and diabetes, as well as many other health issues. He provides his thoughts on the current state of genetic prediction and explains why there are significant difficulties in precision genomic medicine that relate to a myriad of impacting factors such as where we live, climate, diet and nutrition, one's occupation, and much more. Genomes, as he states, are different from person to person, and thus interpreting general information through the use of finite genomic data is not necessarily highly accurate.
The gene expert lays out his theories on gene repair and discusses CRISPR technology, a technology that assists scientists to alter a DNA sequence and modify gene function, which many have touted as the next great leap in medical advancement. But Dr. Weiss stresses the complexity of these issues due to variations from person to person.
There are approximately 10,000 known diseases affecting modern humans—about 7,000 of which are rare, and about 3,000 more which are common. Each and every one of us is susceptible to developing or contracting a disease at any point in our lives, and most of us will. And once we do, then what? Where will the resources be?
The team at Genetic Alliance is working to make those resources comprehensive and easily accessible by the community in the form of biobanks containing tissue and blood samples, information on the progression of diseases, data on treatment methods and drug therapies, and statistics correlating phenotypic and genotypic traits. They are a 32-year-old non-profit initially established to help other non-profit disease advocacy groups work efficiently and effectively, but over the years they have worked increasingly toward creating and raising awareness of the benefits of disease registries and biobanks. Not only do they allow individuals to decide the way in which their data will be used, but they are making it easier than ever before to share that data by providing non-profit advocacy groups with free sample collection kits.
Sharon Terry, CEO of Genetic Alliance, joins the podcast to discuss all of this and more, including large-scale genome sequencing, the stratification of drug therapies, FDA interest in various gene therapy/editing registries, and at least one aspect of Genetic Alliance's mission that doesn't sit well with some academic institutions.
Search for information on any of the 10,000 diseases by visiting diseasinfosearch.org, and learn more about Genetic Alliance by visiting geneticalliance.org.
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