Stay ConnectedInvestigative journalist Scott Carney explores true crime, cult psychology, biohacking, fitness revolutions, climate change calamities, organ trafficking and a whole lot more. Get exclusive access and bonus material at Patreon https://patreon.com/sgcarney
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Copyright: © Scott Carney
In 1985 a scientist in France named René Peoc'h very nearly proved that love can alter the quantum state of matter with an ingenious experiment involving newly hatched chickens and a robot. If you think that sounds unbelievable, then just you wait until you find out what the chiropractor to the stars Joe Dispenza did with the results. #quantum #healing #joedispenza
Chances are that you have never heard of Feel Free before. It comes in a shiny blue bottle sold at convenience stores across the country as a social lubricant and substitute for alcohol. It proudly proclaims that it’s primarily kava—a south east asian tree root that has lots of traditional uses. But until recently, it was less forthright about its other, much more powerful ingredient: kratom. A few years ago I started seeing signs for kratom at my local head shop and figured that it was some sort of cheap marijuana substitute, but I didn’t give it another thought. What I didn’t know is that since 2016 the FDA has been trying ineffectively to get the addictive opioid-esque leaf off the streets, while a powerful drug lobby has used a familiar playbook to keep it legal(ish). The kratom industry is worth approximately $1.5 billion today. In an amazing investigative series, the Tampa Bay Times tracked Kratom production from farms and ports in Malaysia and Thailand through shipping routes to Oakland and then overland to processing and distribution centers in Colorado, Georgia and Florida. They uncovered documents attributing kratom, at least in part, to more than 500 deaths in Florida alone. Back of the envelope math suggests the national total would be in the thousands. And while kratom is having its heyday in the press, the various health elixirs based off of it are getting a lot less attention. I only became aware of Feel Free once people started sliding into my DMs from a reddit board called https://www.reddit.com/r/Quittingfeelfree/ While scientists are already hard at work researching the nuances of kratom addiction, posters told me Feel Free was somehow much worse than they could have ever imagined. Because whatever the issues people were having with kratom, Feel Free was somehow different. People who had been using kratom on its own for years without a problem said that this blue bottle tipped them over the edge into dependency. One woman whose daughter died with blue bottles all around her called it “Evil Incarnate.” Botanic Tonics, the company that makes Feel Free uses a proprietary blend of ingredients that synergies into a concoction that users tell me feels almost tailor made to foster addiction. It was only after I started looking into the founder’s background that things started to click. . .
If you’ve listened to just about any podcast in the last few years you’ve probably come across a green slurry macro-nutrient shake called AG1 (formerly Athletic Greens). The supplement shake has garnered endorsements from the most influential people in science communications—from Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia—and just about every health and wellness influencer open to an affiliate deal. AG1’s popularity stems from the simplicity of its marketing: claiming that one delicious powder-based smoothie can sort out all of your hidden nutrient deficiencies. For just three dollars a day you can start your morning right and thrive where you used to falter. Who wouldn’t want that? AG1 recently achieved a $1.2 billion valuation, but has experiences a bit of a backlash as experts and scientist have started to wonder if its claims of being the best formulated bio-available nutrient shake in the world really check out. The criticisms are fair and to some degree expected, with everyone from the Today Show to the New York Times (as well as a battalion of YouTube videos and blogs) digging into the company’s specific claims. But there is one story that they all missed. No one looked into the background of AG1’s founder. . .
Today we're going to talk about some hard subjects--adultery, violence, power, and psychopathy. During the last few weeks I've been in touch with many amazing people from all around the internet who are trying to understand how deep the problems with Andrew Huberman really go. One of the people I met was the sex and relationship counselor Kate Balestreri and I'm so glad that we had some time to sit down together. Kate Balestrieri: https://www.threads.net/@drkatebalestrieri Modern Intimacy: https://www.modernintimacy.com
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The science of ice bathing has been evolving a lot in the last few years. Brad Schoenfeld is a PhD in physiology and hypertrophy (literally building muscle) who just completed a metastudy analysis that showed that ice bathing after working out could kill the muscle gains. Read more on his blog post about it here: https://www.lookgreatnaked.com/blog/ #exercise #fitness #coldexposure #icebath
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So maybe you don't care about what happens in Andrew Huberman's personal life. So long as his science checks out, what's the harm? Well, I hate to break it to you but his science doesn't really check out either. From cherry-picked results to quack "protocols" Huberman frequently overextends his knowledge and starts shilling pseudoscience. This week on the show I talk to the immunologist Dr. Andrea Love to set the record straight.
You can find out more about Dr. Love at her website:
Website: https://www.immunologic.org/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@dr.andrealove
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At its height, the bone factories in Calcutta exported more than 60,000 anatomical skeletons a year to medical programs all over the world. Most of the bones had been looted from graves and burning ghats. Still, anatomy processors made millions of dollars stealing and then exporting those bodies abroad. Today, those hundreds of tons of human remains are in closets and specimine collections all around American and Europe...and now we need to decide what to do with them. Today my guest is Sabrina Agarwal a professor and the chair of the department of anthropology at the University of California-Berkeley who specializes in bioarchaeology. She just wrote an article in Nature digging into the ethical dilemma we all face when thinking about how to deal with the legacy of the skeleton trade. "The bioethics of skeletal anatomy collections from India" in Nature
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How many scientific papers are rotten with fake data? It turns out a lot more than you might think. Even some of the most well-respected medical institutions in the world have been caught out making things up in what should have been life-saving cancer research. Citizen sleuth, David Sholto came on the show today to talk about his role in unmasking more than 2000 papers that are either full of mistakes, or are outright frauds. Tune in to this riveting show to see how he uses artificial intelligence and good-old-fashioned reasoning to hold billion dollar pharmaceutical enterprises to task.
Why did the US Government give $500 billion to Nigerian hackers? What is Pig butchering? How will artificial intelligence change the the way hackers operate? What is the future of cyber warfare? These are all true stories from the dark side of the internet. Today I had the opportunity to talk with Jack Rhysider--the amazing host of the podcast Darknet Diaries ( @darknetdiaries7259 ). This conversation will change the way you think about you own privacy on the internet.
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This week the author and hose of the Conspirituality podcast, Derek Beres joins me to talk about the strange axis between spirituality, wellness and conspiracy theories that have taken over the internet. We don't pull any punches in this conversation, touching on the rise of anti-vaccine conspiracies, lizard people, coffee enemas, and how the neuroscientist Andrew Huberman has seemed to shuck off the aura of respectability and turned into a full-throated pseudoscientist.
Conspirituality Webpage: https://www.conspirituality.net/
Podcast: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conspirituality/id1515827446
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2imIsM2NZRPpQvI56TLdM5
Derek Beres on Threads: https://www.threads.net/@derekberes
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