In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Joshua Woolley discuss his transition from neurology to psychiatry and his current focus on psychedelic drug therapies. He explains the mechanisms and effects of psychedelics like psilocybin and LSD, highlighting their potential to treat depression and other mental health conditions. Dr. Woolley describes controlled clinical trials at the University of California, San Francisco, where patients undergo psychedelic experiences with therapeutic support. He notes the challenges and benefits of these treatments, including long-term positive effects in alleviating depression. He also addresses the regulatory hurdles and the potential for future FDA approval of psychedelic therapies.

Key Takeaways:

• While SSRIs can and have saved a lot of people, they don’t work fully or at all for some people.

• Some diagnoses don’t have any effective pharmacotherapies, such as anorexia, methamphetamine use disorder, and even PTSD.

• Over the years, a lot of people have said that psychedelics have allowed them to have real, transformative experiences. It is a common description.

• To conduct psychedelic research, you have to get permission from multiple organizations, including the FDA and the DEA.

• People do sometimes have frightening experiences when they take psychedelics. This is not likely to happen in a clinical setting with support.

"Almost every psychiatric illness can be thought of as an inability to change something about emotions, thoughts, or behavior. If psychedelics really do reopen these critical periods, or allow people a period of a window of changeability, that would be a real game changer." — Dr. Joshua Woolley

Connect with Dr. Joshua Woolley:

Professional Bio: https://profiles.ucsf.edu/joshua.woolley

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-d-woolley-md-phd-076018110/

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

In this episode, Therese Markow interviews Dr. Shaina Stacy about her studies on cancer risks in children depending upon the body mass index (BMI) of their mothers before and during pregnancy. Dr. Stacy explains how she obtained a sample of nearly 2 million mother-child pairs in the state of Pennsylvania, the largest sample size ever for such a study. They discuss how children of women with a BMI of over 30 when pregnant had a significantly higher risk of cancers compared to children of lean mothers. This was notable for leukemia in children under 5, especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). The mechanism underlying the increased risk is not yet known.

Key Takeaways:

• Maternal obesity before and during pregnancy increases the risk of cancers in children under 5 years of age.

• The risk of leukemia, especially acute lymphoblastic leukemia or ALL, is the greatest.

• Children of white, educated women, if obese during pregnancy, have the highest risk.

• Transgenerational effects of obesity are becoming more apparent.

"We found that children born to mothers in our highest BMI category had over 30% higher risk of developing any type of childhood cancer." — Dr. Shaina Stacy

Connect with Dr. Shaina Stacy:

Scientific American Blog Post: Cancer Prevention Should Start before Birth - https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/cancer-prevention-should-start-before-birth/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaina-stacy-0664962b/

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Cheryl Hawkes discuss the increasing scientific evidence that maternal obesity affects the developing fetal brain. While many of the effects manifest early, in infant temperament and childhood cognitive (IQ) decrements, other effects do not show up until years later, in adult psychiatric and neurodegenerative problems. The physical bases for these changes in fetal brains are also clearly evidenced in laboratory model systems, such as mice, where the maternal diets can be controlled, and the offspring not only can be given behavioral tests, but their brains can be dissected to reveal the changes in the blood vessels caused by obese mothers.

Key Takeaways:

• Children born to obese mothers have lower IQs and poorer motor, spatial, and verbal skills.

• Mice and rodents have similar brain development to humans, which is why rodent study models are so beneficial to science.

• Brain maturation takes many years. Your brain is fully formed at birth, but continues to mature and change into your mid-twenties.

"Because of the rise in obesity globally, a lot of people have started to look, rather than looking at famine…, to now shift our attention to looking at the long-term effects of obesity because 30% of women around the world, over the age of 18, are now considered to be obese." — Dr. Cheryl Hawkes

Connect with Dr. Cheryl Hawkes:

Lancaster University Profile: Dr. Cheryl Hawkes

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Diane Tober discuss the global egg donation industry, highlighting its lack of regulations and exploitative nature. Dr. Tober details some of her research on egg donors, revealing severe risks and some life-threatening complications that can affect 10-12% of donors. They discuss how donors are often uninformed about the risks and the pressures faced by donors to donate beyond current guidelines. With compensation varying wildly, there are often financial pressures that donors face, too. Finally, Dr. Tober advocates for standardized informed consent, actual limits on donation cycles, and a national registry to track donor health.

Key Takeaways:

• Changes to preserving and freezing eggs in 2013 changed from slow freezing to flash freezing, which better preserved the egg and changed the industry.

• Not having limits on the number of children that can be born from donated sperm or eggs can have dire consequences for the people conceived from those donations.

• There are discrepancies in compensation based on education, race, and other traits that are considered to be desirable for intended parents.

• There are no consistent laws or regulations regarding who pays for donor medical complications.

• There is no perfect system currently existing for egg donation. But creating a safer system could begin with a donor registry.

"Sometimes donors exceed the limit because of the financial incentives, and sometimes donors exceed the limit because they're coerced or enticed by the agencies or clinics that are using them and profiting off of them." — Dr. Diane Tober

Connect with Dr. Diane Tober:

Professional Bio: https://issr.ua.edu/people/diane-tober/

Website: https://dianetober.com/

Book: Eggonomics: The Global Market in Human Eggs and the Donors Who Supply Them

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianetober/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perfectdonor/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DianeToberPhD/

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

In this episode, Therese Markow and Kim Mutcherson discuss the legal and ethical implications of the increasing number of frozen embryos and the complications of assisted reproductive technologies. With an estimated over 1 million frozen embryos in the United States, this is a complex topic, particularly around state laws, embryo disposition, the financial costs of IVF, and the potential increased regulation and legal challenges moving forward.

Key Takeaways:

• There is no hard data on how many embryos are currently frozen around the world, but there are estimated to be millions.

• States differ, legally speaking, as to whether an embryo is considered a person. How do we determine what obligations related people have to an embryo?.

• There are many different options for what you can have done with your embryos, and those outcomes should be included in the contract before any medical care is provided. Because laws regarding frozen embryos vary from state to state and this should be considered when people are looking to set up a clinic or go through the process.

"Once you have created a business - an industry - that creates human beings, it is inevitable that you are going to run into all sorts of really difficult issues. You can't get around it. It's just the nature of the thing. And so if we're going to have this industry, and if it's going to exist, we're going to constantly be asking ourselves difficult legal questions, difficult ethical questions, and difficult moral questions." — Kim Mutcherson

Connect with Kim Mutcherson:

Professional Bio: https://law.rutgers.edu/kimberly-mutcherson

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-mutcherson/

X: https://x.com/ProfessorMutch

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

The opinions expressed by Dr. Beyrer are his own and not those of his employer.

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Chris Beyrer discuss the importance of USAID, highlighting its role in global health and development, particularly through programs like PEPFAR, which has saved 25 million lives and prevented millions of HIV infections. Dr. Beyrer emphasizes that the economic and security benefits of USAID, whose support amounts to less than 1% of the total US federal budget, have had important benefits at home in the United States. It protects us from infectious diseases like Ebola and MPOX. Cuts to USAID could lead to a resurgence of HIV, polio, malaria, and other diseases. Finally, Dr. Beyrer advocates for listeners to become informed, to understand what is happening, and to engage in their citizenship rights for the benefit of all.

Key Takeaways:

• By law, USAID was only allowed to buy food from US farmers, but stopping USAID has thrown farmers into crisis due to the unstable purchasing now.

• Until January 20, 2025, USAID was supporting about 21 million people worldwide on antiviral therapy. It was also one of the biggest funders and supporters of HIV prevention because treatment is not enough - you must reduce new infections to get out from under the treatment burden.

• The only group right now that we are supporting PrEP for is pregnant or lactating, breastfeeding mothers who are at risk for HIV. Everybody else who is on PrEP has been abruptly halted. 2025 could be the year that we see the beginning of the second wave of the AIDS pandemic.

"These programs really save lives. They have saved millions of lives. We know that; we've documented it carefully. It is so important to be informed, to stay informed, to understand what is happening, and really to engage. Now, more than ever, engage in your citizenship rights." — Dr. Chris Beyrer

Connect with Dr. Chris Beyrer:

Professional Bio: https://globalhealth.duke.edu/people/beyrer-chris

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Adam Berinsky discuss political rumors and misinformation. Dr. Berinsky defines rumors as unsubstantiated claims without evidence, emphasizing their social transmission. He identifies two factors influencing rumor belief: conspiratorial thinking and partisan polarization. Berinsky's research reveals that while some people firmly believe rumors, others are ambivalent and more open to correction. He suggests focusing on these undecided individuals rather than entrenched believers. Berinsky also highlights the role of political leaders in spreading misinformation and the need for creative messaging to counteract it.

Key Takeaways:

• Political rumors (or misinformation) are claims that are unsubstantiated by the balance of publicly available information.

• Republicans and Democrats are equally (or very nearly) likely to believe different pieces of misinformation that they're presented with. Currently, Republican politicians are more likely to spread misinformation.

• The more attention you pay to politics, the more likely you are to listen to people on your side.

• Better-educated and more informed people should be more likely to reject misinformation, but what we find is that actually, they're more attuned to the partisan angle of that information.

"Maybe our effort is better spent on trying to get these people who are not sure where they stand, because those are the people that we can move." — Dr. Adam Berinsky

Connect with Dr. Adam Berinsky:

Professional Bio: https://polisci.mit.edu/people/adam-berinsky

Website: https://berinsky.mit.edu/

Book: https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691158389/political-rumors

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-berinsky-7b9830/

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

BlueSky: @CriticallySpeaking.bsky.social

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. James Alcock discuss what near-death experiences are and the increase in them in recent years due to improvements in medical technology. While near-death experiences (NDEs) have been known about for a long time, we, as a scientific community, are starting to understand more about what they mean for neurological processes. However, despite knowing the science of what is happening, NDEs and how they are experienced are subject to one’s own beliefs, context, and even religious framework. Dr. Alcock and Therese also discuss the relationship between near-death experiences, hallucinations, and even reactions to various drugs and how they create powerful subjective experiences.

Key Takeaways:

• In surveys taken in the United States, about 3% of people have reported having near-death experiences. This number can be difficult to assess as they are based on memory and the surveys are taken, sometimes years after the incident in question.

• It is difficult to prove near-death experiences in research studies due to the subjectivity of what is being perceived.

• Even with the science that we do know, those who have near-death experiences (including neurologists who have studied the brain) report the reality of the feelings and perceptions that are felt in these experiences.

"Context is important. Our interpretation is important. And it's very difficult, if not impossible, for any individual to distinguish between reality and subjective fantasies in those situations." — Dr. James Alcock

Connect with Dr. James Alcock:

Wikipedia Page: James Alcock

Book: Belief: What it Means to Believe and Why Our Convictions are so Compelling

Magazine: Skeptical Inquirer

Connect with Therese:

Website: www.criticallyspeaking.net

Threads: @critically_speaking

Email: theresemarkow@criticallyspeaking.net

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.