From Our Neurons to Yours

Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford University, Nicholas Weiler
  • 5.0 (30)
  • Life Sciences
  • Updated Biweekly

This award-winning show from Stanford’s Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute is a field manual for anyone who wants to understand their own brain and the new science reshaping how we learn, age, heal, and make sense of ourselves. Each episode, host Nicholas Weiler sits down with leading scientists to unpack big ideas from the frontiers of the field—brain-computer interfaces and AI language models; new therapies for depression, dementia, and stroke; the mysteries of perception and memory; even the debate over free will. You’ll hear how basic research becomes clinical insight and how emerging tech might expand what it means to be human. If you’ve got a brain, take a listen.

  1. 1d ago

    A new precision neuroscience of language (Big Ideas in Neuroscience) | Cory Shain

    Right now, as you're reading this sentence, something remarkable is happening in your brain. Light waves from your screen hit your eyes, transform into electrical signals, and take on meaning. You understand what you're reading. This is language — our human superpower. But despite 150 years of intensive research, we still do not have a complete picture of how the brain actually accomplishes all of this. We don't even have a good answer to a seemingly simple question: Where in the brain does language happen? It turns out, the answer may be different in different people. Today we'll hear from neuro-linguist Cory Shain, one of the leaders of a new Big Ideas in Neuroscience project here at Wu Tsai Neuro that is combining multiple brain recording techniques to build individualized maps of the language network—and use these insights to improve brain implants for people who've lost the ability to speak or write due to brain injury or illness. Learn more Laboratory for Computation & Language in Minds & BrainsLaboratory of Speech NeuroscienceNeural Prosthetics Translational LabBrainGateHow the Brain Processes Different Components of Language (Psychology Today, 2024)Big Ideas in Neuroscience tackle brain science of everyday life and more (Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, 2026)Study of promising speech-enabling interface offers hope for restoring communication (Stanford Medicine, 2025)The neuroscience of understanding (Stanford Momentum, 2025)Distributed Sensitivity to Syntax and Semantics throughout the Language Network(Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2025)Hierarchical dynamic coding coordinates speech comprehension in the brain(Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2025)Send us a text! Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience. We want to hear from your neurons! Email us at at neuronspodcast@stanford.edu Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    46 min

  2. May 21

    How childhood (and Pokémon) shape how we see the world | Kalanit Grill-Spector

    Today's episode is all about how childhood literally shapes the brain. Our most important experiences – from learning to read, to the growing complexity of our social lives at school, and even the video games we play – leave physical traces in how our brains get organized that shape how we see the world as adults. But how does the brain actually know what parts of our lives are actually important enough to reorganize around? How do particular experiences get under the hood to leave their mark on the developing brain? Today's guest, Stanford psychology professor Kalanit Grill-Spector, has spent her career trying to answer these questions. She's has been imaging children's brains – from infants to teenagers – to watch this reorganization unfold. Her work focuses on how our visual experience as children shapes our brains and how we see the world – what she and her team have found is not always what they expected. Learn More The Vision and Perception Neuroscience Lab at Stanford Humanities and SciencesBrain's face recognition area grows much bigger as we get older (New Scientist, 2017)Neuroscientists use AI to simulate how the brain makes sense of the visual world (Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, 2025)Bridging nature and nurture: The brain's flexible foundation from birth (Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, 2025)Extensive childhood experience with Pokémon suggests eccentricity drives organization of visual cortex (Nature Human Behavior, 2019)Cortical recycling in high-level visual cortex during childhood development (Nature Human Behaviour, 2021)A unifying framework for functional organization in early and higher ventral visual cortex (Neuron, 2024)The emergence of visual category representations in infants' brains (eLife, 2024)White matter connections of human ventral temporal cortex are organized by cytoarchitecture, eccentricity and category-selectivity from birth (Nature Human Behaviour, 2025)Send us a text! Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience. We want to hear from your neurons! Email us at at neuronspodcast@stanford.edu Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    46 min

  3. May 7

    The FDA's psychedelic sea-change: what accelerated clinical trials for psilocybin, methylone, and ibogaine mean for mental health and neuroscience research | Boris Heifets

    Last month we saw a big shift in the federal government’s approach to psychedelic medicine. Specifically, following an executive order by President Trump, the FDA announced it is fast-tracking its review of several clinical trials of psychedelic drugs for patients with mental health disorders. The executive order also directed more funds towards psychedelic research and a review of psychedelics’ status as highly restricted Schedule 1 substances.  To help us understand what all this means for the future of psychedelic medicine and the neuroscience of psychedelics, we’re joined by Boris Heifets, an anesthesiologist at Stanford Medicine who runs a lab studying how psychedelics affect the nervous system and their impact on patients with psychiatric conditions. Learn More The Heifets Lab at Stanford MedicineFDA plans ultra-fast review of three psychedelic drugs following Trump directive (Associated Press, 2026)Trump’s order on psychedelics could have far-reaching science consequences (Scientific American, 2026)Psychedelics, placebo, and anesthetic dreams (From Our Neurons to Yours, 2024)Pychedelics inside out — how do LSD and psilocybin alter perception? (From Our Neurons to Yours, 2024)The power of psychedelics meets the power of placebo (From Our Neurons to Yours, 2024)Magnesium–ibogaine therapy in veterans with traumatic brain injuries (Nature, 2024)Magnesium–ibogaine therapy effects on cortical oscillations and neural complexity in veterans with traumatic brain injury (Nature Mental Health, 2025)Send us a text! Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience. We want to hear from your neurons! Email us at at neuronspodcast@stanford.edu Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    46 min

  4. Apr 30

    Will work for dopamine: why hard work motivates us | Neir Eshel

    Today’s episode is about the neuroscience of hard work—or maybe more specifically, the value we place on hard work. There’s something different about hiking to the top of a mountain versus taking a helicopter. The view from the top is exactly the same, but if you’ve done the hard slog to get there, the payoff is going to be much more rewarding.  The question is, how does the brain know the difference? To answer this, we need to take a deep dive into the brain’s reward system, and one of our favorite neurotransmitters, dopamine. And it turns out, the way dopamine operates is more complicated than we thought. Our guest today, Stanford Medicine psychiatrist Neir Eshel, tells us about new research that’s starting to reveal exactly how the brain pushes us to work hard for the things that matter to us.  Learn More Eshel's Stanford Translational Addiction and Aggression Research (STAAR) LabWhy we value things more when they cost us more (Stanford Medicine, 2026)Cholinergic modulation of dopamine release drives effortful behaviour (Nature, 2026)Striatal dopamine integrates cost, benefit, and motivation (Neuron, 2023)Dopamine and serotonin work in opposition to shape learning (Wu Tsai Neuro, 2024)Why we do what we do (From Our Neurons to Yours, 2024)Send us a text! Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience. We want to hear from your neurons! Email us at at neuronspodcast@stanford.edu Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    43 min

  5. Apr 16

    Could Parkinson's start in the gut? | Kathleen Poston

    Traditionally, we think of Parkinson's as a movement disorder—defined by slowed movement, stiff muscles, and involuntary shaking. But it turns out there are other symptoms that appear years or even decades before movement problems bring patients to the clinic: sleep disturbances, chronic constipation, and loss of smell. For today's guest, these early symptoms represent an incredible opportunity to understand where Parkinson's begins and to identify patients much earlier in the disease. Kathleen Poston is a neurologist and division chief for movement disorders at Stanford Medicine. She's also a member of the steering committee for the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience at Wu Tsai Neuro, and advises the Michael J. Fox Foundation and pharmaceutical companies on Parkinson's research. We discuss why non-motor symptoms might hold the key to early diagnosis, how new biomarkers are redefining the disease, and whether Parkinson's might actually start in the gut. Learn More Learn about Poston's research on her lab siteLearn about the Stanford Lewy Body Dementia Research Center of ExcellenceRedefining Parkinson's Disease | Our previous conversation with Poston, in which we learned about a sea change in our understanding of Parkinson's Disease.Neuroscientists dive into the gut (Wu Tsai Neuro, 2025) | Our 2025 Symposium explored how our brains and bodies communicate—and what that means for our health and well-beingParkinson’s comes in many forms. New biomarkers may explain why (Knight Initiative, 2025) | Blood and cerebrospinal fluid markers tied to inflammation and metabolism sort some patients into subgroups, a step toward predicting progression and tailoring care.A biological definition of neuronal α-synuclein disease: towards an integrated staging system for research (The Lancet - Neurology, 2024)International Working Group Proposes New Framework for Defining Parkinson Disease Based on Biology, Not Symptoms (Neurology Live article)Send us a text! Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience. We want to hear from your neurons! Email us at at neuronspodcast@stanford.edu Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    41 min

  6. Apr 2

    Big Ideas: How see-through brains could transform neuroscience | Guosong Hong

    What if we could make the brain see-through?  It sounds like science fiction, but it could revolutionize how we study the brain.  Today on the show, we're talking with Guosong Hong, a faculty scholar here at the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute who has a unique reputation for developing creative techniques that literally shed light on the brain—from using fluorescent nanomaterials and focused ultrasound to create a virtual flashlight inside the skull, to discovering a common food dye that temporarily makes skin, muscle, and even parts of the brain transparent.  Now, Guosong and colleagues are taking this work to the next level through a Wu Tsai Neuro Big Ideas grant, genetically engineering mice to have see-through brains from birth.  Learn More Q&A: 'To see is to believe'  (Wu Tsai Neuro, 2026)Big Ideas in Neuroscience tackle brain science of everyday life and more (Wu Tsai Neuro, 2026)Researchers turn mouse scalp transparent to image brain development (Stanford Report, 2026)The future of transparent tissue (Stanford Engineering's The Future of Everything Podcast, 2025)Non-invasive brain stimulation opens new ways to study and treat the brain (Wu Tsai Neuro, 2025)Researchers make mouse skin transparent using a common food dye (Stanford Report, 2024)Note: Episode transcript will be uploaded within 24-48 hours of publication Send us a text! Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience. We want to hear from your neurons! Email us at at neuronspodcast@stanford.edu Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    36 min

  7. Mar 19

    Could boosting gut–brain communication prevent memory loss? A tale of microbes, memory, and our internal senses | Christophe Thaiss

    Our memories and senses are deeply connected—like how a favorite song can recreate a whole glorious teenage summer. It turns out this relationship might extend beyond our five external senses to include our internal senses: the signals telling us what's happening inside our bodies, sometimes beyond the veil of conscious perception. New research by Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute affiliate Christoph Thaiss suggests that losing these internal signals as we age — in part due to changes in our gut microbiome — could one reason why our memories decline as we get older.  Today we're talking with Thaiss about his new study in Nature that traces a surprising path from gut microbes to memory formation in the mouse brain. Learn More Enhancing gut-brain communication reversed cognitive decline, improved memory formation in aging mice (Stanford Medicine, 2026)Intestinal interoceptive dysfunction drives age-associated cognitive decline. (Nature, 2026)Christoph's presentation at Wu Tsai Neuro's 2025 Annual SymposiumNeuroscientists Dive into the Gut (Wu Tsai Neuro, 2025)The Thaiss Lab at the Arc InstituteThaiss Lab publicationsSend us a text! Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience. We want to hear from your neurons! Email us at at neuronspodcast@stanford.edu Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    43 min

  8. Mar 12

    Why do some of us age faster than others? | Claire Bedbrook and Ravi Nath

    Today on the show, why do some of us age faster than others? Why do some of us grow old and die before our time while others seem to simply endure? And most of us have probably wondered at one point or another, which track am I on?  Turns out it might be possible to predict the whole trajectory of an animal's life at a surprisingly young age, just by looking closely at subtle patterns of behavior. That's the conclusion of a new study from researchers at the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience here at Wu Tsai Neuro, out March 12, 2026 in the journal Science.  The study focused on the African turquoise killifish, a little fish that lives fast and dies young. This species has one of the shortest lifespans of any vertebrate, which makes it ideal for studying the entire arc of a life in the laboratory setting. The important point here is that even short-lived killifish are dealt different lots by the fates. Even when you control for genetics and the environment, some killifish only live a month or two, while others can live as long as a year. So the big question is, what drives this difference in longevity?  To learn more, we're joined today by the study's two lead researchers, Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute Postdoctoral Scholars, Claire Bedbrook and Ravi Nath, who performed the research in the labs of Anne Brunet and Karl Deisseroth here at Stanford. Learn More To study aging, researchers give killifish the CRISPR treatment (Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience, 2023)Study pinpoints key mechanism of brain aging (Stanford Report, 2025)Killifish project explores the genetic foundation of longevity (Stanford Medicine 2015)Multi-tissue transcriptomic aging atlas reveals predictive aging biomarkers in the killifish (Nature, 2026) Send us a text! Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience. We want to hear from your neurons! Email us at at neuronspodcast@stanford.edu Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

    38 min
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About

This award-winning show from Stanford’s Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute is a field manual for anyone who wants to understand their own brain and the new science reshaping how we learn, age, heal, and make sense of ourselves. Each episode, host Nicholas Weiler sits down with leading scientists to unpack big ideas from the frontiers of the field—brain-computer interfaces and AI language models; new therapies for depression, dementia, and stroke; the mysteries of perception and memory; even the debate over free will. You’ll hear how basic research becomes clinical insight and how emerging tech might expand what it means to be human. If you’ve got a brain, take a listen.

Information

  • Creator
    Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford University, Nicholas Weiler
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    80
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University
  • Show Website
    From Our Neurons to Yours

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