Galaxy Balance

Cory Smith
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Life Sciences

Galaxy Balance explores the frontier where biology, technology and consciousness meet. Each episode brings together pioneers shaping our collective future, from genome engineers and AI builders to longevity researchers, space explorers, and mindfulness practitioners. Hosted by Cory Smith, the conversations dive deep into how these seemingly distant fields form an interconnected ecosystem, one that balance innovation with introspection, science with spirit, and ambition with awareness. At its core, Galaxy Balance is about integration; the idea that our greatest leaps forward happen when disciplines collide. The same algorithms that decode galaxies can help us understand genomes; the same principles that govern consciousness can illuminate AI. Through long-form, unscripted dialogue, the show invites listeners to zoom out from the silos of specialization and see the larger pattern: a living system of intelligence evolving across scales – molecular, planetary, and cosmic.

  1. Oct 19

    The Science and Choices Behind De-Extinction

    Ancient DNA can reveal how extinct species lived and evolved. New tools in genome engineering and reproductive biology may make it possible to recreate some of their traits, and to help endangered species adapt to changing environments. Beth Shapiro, evolutionary molecular biologist and chief science officer at Colossal Biosciences, joins Galaxy Balance to discuss what de-extinction means in practice. We explore how researchers select traits from mammoth and elephant genomes, engineer many edits in elephant cells, and use different approaches for mammals and birds. Beth also explains how her team weighs animal welfare and genetic risk, why the direwolves were given light coats through a safer genetic route, and how local communities, Indigenous groups, and regulators can shape conservation plans. The conversation covers the limits of ancient DNA, tools such as Genomorph, and the potential for technologies developed through de-extinction research to support biodiversity and conservation. 00:43 — Introduction to Dr. Beth Shapiro and the promise of de-extinction 01:55 — Beth’s path into ancient DNA and the appeal of reconstructing extinct worlds 03:31 — Why ancient DNA inspired Jurassic Park, not the other way around 04:20 — The first ancient-DNA breakthrough and the limits of recovering very old DNA 06:39 — Why mammoths became a central de-extinction target 08:50 — From early DNA sequencing to modern genomic tools 12:04 — How mammoth traits are selected from elephant and mammoth genomes 14:21 — Turning genetic differences into traits: hair, fat, ears, tails, and tusks 17:12 — Multiplex editing: making many genetic changes at once 19:29 — Genome integrity, off-target edits, and selecting healthy cell lines 24:11 — From edited cells to animals: cloning mammals and engineering birds 27:42 — The reproductive challenges of making mammoths and helping elephants 30:40 — Advancing bird genetics for dodo, moa, and conservation work 33:16 — Genetic rescue: engineering cane-toad-resistant quolls 35:31 — Regulation, local communities, and responsible phased releases 37:12 — Indigenous leadership and the moa restoration project 39:29 — Beth’s proudest achievement: expanding genetic tools for birds 44:06 — Can we restore traits without ancient DNA? The dire wolf example 48:09 — Why dire wolves will not be released into the wild 51:21 — Conservation over novelty: using genome editing to address biodiversity loss 53:49 — The biggest remaining technological hurdles 56:33 — “Playing God,” human responsibility, and shaping a biodiverse future 58:05 — Science-fiction recommendations and the enduring warning of Jurassic Park

  2. Oct 12

    The Medicine of Human Contact

    Premature babies enter the world before many of their biological systems are ready, yet the technologies that keep them alive often separate them from their parents. Alon Metrikin-Gold, founder and CEO of NEOCare, is working to redesign neonatal care around connection. His team developed SKINcubator, a wearable medical device intended to enable immediate and prolonged skin-to-skin care for premature and medically fragile infants. The device maintains warmth and humidity while securing the baby and supporting the lines and tubes required in intensive care. In this episode, we explore why separation is not a neutral baseline, how physical contact affects stress regulation and development, and why parents should be treated as part of the clinical care team. 00:00 - Introduction to Skincubator Neocare and the problem of prolonged skin-to-skin care 01:11 - Alon’s background in women’s health and medical anthropology 03:03 - The key insight: separation is the artificial state 04:45 - WHO guidance versus actual NICU practice 06:14 - What parents and nurses revealed about failed skin-to-skin care 07:49 - Why extremely premature babies are so fragile 09:46 - The early engineering idea: heat and humidity from the parent’s body 10:43 - Six core design requirements for the first week of life 11:42 - What “transfer” means in practice and why it is so stressful 13:07 - Line safety, hypothermia, and why short sessions still fail 14:32 - How the device maintains heat, humidity, safety, and access 15:02 - Early clinical results and hours of skin-to-skin care achieved 16:19 - Target population and why the first days of life matter most 17:15 - Why NICU care often leaves parents unsure of their role 18:12 - How the broader system is built around separation 19:10 - Why skin-to-skin care is not just “nice,” but medically significant 21:06 - Human connection as something technology should support, not replace 22:04 - FDA breakthrough designation and what it means 23:32 - Why better documentation of skin-to-skin care matters 24:31 - How the device becomes a catalyst for protocol change 26:35 - The biology of stress reduction, cortisol, and stabilization 28:03 - Skin-to-skin care as preventative medicine and neurodevelopment support 30:28 - Maternal and infant benefits, including feeding and sensory regulation 31:25 - Designing as a producer, not an engineer, and listening to nurses 32:47 - Building for two user groups at once: parents and nurses 34:44 - How aesthetics, regulation, business model, and manufacturing all connect 36:29 - Funding the company with angels and seed capital 37:25 - Clinical expansion plans in Europe, Germany, Canada, Poland, Australia, and the US 38:10 - Safety, feasibility, and randomized trials focused on increased contact time 39:34 - Future outcome studies: baby, parent, nurse, hospital, and ROI measures 41:50 - The long-term roadmap: connected care from delivery to discharge 43:48 - Quantifying skin-to-skin barriers and the challenge of measurement 44:46 - Why parents occupy both patient and labor roles in the NICU 46:36 - Three strategic arcs: discharge, parent engagement, and low-resource settings 47:14 - Parenting, stress, and the emotional reality of the NICU 49:32 - Reimbursement, leave policies, and institutional barriers for families 55:13 - Advice for medical device founders: solve the problem, not the idea 56:42 - Why medical devices require technology, regulatory, and business model alignment 57:30 - Collecting data early to validate the next step 58:59 - Alon’s science fiction and urban fantasy recommendation

  3. Sep 23

    Can We Build Virus-Proof Life?

    What happens when scientists rewrite the genetic code that nearly all life on Earth shares? Dr. Akos Nyerges, a genome engineer and independent research group leader at Harvard Medical School, joins Galaxy Balance to explore the emerging world of synthetic genomes. His lab is engineering bacteria with altered genetic codes that can resist viral infection, restrict the exchange of genetic information, and incorporate chemical building blocks beyond biology’s standard 20 amino acids. Akos explains how these genetic firewalls could make engineered organisms safer for drug delivery, biomanufacturing, and environmental applications. We examine why large-scale genome rewriting often produces sick cells, how multi-omics can reveal hidden errors such as accidental promoters and mistranslated proteins, and how his team restored recoded bacteria to near-normal fitness. The conversation also explores AI-assisted genome design, cloud laboratories, engineered living medicines, horizontal gene transfer, the risks of mirror life, and the regulatory frameworks needed as synthetic biology moves toward increasingly ambitious forms of life. Could we create organisms isolated from the rest of nature? Can evolution overcome even our strongest genetic firewalls? And how close is modern genome engineering to becoming science fiction made real? 00:00 Introduction 01:16 Akos’s Path to Synthetic Biology 03:59 Engineering the Genetic Code 05:45 Three Goals for Synthetic Biology 09:16 Controlling Horizontal Gene Transfer 11:11 Building a Genetic Firewall 13:39 Toxicity of Recoded tRNAs 14:26 Drug Delivery and Bioremediation 16:22 Solving the Fitness Problem 18:35 Measuring Real Biological Fitness 20:13 Testing Virus Resistance 23:37 Why the Genetic Code Is Universal 26:42 From Recoding to Applications 28:52 Debugging Genomes With Multiomics 31:15 Hidden Bugs in Genome Design 35:33 AI for Genome Design 37:51 Can LLMs Recode Genomes? 40:06 Building Local AI Compute 42:18 Cloud Labs and CROs 45:52 From Lab to Commercial Use 47:26 Translational Research and IP 48:44 Expanding Biology’s Chemical Alphabet 49:59 Ethics, Biosafety, and Regulation 53:23 The Risks of Mirror Life 57:37 When Science Fiction Becomes Real 58:33 Closing and Hiring Announcement

  4. Sep 7

    Humanity May Become the Little Green Men

    If the universe contains billions of potentially habitable worlds, where is everybody? Dr. Terry Adair, author of Where Are the Little Green Men? The Adair Hypothesis, joins Galaxy Balance to examine the Fermi paradox through the lens of energy. His hypothesis proposes that an advanced technological civilization requires access to an abundant, dense, storable, transportable, and scalable energy supply. The conversation traces Earth’s energetic evolution from hydrothermal chemistry and photosynthesis to fire, fossil fuels, nuclear fission, and fusion. Terry explains how photosynthesis enabled complex life while also creating the ancient reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas that eventually powered industrial civilization. He argues that this unlikely sequence may represent a series of filters preventing intelligent life elsewhere from producing detectable technology or reaching other stars. We also explore the Drake equation, abiogenesis, the evolution of complex life, the technological limitations of ocean worlds, the challenges surrounding red dwarf stars, and the laws of thermodynamics that constrain every possible civilization. Terry outlines how fusion energy could eventually enable plasma drives, antimatter production, and spacecraft capable of reaching a meaningful fraction of the speed of light. The episode closes with an optimistic vision of humanity’s long-term future. If we continue expanding our scientific knowledge and energy capabilities, humans may eventually become the interstellar visitors that other civilizations look toward the sky hoping to find. 00:00 - Why the Fermi paradox belongs at the center of this conversation 03:37 - How Adair’s background led him to an energy-based hypothesis 04:20 - What the Fermi paradox actually means 08:14 - Drake equation, exoplanets, and the Great Filter 10:23 - Why the Drake equation is a framework, not an exact answer 11:47 - Why abiogenesis and intelligence are not the same question 13:29 - Earth’s evolutionary milestones from microbes to technology 15:10 - Why photosynthesis is the breaking point in life’s history 18:28 - The difference between abundant energy and usable energy 21:49 - Endosymbiosis, mitochondria, and the energy jump in complex life 23:51 - Why CO2 is the raw material behind plant structure 26:19 - How biomass became coal, oil, and natural gas 29:25 - Where uranium and thorium come from 31:46 - Why nuclear fusion is central to future civilization 33:34 - Entropy, disorder, and why perpetual motion fails 38:03 - The limits of fossil fuels and the case for nuclear fission 40:02 - Weapons, waste, and why small modular reactors matter 43:20 - The Adair Hypothesis, defined 44:14 - Fire as humanity’s first technology 47:27 - The photosynthetic trap and why fossil fuels changed civilization 49:58 - How much energy humanity has burned in 200 years 51:21 - Could an aquatic species build technology without fire? 52:32 - From Democritus to quarks: what matter really is 56:22 - Why energy access on Earth is still an equity issue 58:51 - Antimatter, plasma drives, and propulsion limits 62:47 - Why fusion-powered travel is a 300 to 400 year project 64:21 - Humans as the future “little green men” 65:21 - Why Star Wars is Adair’s favorite science fiction reference

  5. Aug 24

    Can We Make a Drug for One Person?

    What if we could design a medicine for a single person? Casey McPherson was a musician and songwriter when his daughter Rose was diagnosed with an ultra-rare neurogenetic disease. There was no approved treatment and no clear path forward. Rather than accepting that answer, Casey began learning genetics, building a network of scientists, and ultimately creating the infrastructure needed to develop a treatment for his daughter. Today, Casey is the CEO and co-founder of Alpha Rose Therapeutics, where his team is working to make individualized genetic medicine scalable. Their approach combines antisense oligonucleotides, patient-derived stem cells, AI-guided therapeutic design, automation, and a new economic model for diseases that traditional drug development often leaves behind. We discuss how Alpha Rose reduced a therapeutic amenability analysis that once took months to just minutes using AI, why Casey believes drug development should eventually be approved as a repeatable process rather than one drug at a time, and how point-of-care synthesis could allow personalized genetic medicines to be produced rapidly for individual patients. We also explore autonomous laboratories, AI scientists, patient-derived iPSCs and brain organoids, the economics of rare disease, genetic enhancement, and a future of medicine that looks increasingly like the sick bay of Star Trek: understand the unique biology of the patient, design the intervention, synthesize it, and treat them. Casey's story raises a much bigger question. Are rare diseases really rare, or are they the first glimpse of a future where every disease becomes individualized?   00:00 - Casey McPherson’s path from musician to biotech founder 01:38 - Childhood curiosity: music, programming, electronics, and biology 04:16 - Rose’s diagnosis and the end of the traditional care pathway 07:46 - Learning the problem was bigger than one child 09:59 - Why a foundation and ecosystem had to come first 11:27 - Why Rare Labs was built as a modality agnostic discovery lab 12:24 - Why antisense oligonucleotides made sense for Rose 13:22 - Designing and filtering thousands of ASO candidates 15:13 - Building patient-specific iPSCs and brain organoids 17:25 - Why animal models are mainly a safety tool 20:06 - Why Alpha Rose became a public benefit corporation 23:22 - Regulatory strategy and the path toward a small patient trial 27:35 - How Casey learned drug development by doing 30:30 - The AI amenability study workflow for new patients 33:24 - Turning a rough AI prototype into a validated internal tool 35:34 - Using the tool on every new drug and patient case 36:31 - Why speed matters when families are waiting on treatment 37:54 - Rare disease as a business model problem, not just a science problem 43:02 - The next decade of individualized medicine 44:27 - Process approval and point-of-care drug synthesis 46:34 - Beyond rare disease: enhancement and broader applications 48:24 - Why children’s health is so underfunded 51:20 - Why precision medicines can lower development risk 53:33 - Robotics and the fully automated lab of the future 55:46 - Renee, conversational AI, and the scientist-as-assistant future 56:54 - Science fiction influence and the Star Trek medicine model 59:50 - Advice for families and scientists facing genetic disease 1:02:21 - Closing thoughts on individualized disease

  6. Aug 10

    Clarice Aiello: The Hidden Quantum Physics of Biology

    Could life be using quantum physics to sense the world, regulate cellular processes, and respond to magnetic fields? Clarice Aiello is a quantum engineer, Chair of the Board and Chief Scientific Officer at the Quantum Biology Institute, and the founder of the former Quantum Biology Tech Lab at UCLA. Her research explores whether living systems harness quantum phenomena once considered too fragile to survive within warm, noisy cells. In this episode of Galaxy Balance, Clarice explains quantum tunneling, superposition, entanglement, and decoherence through the lens of biology. We discuss how electrons inside proteins may function as nature-made quantum sensors, how weak magnetic fields can influence cellular behavior, and whether engineered magnetic fields could eventually support wound healing, regeneration, and other forms of electromagnetic medicine. Clarice also describes the evidence that birds may use quantum sensing to navigate, why nature could teach us to build better quantum technologies, and how altered magnetic environments may affect organisms traveling to the Moon or Mars. We explore the scientific standards needed to move quantum biology into the mainstream, the limits of current evidence, and the possibility of creating a Star Trek-style tricorder that interacts with biology through precisely designed magnetic fields. The conversation closes with quantum literacy, science fiction, interdisciplinary research, and Clarice’s advice for the next generation of scientists entering one of biology’s strangest emerging frontiers. 0:00 Clarice Aiello’s background and why quantum biology matters 7:12 The long-term vision for magnetic-field-based therapeutics 10:30 Why the field still lacks depth, breadth, and standards 15:30 What quantum physics is, in plain language 19:01 Superposition explained with dimmer-switch logic 26:19 Why decoherence limits quantum effects in warm, wet cells 29:27 What counts as evidence for quantum biology today 32:24 Skepticism about entanglement, microtubules, and consciousness claims 34:37 The double-slit experiment and why observation is often misunderstood 37:11 Mars, the Moon, and why magnetic fields may matter for colonization 41:37 How weak magnetic fields may work at the protein level 44:36 Spin-dependent chemical reactions and biological branching 53:14 Why Clarice thinks nature is effectively a quantum engineer 58:13 Science fiction, Recursion, and what it gets right and wrong about observation 59:05 Why quantum literacy should be part of basic education

  7. Jul 27

    Li Li: Rewiring Skin Aging With AI and mRNA

    00:00 - Introduction to Lily and GLife’s vision for data-driven dermatology 01:20 - Lily’s scientific background 02:43 - Breakthroughs from single-cell atlases 03:50 - The motivation behind founding GLife 04:50 - The importance of treating skin as a foundational organ 05:48 - Discovery of key molecular drivers of aging 06:22 - Challenges of fundraising 07:45 - The novel approach to rejuvenating hair loss through targeted messenger RNA treatments 08:53 - How treatments will be delivered via microneedles and micro patches 09:32 - The potential to alter hair color and explore cosmetic applications 10:06 - Balancing platform discovery engines with the development of first-in-class therapeutics 10:43 - The comprehensiveness of the skin atlas and addressing genetic diversity 11:39 - Technical challenges of capturing skin’s cellular heterogeneity and stem cell populations 12:50 - The importance of isoforms and deep sequencing in understanding gene functions 13:16 - Short-lived messenger RNA as a safe, reversible treatment modality 14:55 - Safety considerations and toxicity management 16:01 - Biodistribution studies and local micro-needle delivery safety 17:00 - Next steps towards clinical trials and regenerative therapies for hair loss 18:08 - The role of big data and omics in understanding skin disorders and aging 19:04 - The significance of isoforms in skin biology and gene function 20:13 - Endogenous vs. modified messenger design for safety and efficacy 21:32 - Potential for multi-gene delivery to enhance hair regrowth and color restoration 22:22 - Conception of patches that work with existing hair without shaving 23:38 - Targeting broad hair loss types and the concept of root causes 24:47 - Modeling hair loss with animal models and regulatory considerations 25:48 - Regulatory perspectives on non-animal models and validation strategies 26:34 - The interplay between genetic and environmental causes of skin aging 27:54 - The biological hub role of specific transcription factors in stress and aging 29:10 - The future of skin biomarkers for diagnosis and personalized health monitoring 30:18 - Leveraging AI’s data integration and precision medicine in dermatology 32:32 - The impact of protein isoforms and post-translational modifications in skin treatment 34:47 - Interest in peptides, small molecules, and biohacking trends for skin health 36:03 - Collaboration between wet labs, computational teams, and clinical partners 36:36 - The significance of internal naming conventions in research and development 37:28 - The high-throughput screening process for key transcription factors 38:13 - Strategies for overexpressing target genes in therapeutic design 39:00 - AI’s role in accelerating discovery and development pipelines in biotech 40:39 - Addressing data quality, heterogeneity, and integration challenges in big datasets 44:12 - Envisioning personalized skincare driven by genomics and AI 44:56 - The inspiring concept that ancient technologies now seem like magic 45:24 - Challenges in bringing novel dermatological treatments through trials and regulation 47:42 - The evolving role of AI in drug quality control and documentation 48:11 - Unique advantages of Lily’s targeted mRNA approach over other modalities 49:22 - Using skin as a model system for broader human biology insights 50:28 - Perspectives on epigenetic reprogramming and cellular re-differentiation 51:22 - Fundraising experiences and strategic positioning for biotech development 52:21 - The influence of science fiction, especially “Three Body Problem” and “Interstellar,” on Lily’s vision 54:24 - Advice to young scientists: read widely, think deeply, and dream big

  8. Jul 13

    Aditya Kunjapur: Bringing New Chemistry to Life

    What does it take to bring new chemistry to life? In this episode of Galaxy Balance, Cory Smith speaks with Aditya Kunjapur, Associate Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of Delaware, about genetic code expansion, non-standard amino acids, engineered microbes, and the future of synthetic biology. Aditya’s lab explores how biology can be programmed to biosynthesize chemical groups that are rare or absent in nature, install those new building blocks into proteins, and make microbial survival depend on synthetic chemistry. The conversation moves from his early path through energy and chemical engineering, to his time in George Church’s lab, to the founding of Nitro Biosciences and the use of expanded genetic codes for next generation vaccine platforms. They discuss how non-standard amino acids can act as chemical flags for the immune system, how live microbes could produce antigens inside the body, and why genetic code expansion may open new approaches to vaccines, biocontainment, agriculture, environmental engineering, and planetary protection. The episode also explores synthetic auxotrophy, engineered microbial dependence, plant controlled microbial survival, plastic degradation, agricultural probiotics, bioenergy, AI tools for non-standard amino acids, and the science fiction lessons behind containment, from Jurassic Park to modern AI. This is a conversation about rewriting the language of life, not only to understand biology, but to give it new chemistry, new safeguards, and new possibilities. Timestamps: 00:00 - Engineering microbes for space: Bacillus subtilis and biological containment 02:28 - Aditya’s pathway into synthetic biology and innovative chemistry 05:46 - Transitioning from industry internships to academia and entrepreneurship 10:16 - Founding Nitro Biosciences: balancing entrepreneurship with academic research 16:31 - Genetic code expansion and its potential to elicit immune responses 22:41 - The scarcity and potential of non-standard amino acids in life 27:26 - Detecting extraterrestrial life and the shared building blocks of biology 36:49 - Synthetic oxytrophy and microbial biocontainment strategies 44:01 - Reducing herbicide reliance with engineered microbes in agriculture 52:53 - Computational tools and AI for non-standard amino acid research 54:53 - Bioenergy and sustainability: bio-catalysis innovations 59:08 - How science fiction influences bioengineering and AI safety considerations

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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Galaxy Balance explores the frontier where biology, technology and consciousness meet. Each episode brings together pioneers shaping our collective future, from genome engineers and AI builders to longevity researchers, space explorers, and mindfulness practitioners. Hosted by Cory Smith, the conversations dive deep into how these seemingly distant fields form an interconnected ecosystem, one that balance innovation with introspection, science with spirit, and ambition with awareness. At its core, Galaxy Balance is about integration; the idea that our greatest leaps forward happen when disciplines collide. The same algorithms that decode galaxies can help us understand genomes; the same principles that govern consciousness can illuminate AI. Through long-form, unscripted dialogue, the show invites listeners to zoom out from the silos of specialization and see the larger pattern: a living system of intelligence evolving across scales – molecular, planetary, and cosmic.

Information

  • Creator
    Cory Smith
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    30
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Cory Smith
  • Show Website
    Galaxy Balance