Mind & Matter
Whether food, drugs or ideas, what you consume influences who you become. Learn directly from the best scientists & thinkers alive today about how your mind-body reacts to what you feed it.
The weekly M&M podcast features conversations with the most interesting scientists, thinkers, and technology entrepreneurs alive today.
Not medical advice.
At M&M, we are interested in trying to figure out how things work, not affirming our existing beliefs. We prefer consulting primary rather than secondary sources and independent rather than institutional voices. If we encounter uncomfortable truths or the evidence suggests unfashionable ideas may be valid, so be it.
As the host, my aim is to help you better understand how the body & mind work by curating & synthesizing information in a way that yields science-based insights that you can choose to use or disregard in your own life. Taking ownership of your health starts with taking ownership of your information diet.
I am motivated to connect the dots and distill general principles from what I learn, preferring to ask questions and play devil’s advocate to debating or incessantly pushing my own viewpoint.
My beliefs:
- Taking ownership of your health starts with taking ownership of your information diet.
- All knowledge is provisional and we must work hard to prevent ourselves from becoming attached to our favorite ideas & preferred conclusions.
- Wisdom comes from an iterative, trial-and-error process of learning and unlearning. Letting go of pre-conceived notions can be painful, but pain is information.
Sometimes modern discoveries teach us we must unlearn received wisdom. Other times, modern information overload & historical chauvinism cause us to forget ancient wisdom which stills applies. The framework for learning that I embody is inspired by three Ancient Greek maxims inscribed in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi:
- “Γνῶθι σεαυτόν” (Know thyself)
- “Μηδὲν ἄγαν” (Nothing in excess)
- “Ἐγγύα πάρα δ Ἄτα” (Certainty brings insanity)
Mind & Matter
Energy Resistance Principle in Life, Healing & Disease | Martin Picard & Nirosha Murugan | 260
A biophysical rethink of life, health, and disease through the lens of the Energy Resistance Principle (ERP).
Episode Summary: A reframe of biology as energy flow through resistance rather than mere molecular machinery, introducing the Energy Resistance Principle (ERP): life requires a Goldilocks balance of electron flow from food to oxygen via mitochondria; too much or too little resistance drives aging, disease, and death. Explain mitochondria as energy transformers, link ERP to insulin resistance, psychiatric disorders, and healing, and explore health as a dynamic field-like state optimized by flux modulation.
About the guest: Nirosha Murugan, PhD is a biophysicist studying how physical signals pattern biology to decode and reprogram health; Martin Picard, PhD is a mitochondrial psychobiologist at Columbia University, exploring how mitochondrial energy dynamics connect to human experiences, health, and healing. They collaborate on biophotons, light emission, and multi-scale energy signaling.
Discussion Points:
- Mitochondria transform electrons from food into versatile electricity via proton gradients.
- Energy Resistance Principle: transformation needs resistance; chronic high resistance causes dissipative heat, damage, aging.
- GDF15 cytokine signals mitochondrial stress to brain, triggering energy conservation/mobilization.
- Insulin resistance: adaptive defense against electron overload, reversible by fasting/exercise.
- Psychiatric illness: excess brain energy resistance; exercise, keto, psychedelics redistribute flux.
- Health: dynamic optimization of energy resistance, not absence of disease.
- Healing: daily recovery from micro-damage via balanced resistance.
- Future: energy-based diagnostics/therapies (light, TMS) over molecule-only drugs.
*Not medical advice.
Reference Paper: The energy resistance principle
Related Episode:
- M&M 70: Mitochondria, Aging, Cellular Energy, Metabolism, Gray Hair Reversal & Brain-Body Communication | Martin Picard
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