SKRAPS of Science & Innovation

It's the start of Season 4 of SKRAPS. So first, credit where it is due, thanks so much for the support!
Have you ever wondered where the food you eat comes from?
No, we do not talk about your carbon footprint or the location of the farm Food and flavour evokes a strong sense of nostalgia, likes and dislikes in our mind so much so that a particular flavour you smell, taste, love, dislike can evoke a have a strong feeling or a bittersweet memory, or a sweet aftertaste or even have disgust for.
Well, that's what we are here to talk about. We are joined by a fantastic food science geek to talk about the flavours of food and the science of cooking.
Krish Ashok is the author of Masala Lab. His book is a revelation but more importantly, while we touch on some key aspects of his motivation to write the book, the bulk of the episode is devoted to history of spices, what it means to cook, how to cook spices, what it gives, the relationship to what it means to have your mouth being on fire and many more nuggets.
You will also hear about his fantastic anecdotes of spice history. We are very grateful to Ashok for joining us and sharing such interesting nuggets and it definitely is a breezy listen.
Ashok also has a fantastic Instagram page where we routinely posts some cool factoids about food, the world around us and food science.
The two clubs that Ashok hosts rooms on clubhouse is located here:

1. Masala trail with Nandita Iyer
2. Salem Junction with Sidin Vadukut

Join Arun & JoJo as they go behind the wall of the science that underpins new treatments for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD).

While MDD is the leading cause of both personal and societal disability, there are still inadequate treatment options. But the advent of two very areas are bringing hope! The first area is psychedelic assisted psychotherapy that we covered in our psychedelic series - Episode 7 and Episode 8. And second, more exciting and frankly a profound option is the use of the language that the brain uses to communicate and turn that into a treatment.

In this episode, we are joined by two wonderful individuals - Dr. Nolan Williams, Asst Professor at Stanford University and Dr. Brett Wingeier.

Nolan is both a psychiatrist and a neurologist and with an impressive training. He takes and compresses (quite literally) all the learnings from deep brain stimulation and Transcranial Magnetic stimulation into developing a bespoke theta burst stimulation, and identifying it for a distinct patient population for its first adaptation - in hospital, psychiatric emergency.

Brett Wingeier, the CEO of Magnus Medical is spearheading the development and commercialisation of the SAINT (Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Trial) technology via his company, Magnus Medical. In fact, based on the results of their most recent trial, Magnus Medical was offered a breakthrough device designation by FDA.

Join us as we uncover the science of this wonderful field and how Bioelectronic medicine is moving from movement disorders like Parkinson’s disease to positively impacting mental health.

This is something that you will hopefully not get anywhere else in one piece.

A cast will help a broken bone to heal, a tourniquet will help to stop the bleeding in a limb, an aspirin will alleviate a headache, time (and ice cream) will help to heal a broken heart. But how do you heal a broken mind? Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is but one of the psychiatric indications with inadequate, frequently ineffective treatment protocols, that has been in the psychedelic spotlight.

There’s no shortage of heartbreaking stories about men and women who have dedicated their lives to the service of their countries and endured unfathomable trauma. Add to this population the other sources of PTSD like car accidents, witnessing or experiencing violence - or even the threat of violence, sustained stress in traumatic situations (hello, COVID frontline workers - I’m looking at you), and you have an explosion in an untreated or treatment refractory population. 

Enter psychedelics.

In this episode, we are privileged to hear from Jesse Gould, a former Army Ranger, and Keith Abraham, a former member of the UK’s Parachute Regiment. These gentlemen both served their countries in combat tours in the Middle East and have suffered the invisible injuries of war. Each found his way to ayahuasca as a means of resolving his PTSD when pharmacological, talk therapy, and wholistic approaches failed him. Ayahuasca healed them when nothing else could; now, through their connected organizations - Heroic Hearts Project and Heroic Hearts Project UK - they are helping other veterans gain access to this highly promising combination therapy of psychedelics and psychiatry in what is now known as psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.

In addition, we explore the story of how MDMA assisted psychotherapy, pioneered by MAPS' pivotal trials were done in an interview with Dr. Jennifer Mitchell 

This episode will take you into the personal stories, the science, the history, the future, and the promise of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. Grab a tissue, you’re going to need it. (And then go donate to Heroic Hearts Project so that we can help more people heal.) 

Where were you on June 18, 1971? Did you know that was when Richard Nixon, the United Nations, and other world leaders changed the course of popular culture, scientific experimentation, and mind exploration for the next five decades? Did you know that substances that have the potential to change the way we treat myriad diseases and conditions - ones that have little or no reliable treatments today - were fated on that day to be imprisoned like Hannibal Lecter?

Join us for the first of a series of Skraps Original episodes as we explore the use, misuse, and history of psychedelics. In this episode, we will cover the most important question of what these substances are, and begin to question why they were lumped in with other addictive substances by exploring the history of how curiosity-induced exploration on one side clashed with religious single-mindedness. This manifested itself in how these plant-based substances were viewed then and for centuries later, in the eyes of the western world.

PsychedeRx will cover the ancient history of plant-based psychedelics including their religious, ceremonial, tribal uses and the dangers imposed by the European views of those uses. We’ll experience murder, mayhem, executions, displacement, and more. We’ll talk to psychedelic historian Mike Jay to get the full story of the full journey - one that started long before Nixon and other world powers set their limited, short-sighted fear loose upon the world.

Subscribe to SKRAPS on your favorite podcast platform to make sure you don’t miss a minute of this riveting journey.

This is PsychedeRx - A SKRAPS original podcast series detailing the journey of an improbable drug class (Psychedelics) and its journey - past, present and future.