The Smart Cookies Podcast

Since the 1980's, we have introduced thousands of new chemicals into our lives, mostly in the name of convenience - but what are these doing to our bodies? The problems is we don 't know... But the indications we currently have don't look very good.

Professor Gary Miller (from University of Columbia) set himself on the impossible path to answer this question, which is why he pioneered the field of exposomics (as opposed to genomics) - a brand new science of all environmental exposures and bodily responses across a person's lifetime.

Which in turn means that, as a hopeless hypochondriac, this was an amazing opportunity for me to ask him about the adverse effects of everything I'm anxious about, from microplastics and forever chemicals, to house dust and tattoo ink.

Obviously, I also badger the good Doctor on what's the best way to avoid these exposures in the world that's seemingly full of them...

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4 days ago | [YT] | 4

The Smart Cookies Podcast

The history of asylums, lobotomies and ECTs is one of the DARKEST chapters in human history... so given how morbid my tastes are, I had to talk to Prof. Andrew Scull about it asap.

One of the most fascinating, if sinister conversation I had this year:

1 week ago | [YT] | 0

The Smart Cookies Podcast

What do lunatic asylums, lobotomies and insulin shock therapy have in common? They were all desperate attempts to cure mental illness.

Long before the advent of pharmacology, "maverick" psychiatrists proposed different theories on what caused madness - from germs and infections to abnormal pathways in the brain.
These ideas gave birth to a host of horrific "cures" that often left the patients worse off than before... if they managed to survive them in the first place.

In his acclaimed book Desperate Remedies: Psychiatry's Turbulent Quest to Cure Mental Illness, historian of medicine Prof. Andrew Scull traces the turbulent past of this new medical science that spurned on some of the most well known horror cliches ever...


In this haunting conversation, we talk about this dark history, but also about Freudian psychoanalysis, the wartime birth of psychotherapy and the poor state of psychiatric care today:

1 week ago | [YT] | 0

The Smart Cookies Podcast

Every time we go to the supermarket we take the abundance of (cheap) food completely for granted... but that world is coming to an end.

How is it gonna happen?

Check out my convo with renowned food systems expert, Prof. Tim Benton to find out:

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 1

The Smart Cookies Podcast

We've all noticed that food prices keep going up without an end in sight. Couple that with the increasingly dramatic effects of climate change and a world that's increasingly unstable, and you've got a legitimate crisis on your hands.

Which begs the question - will we really be able to feed a population that is projected to hit 10 billion soon?

Prof. Tim Benton, one of the biggest experts of food systems in the world, believes our economic model of infinite growth on a finite planet, will falter, and sooner rather than later.

But how soon will that happen? What does it mean in practice? And finally, are we actually entering the era of famine?

Tune in to find out:

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 0

The Smart Cookies Podcast

2026 has been a groundbreaking year for AI development - frontier models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google have not only reached frightening capability levels, but like the Hugging Face incident illustrates, they have also began to act autonomously in malicious ways. And yet instead of pausing their development, AI labs rush ahead, doing everything they can to win the "AI race," (whatever that means).

But what if the end result of all this is the end of humanity itself?

This is exactly what David Krueger, Assistant Professor in Robust, Reasoning, and Responsible AI at the University of Montreal, worries about. That's why he founded Evitable, a nonprofit whose mission is to inform and organise the public to confront societal-scale risks of AI, and put an end to the reckless race to develop superintelligence.

We talk about AI skepticism, the pernicious ideology of AI CEO's and about our duty to organise and stop this madness before it's too late....

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 0

The Smart Cookies Podcast

Most of us have probably wanted to lose some weight at some point or another, only to find out it's much easier said than done. And even if we actually managed to hit our goal, maintaining this new weight became all but impossible. Why is it so hard?

It turns out that when trying to lose weight we aren't just fighting our daily temptations - we are taking on prehistoric mechanisms put there by evolution to ensure our survival. Couple that with our disastrous food environment, the growing obesity epidemic and fast lifestyles, and you've got a disaster on your hands.

So how can we get out of this vicious loop?
To find out, I turn to dr. Stephan Guyenet - a neuroscientist, obesity researcher and author of the bestselling book, "The Hungry Brain: Outsmarting the Instincts That Make Us Overeat:"

1 month ago | [YT] | 1

The Smart Cookies Podcast

It's no secret that the West is in terminal decline, while China continues to grow and is currently on the verge of overtaking the US as the biggest economy on the planet.

Mainstream economics tells us that's impossible, since we supposedly live in the best system that was ever created. Which means something doesn't add up. Economist Prof. Steve Keen has an answer - our economic models are irreparably broken...

In this sobering conversation Prof. Keen, who predicted the 2008 financial crisis, explains why America remains a hopeless case, why China will continue to dominate world trade and finally, why the AI bubble is about to burst:

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 3

The Smart Cookies Podcast

Are we losing the Climate Change fight?

To find out, I talk to Prof. Michael Mann, one of the most renowned climate scientists in the world.

We also tackle the upcoming 'Godzilla' El Nino, Data Centres and Trump's mad climate policies 👇🏻

2 months ago | [YT] | 2

The Smart Cookies Podcast

🚨 Quick announcement:

From now on, Youtube MEMBERS of the Smart Cookies channel will be able to see all episodes EARLY, just like Patreon subscribers do.

Your support is everything!

Wishing you a lovely weekend,
Zaza

2 months ago (edited) | [YT] | 3