Dr. E.J. Chichilnisky: How the Brain Works, Curing Blindness & How to Navigate a Career Path

In this episode, my guest is Dr. E.J. Chichilnisky, Ph.D., a professor of neurosurgery and ophthalmology at Stanford University. He studies how we see and uses that information to build artificial eyes that restore vision to the blind.  We discuss how understanding the retina (the light-sensing brain tissue that lines the back of our eyes) is critical to knowing how our brain works more generally.  We discuss brain augmentation with biologically informed prostheses, robotics, and AI and what this means for medicine and humanity.  We also discuss E.J.’s unique journey into neuroscience and how changing fields multiple times, combined with some wandering, taught him how to guide his decision-making in all realms of life.  This episode ought to be of interest to anyone interested in learning how the brain works from a world-class neuroscientist, those interested in the future of brain therapeutics and people seeking inspiration and tools for navigating their own professional and life journey. For show notes, including referenced articles and additional resources, please visit hubermanlab.com. Thank you to our sponsors AG1: https://drinkag1.com/huberman Eight Sleep: https://eightsleep.com/huberman  ROKA: https://roka.com/huberman  BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/huberman  InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/huberman Momentous: https://livemomentous.com/huberman Timestamps (00:00:00) Dr. E.J. Chichilnisky (00:02:31) Sponsors: Eight Sleep, ROKA & BetterHelp (00:06:06) Vision & Brain; Retina (00:11:23) Retina & Visual Processing (00:18:37) Vision in Humans & Other Animals, Color (00:23:01) Studying the Human Retina (00:29:48) Sponsor: AG1 (00:31:16) Cell Types (00:36:00) Determining Cell Function in Retina (00:43:39) Retinal Cell Types & Stimuli (00:49:27) Retinal Prostheses, Implants (01:00:25) Artificial Retina, Augmenting Vision (01:06:05) Sponsor: InsideTracker (01:07:12) Neuroengineering, Neuroaugmentation & Specificity (01:17:01) Building a Smart Device, AI (01:20:02) Neural Prosthesis, Paralysis; Specificity (01:25:21) Neurodegeneration; Adult Neuroplasticity; Implant Specificity (01:34:00) Career Journey, Music & Dance, Neuroscience  (01:42:55) Self-Understanding, Coffee; Self-Love, Meditation & Yoga (01:47:50) Body Signals & Decisions; Beauty (01:57:49) Zero-Cost Support, Spotify & Apple Reviews, Sponsors, YouTube Feedback, Momentous, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter Disclaimer

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Huberman Lab discusses neuroscience — how our brain and its connections with the organs of our body control our perceptions, our behaviors, and our health. We also discuss existing and emerging tools for measuring and changing how our nervous system works. Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and tenured professor in the department of neurobiology, and by courtesy, psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford School of Medicine. He has made numerous significant contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function and neural plasticity, which is the ability of our nervous system to rewire and learn new behaviors, skills and cognitive functioning.  Huberman is a McKnight Foundation and Pew Foundation Fellow and was awarded the Cogan Award, given to the scientist making the most significant discoveries in the study of vision, in 2017. His lab’s most recent work focuses on the influence of vision and respiration on human performance and brain states such as fear and courage. He also works on neural regeneration and directs a clinical trial to promote visual restoration in diseases that cause blindness. Huberman is also actively involved in developing tools now in use by the elite military in the U.S. and Canada, athletes, and technology industries to optimize performance in high stress environments, enhance neural plasticity, mitigate stress and optimize sleep.   Work from the Huberman Laboratory at Stanford School of Medicine has been published in top journals including Nature, Science and Cell and has been featured in TIME, BBC, Scientific American, Discover and other top media outlets.  In 2021, Dr. Huberman launched the Huberman Lab podcast. The podcast is frequently ranked in the top 5 of all podcasts globally and is often ranked #1 in the categories of Science, Education, and Health & Fitness.