Andrew Huberman

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Guest and host credentials

Andrew Huberman introduces Dr. Jared Rutter as a professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah, an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and one of the world's top experts in the biology of mitochondria and metabolism. Huberman also states that he is a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

none stated

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Huberman recommends replenishing the gut microbiome after antibiotics, e.g., with yogurt

Andrew Huberman suggests that if you take antibiotics, you need to replenish the gut microbiome — for example by eating yogurt.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Recommendation from Andrew Huberman

offered as a general suggestion

Report · Mind

Melatonin is the hormone of nighttime that makes us sleepy

Andrew Huberman describes melatonin as a hormone of nighttime that makes us sleepy.

Andrew Huberman · Essentials: Use Sleep to Enhance Learning, Memory & Emotional State | Dr. Gina Poe

Claim from Andrew Huberman

Creator perspective · Fuel

Whole-body metabolism is the sum of individual cellular resource allocation decisions

Andrew Huberman states that the body's overall metabolism is the sum total of all these individual cellular resource allocation decisions.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

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Most people think of metabolism only as calories in, calories out

Andrew Huberman observes that most people hear the word metabolism and think of calories in, calories out, and of mitochondria as the powerhouse of the cell — a framing the episode goes on to complicate.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

none stated

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Viruses hijack cell genomes, killing cells or co-opting animal behavior to propagate

Andrew Huberman offers the example that viruses hijack the genomes of cells and either kill those cells or keep them alive to propagate through the behavior of an animal, such as a rabies virus making an animal aggressive so that it bites.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

none stated

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Photoreceptors fire action potentials essentially constantly, and mitochondria drive ATP production in every cell

Andrew Huberman describes that photoreceptors in the eye fire action potentials essentially constantly — eyes closed, they're firing; eyes open, they're more or less firing — and that in every one of these cells, mitochondria are the ones that essentially drive ATP production.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

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Lumber analogy: pyruvate is either burned for energy or used to build

Andrew Huberman offers the lumber analogy: arriving food (pyruvate) is like lumber you can either use to build more house (biomass) or burn for heat energy (ATP). He adds a condition where you may need to burn some lumber for heat energy to keep the construction project going.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

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Why children have abundant energy while older adults do not remains an open question

Andrew Huberman recounts that Jared Rutter's postdoc advisor would ask basic questions no one else on their halls at Stanford could answer, such as why a kid has so much energy and older people don't — illustrating that the energy-production level of this question remains unresolved.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

anecdote framing an open question

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Tasmanian devil cancer transmission idea; mechanism might be viral or bacterial

Andrew Huberman recounts there was an idea that Tasmanian devils transmit cancers to one another through fighting, with wound-induced propagation of cancers at wound sites. Dr. Jared Rutter responds that the mechanism of cancer transmission in Tasmanian devils might be viral or bacterial, but that is outside his expertise.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

hedged

Report · Mind

Waking from different sleep states: sleep inertia and REM waking

Andrew Huberman recommends, if possible, completing one full 90-minute sleep cycle prior to waking up; waking halfway through a late-night cycle leads to grogginess called sleep inertia. Waking up out of the wrong sleep state causes groggy waking patterns known as sleep inertia. He likens the 90-minute sleep cycle to a washing machine cycle: you wouldn't wear clothes while they're soaking wet and full of soap, so wait until the cycle completes before functioning. He advises setting your alarm to allow a full 90-minute sleep cycle to complete before waking. Dr. Gina Poe adds that waking up out of REM sleep usually presents no cognitive problem.

Andrew Huberman · Essentials: Use Sleep to Enhance Learning, Memory & Emotional State | Dr. Gina Poe

Claim from Andrew Huberman

Recommendation · Mind

Sip fluids slowly for the last beverage of the day to reduce night waking

Andrew Huberman explains that the impulse to urinate at night is dictated partly by how quickly you drink fluid, not just total volume, so sipping fluids slowly for the last beverage of the day helps reduce middle-of-the-night waking. He tried drinking less fluid before going to sleep and has committed to sipping his last beverage of the day slowly as a personal practice that seems to help.

Andrew Huberman · Essentials: Use Sleep to Enhance Learning, Memory & Emotional State | Dr. Gina Poe

Recommendation from Andrew Huberman

anecdotal — Huberman's personal experience, not established evidence

Creator perspective · Fuel

Hormonal signal size carries information — insulin is more than a shuttle

Andrew Huberman argues that insulin should be understood not just as a shuttle but as a signal whose size carries information about what's likely to be available. The size of a hormonal signal sets a stage for what happens next in the cell — it says more than just a binary state. He notes most people think of insulin as a shuttle and believe you want to be insulin sensitive, with cells recognizing the insulin signal, and illustrates dynamic hormone fluctuations with cortisol rising with stress and melatonin rising with sleepiness.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

hedged

Recommendation · Mind

Sip fluids slowly for the last beverage of the day to reduce night waking

Sip fluids slowly for the last beverage of the day rather than drinking quickly, to reduce middle-of-the-night urination (self-reported by Huberman).

Andrew Huberman · Essentials: Use Sleep to Enhance Learning, Memory & Emotional State | Dr. Gina Poe

Recommendation from Andrew Huberman

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Cancer cells as greedy: glucose-hungry, turnover gone awry, and potentially self-defeating

Andrew Huberman offers that cancer cells can be thought of as greedy: they take glucose, make more of themselves, and represent cell turnover gone awry. He notes a tumor that grows big, encroaches on other tissues, and metastasizes kills the host — which is not a great strategy from the perspective of the tumor's long-term outcome.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

hedged

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From sandwich to pyruvate: roughly seven steps, and glycolysis has many branches

Andrew Huberman recounts that a sandwich goes in the mouth, into the gut, gets absorbed, and we get glucose — roughly seven steps from sandwich to the pyruvate decision point. Dr. Jared Rutter adds that the glycolysis pathway is like the subway map of New York — there are many branches going all over the place that can be ignored to focus on the main path.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

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Viruses show adaptive behavior: herpes spares neurons, rabies triggers biting, though viruses don't 'know'

Andrew Huberman describes that herpes viruses such as HSV-1 live on neurons without killing the neuron — convenient for the virus, since killing the neuron would kill the virus too. He notes viruses display an impressive level of quote-unquote adaptive behavior and intelligence, such as staying alive while keeping the host alive to enable transmission, and that rabies impacts areas of the brain that trigger aggression that trigger biting — the easiest example of viral manipulation of host behavior. He cautions that viruses probably do not know they are manipulating host behavior, since they are not brains.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

hedged

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Cancer treatment is moving toward personalized cures rather than a single miracle drug

Cancer treatment is moving toward personalized cures for the individual's specific cancer rather than a single miracle drug; Huberman says he is encouraged by this direction.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

described

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The 'humans as microbiota shuttles' hypothesis

Under a purely biological model, humans are just shuttles for the microbiota: everything people think is about them — building electric cars, holding debates and protests, sending kids to school — may actually be the microbiota hijacking the process to spread themselves. Every time two people shake hands they exchange microbiomes, and people sharing air and skin also share microbiota. Rutter notes he cannot provide concrete proof that this is not true and finds the idea fascinating and eerie. He also observes that people do not like to think of themselves as anything other than the pinnacle of evolution and the reason for everything. Huberman learned about the gut microbiome from his colleague Justin Sonnenberg.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

Explicitly hypothetical; Rutter states he cannot prove it false

Principle · Fuel

Historical inertia is the worst reason to keep doing something

Much of how medicine and science operate is due to historical inertia — 'we've always done it that way' — which Huberman calls a phrase everyone should hate and the worst reason to do anything unless it is working spectacularly well.

Andrew Huberman · How Mitochondria Control Your Metabolism | Dr. Jared Rutter

Claim from Andrew Huberman

endorsed