Big Think
@bigthink·8.8M subscribers·10.1K videos
How to Encourage The Evolution of Your Brain, with Rudolph Tanzi | Big Think
Posted
November 21, 2015
Views
84,934
Likes
3,315
Comments
468
Engagement
4.45%
November 21, 2015
84,934
3,315
468
4.45%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
7:05Now PlayingHow to Encourage The Evolution of Your Brain, with Rudolph Tanzi
Watch the newest video from Big Think
Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We live in our emotions, explains renowned medical researcher Dr. Rudolph Tanzi. Our emotions and overall outlook on life correspond to different parts of the brain. How you decide to approach your life determines which parts of your brain become activated. If you allow fear and worry to rule you, the brain stem is exercised. If you embrace things like creativity, empathy, and community, you activate the frontal cortex. These decisions — the choices you make in how you want to life — have a direct effect on your genetic activity. That's why positive thinking might be the best gift you can give to your genetic dependents.
Dr. Tanzi, a Professor of Neurology at Harvard, is co-author of the new book Super Genes: Harnessing the Vast Potential of Your Genome for Optimum Health and Well-Being.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RUDOLPH TANZI:
Dr. Rudolph Tanzi is the Joseph P. and Rose F. Kennedy Professor of Neurology at Harvard University, and Director of the Genetics and Aging Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Tanzi has been investigating the molecular and genetic basis of neurological disease since 1980, when he participated in the pioneering study that led to location of the Huntington's disease gene, the first disease gene to be found by genetic linkage analysis. Since 1982, Dr. Tanzi has investigated the genetic causes of Alzheimer's disease (AD). He co-discovered all three genes that cause early-onset familial AD, including the first familial AD gene, known as the amyloid β-protein (A4) precursor (APP), and the presenilin genes. In 1993, Dr. Tanzi discovered the gene responsible for the neurological disorder known as Wilson's disease, and over the past 25 years, he has collaborated on studies identifying several other disease genes including those causing neurofibromatosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and autism.
Dr. Tanzi currently spearheads the Alzheimer’s Genome Project, which identified several other AD gene including CD33, which plays a role in modulating neuroinflammation in AD. This achievement was named one of the “Top Ten Medical Breakthroughs of 2008” by Time Magazine. In 1994, Dr. Tanzi discovered that the metals, zinc and copper are necessary for the formation of neurotoxic assemblies of the Aβ peptide, the main component of β-amyloid deposits in brains of AD patients. Based on this discovery, Dr. Tanzi developed the “Metal hypothesis of Alzheimer’s disease”, which has led to clinical trials for treating and preventing AD by targeting Aβ−metal interactions (Prana Biotechnology, LTD; co-founder). Dr. Tanzi is also developing a potent class of gamma secretase modulators for preventing and treating AD as well as therapies aimed at targeting the genes, CD33 and TREM2, to curb neuroinflammation in AD. In 2014, Dr. Tanzi, Dr. Se Hoon Choi, and Dr. Doo-Yeon Kim reported the first in vitro model recapitulating AD neuropathology and showing that beta-amyloid can induce neurofibrillary tangles using human stem cell-derived neural cultures grown in three-dimensional culture systems.
Dr. Tanzi is one of the ten most cited researchers in AD, having co-authored over 475 research articles. He is also listed by Thomson Reuter as one of the top 1% of researchers in the field of neuroscience. He is also a co-author the popular book “Decoding Darkness: The Search for the Genetic Causes of Alzheimer’s Disease,” the New York Times best seller, "Super Brain", and "Super Genes". Dr. Tanzi has received several awards for his work, including the two highest awards for Alzheimer’s disease research: The Metropolitan Life Foundation Award and The Potamkin Prize. He has also received the Reagan National Alzheimer’s Disease Research Award, an NIH MERIT Award, and the “Oneness of Humanity” Global Award, and the Rustum Roy Spirit Award. He is an AAAS Fellow and was included on the list of the “Harvard 100: Most Influential Alumni” of over 220,000 living alumni. In 2015 he was included on the TIME magazine list, “TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World”, and has been acknowledged by as one of the "World's Most Influential Scientific Minds”, 2014” by Reuters-Thompson, and named one of the "Top 20 Translational Scientists, 2013" by Nature Biotechnology. He received the 2015 Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award, the highest
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIPT:
Rudolph Tanzi: Emotion is so interesting. If you think about the evolution of emotions, you know, first there was 400 million years ago the brain...
Read the full transcript at
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
