Curious by Nature

What if your body is quietly guiding your food choices in ways you don’t even realize?
Jeff Brunstrom is a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Bristol, where he studies how our brains, behavior, and environment shape the way we eat.
His research suggests that we’re not just passively consuming food, we may have “nutritional intelligence,” where our bodies push us toward certain foods to meet our needs. But in today’s world of ultra-processed meals, that system can be disrupted, leading us to eat more without realizing why.

Why is brain cancer so hard to treat, and what if the brain itself is helping it spread? 
Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive cancers, not because it forms a single tumor, but because it spreads like invisible threads throughout the brain, making it nearly impossible to remove completely. 
Dr. Sheila Singh is a Professor of Neuro-Oncology and Neurosurgery at King’s College London, Co-Head of the School of Cancer (with Pharmaceutical Sciences), and Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center, while also serving as a part-time Professor of Surgery and Biochemistry at McMaster University. Her research uncovers how brain cells may actually be helping cancer grow and spread, and how existing drugs could be repurposed to stop it.

Every year, researchers publish discoveries that could improve our lives, from health to technology to public policy. But much of that work never reaches the people who could benefit from it. It stays behind paywalls, written in technical language, and shared mostly within academic circles.
Dr. Quan Xie is an associate professor of digital advertising at Southern Methodist University. Her research explores how scholars can better share their work using storytelling, digital platforms, and tools like AI to bring research beyond the journal and into the real world.

How do you know if you have a genetic condition that increases your risk of certain types of cancer? 
For people with inherited conditions like Lynch syndrome, the risk of cancer is much higher, yet most don’t even know they have it. 
Dr. Eduardo Vilar-Sanchez is a physician-scientist at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, working on new ways to stop cancer early, including a vaccine designed to train the immune system to recognize and fight it.

Newswise’s Jessica Johnson shares highlights from a recent trip visiting communications teams and researchers across universities in the southeastern United States.
Below are some of the research stories featured in this episode.
ARPA-H PRINT Program Supports WFIRM-Led Award to Create on-Demand, Bioprinted Kidneys, Published by Wake Forest University
How Studying Yeast in the Gut Could Lead to Better Drugs, Published by North Carolina State University
How health risk communication best practices can improve community flood risk communication, Published by RTI International
Healthy habits can make your brain age more slowly, study finds, Published by University of Florida
New FAU Research Strengthens Evidence Linking Alcohol Use to Cancer, Published by Florida Atlantic University
Efficacy of Service Dogs with Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Community Reintegration, Published by Nova Southeastern University
The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Selected as U.S. Site for Neuralink Clinical Trial, Published by University of Miami – Miller School of Medicine
New Study Could Show How TikTok’s Algorithm Affects Youth Mental Health, Published by Georgia Tech