Huberman Lab

I never loved science as a kid.

During my pre- and post-secondary education, not one teacher explained science in a way that engaged my curiosity and got me excited. Yes, I left academia with a full appreciation of the scientific method and an understanding of the orderly progression of scientific understanding from hypothesis to experimentation to analysis to — if you’re lucky — a conclusion.

But it wasn’t my thing.

Until now.

A few months ago, I stumbled onto the Huberman Lab Podcast. The podcaster is a neuroscientist named Andrew Huberman who is a professor of neurology and ophthalmology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and he heads the Huberman Laboratory.

Huberman, an engaging and articulate 46-year-old, makes neuroscience more accessible to the general public.

The researcher takes information from peer-reviewed scientific studies in reputable journals and gives his listeners (and YouTube viewers) tools they can use to improve their brain function.

From Huberman, I’ve learned science-backed ways to learn faster and better, improve my sleep and ward off mental fatigue. He doesn’t just open the toolbox and hand out tools — he talks about the mechanisms that allow the tools to work. I’m now fascinated by such things as circadian rhythm, autonomic arousal, brain plasticity and a host of other topics.

Huberman was also a latecomer into the world of science. He says he didn’t take school seriously until after his first year of college. An encounter with a phenomenal professor kickstarted his fascination with neuroscience.

Now Huberman is passing that fascination on to the rest of us.

— Kathy Aney, photographer and reporter, East Oregonian