Nicholas Weiler Ph.D. ’14, associate director for communications at the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, finds himself “transported into the conversation” whenever he listens to podcasts. As the host of “From Our Neurons to Yours,” a podcast with the Wu Tsai Institute, Weiler hopes to transport listeners into conversations about “the incredible work the brain does for us every day that we don’t even notice.”
A bimonthly podcast, “From Our Neurons to Yours” explores the frontiers of neuroscience by inviting members of the Stanford neuroscience community into one “acoustic space,” Weiler said.
“The brain is so central to all human endeavors,” he added. Accordingly, the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute has over 500 faculty affiliates across all seven Stanford schools, making the podcast a “criss-cross” of disciplines.
The podcast premiered in 2022 and launched a new season in March, which marked its 50th episode.
Each episode centers one core idea, such as the effects of one’s lived experiences on the brain or how technology can help researchers understand the brain’s complexities. Many episodes have a clinical focus, examining new treatments and understandings of brain disorders.
Weiler said he has always been fascinated by the idea of having “three pounds of matter in our skulls” that enable us to “dream, think, imagine, plan and talk.”
After his doctoral degree in neuroscience, Weiler was inspired to pursue science communication, sharing his conversations with researchers about the brain and consciousness with a wider audience.
Producer Michael Osborne Ph.D. ’14 believes the podcast succeeds because of a richly informative listening experience that attracts audiences.
“We want our audience to imagine life in the lab and, where relevant, in the clinic,” Osborne wrote to The Daily. “We are also very intentional about creating a designed soundscape, because we believe great audio excites the listener’s imagination.”
The team devotes substantial time to interview preparation, according to Osborne. “Once you have a clear vision for an episode everything else will usually fall into place,” he wrote. “The art of science storytelling is always to characterize, in plain language, the boundary of where knowledge meets uncertainty.”
Through preparation and editing, Weiler hopes each episode will be accessible to listeners. “You pick it up for 20 minutes, hear something fundamental about the brain, but don’t feel like you have to commit an hour or two hours to a really long conversation,” he said.
“Audio can carry a lot of freight, and we want our audience to feel smarter every time they listen,” Osborne wrote.
Osborne highlighted the value of Weiler’s background in neurosciences to summarize key points and advance the interview’s story “on the fly,” he added. “He earns and maintains the trust of both the audience as well as the scientists he’s interviewing.”
Assistant professor of psychology Laura Gwilliams — who was featured in a podcast episode with Weiler — wrote that she was amazed by Weiler’s understanding of her research. “He manages to keep the conversation flowing, it feels like quite a natural exchange,” Gwilliams added.
Moving into the new season, Weiler hopes to connect more with audiences, include new developments at the Institute and lengthen episodes.
As a producer, Osborne’s ideas on improving engagement include finding strategies for engaging with the audience so Weiler can “continue to take the pulse of our audience,” he wrote. “It’s the job of ‘From Our Neurons to Yours’ to anticipate and speak to their curiosity.”