If addiction is a disease of the brain, what does that mean for how we treat people—and how we write policy? In this wide-ranging conversation, Stanford addiction expert and policy advisor Keith Humphreys returns to the show to walk us through what neuroscience has taught us about substance use disorders and how that science intersects with law, public health, and politics.

From the biology of craving to the limits of autonomy, we explore the tension between compassion and accountability, and what truly effective treatment and prevention might look like.

Episode Highlights

• Why addiction isn’t just a moral failure—and how brain science explains drug-seeking behavior
• The biological pathways affected by opioids, alcohol, and stimulants—and why some drugs are harder to treat
• What makes some people more vulnerable to addiction than others
• Why effective addiction policy must account for impaired decision-making
• How policy can—and can’t—respond to the science
• The promise and limitations of brain stimulation, psychedelics, and medications like naloxone
• Why prevention—especially for teens—is key to long-term change
• What a more human, effective, and science-based future could look like

Resources & Links

• Learn more about Keith Humphreys
• Learn about the Stanford Network on Addiction Policy
• Read about the NeuroChoice Initiative at Stanford's Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute
• NIH resources on addiction science and treatment
• Read Humphreys' 2024 report on "The rise and fall of Pacific Northwest drug policy reform, 2020–2024" (Brookings Institution, 2024)
• Read about CARE Courts ( "New California Court for the Mentally Ill Tests a State’s Liberal Values", New York Times, 2024)
• Read Humphreys' 2025 Op-Ed: "Does harm reduction still have a future in San Francisco?" (SF Chronicle, 2025)
• Read a policy summary, "Blue states change course on mental health policies" (Axios, 2025)

We want to hear from your neurons! Email us at at neuronspodcast@stanford.edu

Send us a text!

Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience.

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A generation ago, a big clot in the brain meant paralysis or worse. Today, doctors can diagnose clots on AI-enabled brain scans; provide life-saving, targeted medications; or snake a catheter from a patient’s groin into the brain to vacuum out the clot. If they intervene in time, they can watch speech and movement return before the sedatives wear off. How did that happen—and what’s still missing?

In this episode of From Our Neurons to Yours, Stanford neuroscientist and neurocritical care specialist Marion Buckwalter, MD, PhD retraces the 70-year chain of curiosity-driven research—biochemistry, imaging, materials science, AI—behind today’s remarkable improvements in stroke care. She also warns what future breakthroughs are at stake if support for basic science stalls.

Learn More

Buckwalter Lab site

History of Stroke Care:

• Tissue Plasminogen Activator for Acute Ischemic Stroke (NINDS) On the development of the first-gen clot-busting drug, tPA
• Optimizing endovascular therapy for ischemic stroke (NINDS) On the development of mechanical clot clearance using thrombectomy.
• Mechanical Thrombectomy for Large Ischemic Stroke (Neurology, 2023) A literature meta-analysis shows that thrombectomy improves stroke outcomes by 2.5X, on top of 2X improvements from clot-busting drugs

The uncertain future of federal support for science

• The Gutting of America’s Medical Research: Here Is Every Canceled or Delayed N.I.H. Grant (New York Times, 2025)
• Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades (New York Times, 2025)

We want to hear from your neurons! Email us at at neuronspodcast@stanford.edu or...

Send us a text!

Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience.

Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

We've all heard stories about someone who went in for surgery and came out...different. A grandmother who struggled with names after hip replacement, or an uncle who seemed foggy for months following cardiac bypass. But why does this happen to some people while others bounce right back?

This week, we explore this question with Dr. Martin Angst, a professor of anesthesiology at Stanford who's studying the biological factors that determine cognitive outcomes after surgery. With support from the Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience, Martin and his team are following hundreds of cardiac surgery patients, tracking everything from blood biomarkers to cognitive performance both before and after their procedures.

Their findings are revealing fascinating insights about what makes some brains more resilient than others when faced with the significant stress of major surgery - insights that could help physicians better advise patients and potentially lead to interventions that enhance resilience.

Read More

• Under the Lights: What Surgery Reveals About Brain Resilience (Knight Initiative for Brain Resilience, 2025)
• Infusion of young donor plasma components in older patients modifies the immune and inflammatory response to surgical tissue injury: a randomized clinical trial (Journal of Translational Medicine, 2025)
• Blood test predicts recovery after hip-replacement surgery, study finds (Stanford Medicine, 2021)
• Can major surgery increase risk for Alzheimer's disease? (Stanford Medicine, 2021)
• Plasma Biomarkers of Tau and Neurodegeneration During Major Cardiac and Noncardiac Surgery (JAMA Neurology, 2021)

Episode Credits

This episode was produced by Michael Osborne at 14th Street Studios, with sound design by Morgan Honaker. Our logo is by Aimee Garza. The show is hosted by Nicholas Weiler at Stanford's Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute and supported in part by the Knight Iniative for Brain Resilience.

Get in touch

We want to hear from your neurons! Email us at at neuronspodcast@stanford.edu

Send us a text!

Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying our show, please take a moment to give us a review on your podcast app of choice and share this episode with your friends. That's how we grow as a show and bring the stories of the frontiers of neuroscience to a wider audience.

Learn more about the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute at Stanford and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.