Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks | Neuroplasticity and Epigenetics

We kick off a short series on the mindset shifts we've spent the last three years actually trying to live, starting with two ideas that quietly rewired how we think about ourselves: your brain isn't done changing at 25, and your genes aren't the fixed hand you were dealt. We also get into two more fringe ideas we've found genuinely compelling: a DNA experiment involving photons and a water crystal study. Along the way: a gratitude practice that actually works, and how Cara talks herself out of a body-image spiral.

What You'll Hear in This Episode:

• Why "your brain is fully developed by 25" turned out to be wrong, and what neuroplasticity actually means
• The mouse study that changed how scientists think about genes: it's not just what you inherit, it's what gets switched on
• Why beating yourself up for falling off a new habit undoes more progress than the slip itself
• Two fringe science ideas we find genuinely compelling: a DNA-photon experiment and a water crystal study
• The placebo effect, and a real surgery study where sham operations worked as well as the real thing
• A simple gratitude practice, and why "realists" might just be pessimists with better branding
• How to start rewriting the story you tell yourself about your own body

Series links:

• E15: The One Thing You Can't Stop
• E17: The Story Isn't Finished Yet
• E18: Love Yourself First

Resources and Mentions:

• Adult neuroplasticity / hippocampal neurogenesis: Eriksson et al., "Neurogenesis in the adult human hippocampus," Nature Medicine, 1998. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9809557/
• The maternal care and gene expression study: Weaver et al., "Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior," Nature Neuroscience, 2004. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15220929/
• The placebo surgery study: Moseley et al., "A Controlled Trial of Arthroscopic Surgery for Osteoarthritis of the Knee," New England Journal of Medicine, 2002. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa013259
• The DNA phantom effect: Gariaev & Poponin's original writeup. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281411802_Investigation_of_the_fluctuation_dynamics_of_DNA_solutions_by_laser_correlation_spectroscopy
• The water crystal study: Masaru Emoto background. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335909571_The_experiments_of_Masaru_Emoto_with_emotional_imprinting_of_water
• Limitless by Jim Kwik (book recommendation)

If this is the episode that got you somewhere... we'd love to have you go deeper with us. The Reinvention Project is where we take this exact kind of conversation further, together, with real people, one step at a time. There's a free class, a weekly Circle, or if you'd rather just talk it through one-on-one, that's here too. Come see what's there: kerouacscruising.com/reinvention

You're always welcome at our campfire. Find the blog, the video, socials, Ko-fi, and how to reach us, all linked 🩷💚