{"podcast":{"title":"Fork U with Dr. Terry Simpson","slug":"fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256","podcast_index_feed_id":940256,"rss_url":"https://feeds.captivate.fm/forku/","website_url":"https://www.forku.com","image_url":"https://artwork.captivate.fm/788b2349-48f2-498b-af8c-3fc9e102deaa/FU-2026-1.png","author":"Terry Simpson","episode_count":135,"summary":"Fork U(niversity) Not everything you put in your mouth is good for you. There’s a lot of medical information thrown around out there. How are you to know what information you can trust, and what’s just plain old quackery? You can’t rely on your own “google fu”. You can’t count on quality medical advice from Facebook. You need a doctor in your corner. On each episode of Your Doctor’s Orders, Dr. Terry Simpson will cut through the clutter and noise that always seems to follow the latest medical news. He has the unique perspective of a surgeon who has spent years doing molecular virology research and as a skeptic with academic credentials. He’ll help you develop the critical thinking skills so you can recognize evidence-based medicine, busting myths along the way. The most common medical myths are often disguised as seemingly harmless “food as medicine”. By offering their own brand of medicine via foods, These hucksters are trying to practice medicine without a license. And though they’ll claim “nutrition is not taught in medical schools”, it turns out that’s a myth too. In fact, there’s an entire medical subspecialty called Culinary Medicine, and Dr. Simpson is certified as a Culina…","last_synced_at":"2026-06-19T16:19:44.473681+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256"},"episode":{"title":"Telomeres and Time: Rewind Aging","slug":"telomeres-and-time-rewind-aging","published_at":"2025-11-27T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256/telomeres-and-time-rewind-aging","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256","url":"https://forku.com/episode/telomeres-and-time-rewind-aging","audio_url":"https://op3.dev/e/episodes.captivate.fm/episode/a798e714-9d54-46e7-b163-d76d47df9d9e.mp3","summary":"🧬 Telomeres and Time: Can We Really Rewind Aging? The Lowest Hemoglobin I’ve Ever Seen The lowest hemoglobin I’ve ever seen belonged to a young woman who was still standing. Her blood count was one-fourth of normal. She was pale, short of breath, and strong enough to walk into the clinic. Doctors soon learned her bone marrow had stopped making new blood cells. The diagnosis was aplastic anemia — a true telomere disease. She survived thanks to her fitness, modern science, and a bone marrow transplant from a generous donor in Germany. Two years later, she’s in law school, healthy, and full of life. What Are Telomeres? Each cell in your body carries chromosomes — long strands of DNA. At the ends of those chromosomes sit telomeres , tiny caps that keep the DNA from unraveling, like plastic tips on shoelaces. Every time a cell divides, its telomeres shorten a little. When they get too short, the cell can no longer divide. Scientists call that stage cellular senescence — cellular retirement. In 2009, researchers Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider won the Nobel Prize for discovering telomerase , an enzyme that can rebuild telomeres. Their discovery sparked dreams of reversing aging. But there’s a catch: cancer cells also use telomerase to live forever. Turning that enzyme on everywhere might turn back time — or turn on tumors. Why Everyone Talks About Telomeres Telomeres became the poster child for longevity marketing. Social media ads promise to “measure your biological age.” Supplement companies claim to “lengthen your telomeres” for hundreds of dollars a bottle. The problem? Telomere tests vary between labs. Results can change by 20 percent depending on the method. They show trends, not destiny. What’s Being Studied Real scientists are studying how telomeres behave unde…","meta_description":"🧬 Telomeres and Time: Can We Really Rewind Aging? The Lowest Hemoglobin I’ve Ever Seen The lowest hemoglobin I’ve ever seen belonged to a young woman who…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":625,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256/episodes/telomeres-and-time-rewind-aging/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/fork-u-with-dr-terry-simpson-940256/telomeres-and-time-rewind-aging.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}