I'm grateful for the opportunity to sit down with David Eagleman to spread optimism about the next steps in understanding brain and mental disorders. For a bolus of that excitement, start at 32:50, where David nails a summary of it (in 3.5 minutes). https://eagleman.com/podcast/what-do-brains-and-weather-systems-have-in-common-with-nicole-rust/ Those 3.5 min are exciting to me for two reasons. First, I'm a researcher who became pessimistic myself. It took me a few years (and writing a book) to work though it. Those 3.5 min are the product — an authentic north star that I can shape my research program around to channel the genius & opportunities of this era. For examples of that, this recent National Academy of Science workshop was a terrific peek at some of the incredible insights that are following from this way of thinking about the brain. Summary and videos, here: https://fabbs.org/news/2025/11/nasem-understanding-brainbody-interactions/. Second, we need terrific science communicators to explain what researchers are doing and why it matters. (While gratified by my own efforts), I'm humbled and inspired by David's ability to nail that in just 3.5 minutes.