Brave New World

For Episode Eight, Evgeny is joined by Carl Pei, founder and CEO of Nothing, the London-based consumer tech company trying to make devices feel fun.
Carl explains how Nothing evolved from earbuds to smartphones, why he believes design and “focus-first” features can counter distraction, and what it means to build products with a distinct, instantly recognisable identity.

Evgeny and Carl also explore the psychological cost of always-on devices, the battle for attention and consciousness, and what it might mean to build technology that helps people stay intentional. The episode ends on a wider view of the AI era: enormous promise for medicine and science, but serious unanswered questions about jobs, governance, and whether society is ready for what comes next.

This episode was produced by Message Heard and The Standard.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this episode of Brave New World, Evgeny is joined by Dr Sabine Donnai, a physician specialising in precision medicine, preventive health and the founder of Viavi Healthcare. Together, they explore brain health beyond standard scans, discussing how gut function, inflammation, environmental exposure, and stress interact over time.

Drawing on Evgeny’s own test results, Sabine uses her trademark pragmatism to explain why she believes long-term cognitive resilience starts with fixing the basics - particularly the gut – and gives the listener some touchstone takeaways to improve their daily health. For anyone interested in practical measures you can install in your day-to-day, this episode is for you.

This episode was produced by Message Heard and The Standard.

Producer: Florence de Schlichting
Production Coordinator: James Cox
Production Manager: Kirsty McLean
Video Editor: Nani Wenani

The London Standard team:

Joe Bromley
Will Rogers-Coltman
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this episode of Brave New World, Evgeny is joined by psychologist, author, and researcher Dr Jim Fadiman, a central figure in the modern understanding of psychedelics, who also goes by the “father of microdosing”.

Drawing on decades of research and thousands of user reports, the conversation traces the history of psychedelics - from early scientific study in the 1950s and 60s, through prohibition, to today’s renewed interest in clinical and psychiatric settings. Jim discusses why most formal research has focused on high doses, how observational reports have shaped microdosing research, where evidence is strongest and still emerging.

Evgeny and Jim look ahead to the future of psychedelics in medicine, the balance between scientific caution and public interest, and what a first step might look like for someone curious but sceptical.

This episode was produced by Message Heard and The Standard.

Producer: Florence de Schlichting
Production Coordinator: James Cox
Production Manager: Kirsty McLean
Video Editor: Nani Wenani

The Standard team:

Joe Bromley
Will Rogers-Coltman

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Did you ever think you’d live to see woolly mammoths return? For Episode Five of Brave New World, Evgeny is joined by Ben Lamm, CEO and co-founder of the most forward thinking de-extinction company on the planet, Colossal Biosciences.

Since Ben co-founded the Austin based biotech start-up with legendary geneticist George Church in 2021, Colossal has consistently made headlines with their Jurassic Park-esque breakthroughs. In this conversation, Ben goes into the science behind “bringing back” an extinct species, how sci-fi and speculative fiction has inspired Colossal’s work, and the incredible implications de-extinction could have for conservation and the planet.

This episode was produced by Message Heard and The Standard.

Producer: Florence de Schlichting
Production Coordinator: James Cox
Production Manager: Kirsty McLean
Video Editor: Nani Wenani

The Standard team:

Joe Bromley
Will Rogers-Coltman
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Episode Four, Evgeny is joined by human biologist, longevity science monolith and founder of The Ultimate Human, Gary Brecka. Together, they explore why so many people feel stuck at a “six out of ten,” what Gary believes to be the cause of fatigue, brain fog, poor sleep, soreness, low mood, and why poor exercise recovery is often driven by nutrient deficiencies.

Gary shares his unconventional background as a mortality expert in life insurance, where he used massive datasets to predict lifespan with extreme accuracy. In the conversation, he challenges modern medicine’s tendency to label many chronic conditions as “familial” or “idiopathic” and details how to treat the most common gene mutation in the world, which is also Gary's bêtes noire: MHTF.

We’d like to thank The Ultimate Human for providing the video clips featured in this episode.

This episode was produced by Message Heard and The Standard.

Producer: Florence de Schlichting
Production Coordinator: James Cox
Production Manager: Kirsty McLean
Video Editor: Nani Wenani

The Standard team:
Joe Bromley
Will Rogers-Coltman

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.