AI Cancer Vaccines, Strange Fish, Ketamine, and Ancient Life (EP. 34)

Hosted by Lester Nare and Krishna Choudhary, this episode is a fast-moving science rundown covering four remarkable stories from across AI, genetics, neuroscience, and paleontology. We dig into the story of a machine learning engineer who used AI tools to help design a personalized cancer vaccine for his dog, explore how an all-female fish species has survived far longer than evolutionary theory would predict, unpack new brain-scan evidence for how ketamine may rapidly relieve severe depression, and look at new research suggesting life rebounded shockingly fast after the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

Summary

AI and personalized medicine — a striking case study in how AI tools may help accelerate highly customized treatments, starting with a rescue dog named Rosie.

Evolution gets weird — the Amazon molly fish appears to challenge the usual assumptions about why asexual reproduction should fail over long time scales.

Why ketamine works so fast — new PET imaging research points to brain-region-specific changes in AMPA receptors in treatment-resistant depression.

Life after catastrophe — microscopic plankton may have evolved into new species within just a few thousand years after the Chicxulub impact.

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Show Notes

AI-designed dog cancer vaccine story

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/mans-dog-riddled-tumors-dying-210500037.html?guccounter=1

Amazon molly / gene conversion paper

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10180-9

Ketamine / AMPA receptor PET imaging paper

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-026-03510-w

Post-asteroid plankton recovery paper

https://www.yokohama-cu.ac.jp/english/news/20260306takahashi.html