This episode is sponsored by Activia. I know we love fun facts and I know we love guts here. Your digestive track and mine too, made up of over 200 million neurons. People call your guts your second brain. There's so much going on down there. You're out there, you're having a lazy day maybe. Meanwhile, your guts are Grand Central Station. And what can you do for that city? Well, Activia is the number one probiotic yogurt brand. They're backed by 20 years of gut health research. You know me. I love gut health research. And they have explored this through over 15 clinical studies. Activia is not just a yogurt. It is decades of science and curiosity, all packed into something that you can eat. So if your brain is interested in your guts and vice versa,

activia might be for you. Let's feed our brains and our guts. Your gut is where it all begins.

So enjoy activia as part of your daily gut health routine. Enjoying activity twice a day for two weeks

as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive

discomfort, which includes gas, bloating,

rumbling, and abdominal discomfort, which you probably don't like, but you probably do like yogurt.

Oh, hey, it's the lady on the bus wearing mismatch socks, Allie Ward.

This is a special bonus episode of Ologies, wherein we travel deep, deep into the busy

world of your guts.

So in 2018, you may remember we had a legendary conversation with Dr. Elaine Schau,

a microbiome researcher at UCLA, and learned all about the hot cauldron of your guts

and who lives there and what they're doing for you around the clock.

And in this 2025 update bonus, we chat again with Dr. Schau to get some

updates on the last seven years of her research. It's a lot, a lot of good stuff. I was also

curious about cultured foods, and I was invited by Danone to see their brand new research facility

in France. But it was two days before your pod mother, Jarrett's 40th birthday. And alas, I could not teleport.

But I did the next best thing. And while I was on the East Coast this month, I got to hang out with a

lead nutritional microbiologist and a director of the nonprofit Danone Institute, North America,

and ask a million questions about good versus bad microbiota, how they simulate a human gut in a lab.

What exactly is a prebiotic versus a probiotic? And why are they such good friends? How diet can

impact not only your gut health, but also your heart and your brain. And if friendly yogurt

critters are robust enough to make the journey from your mouth to your toilet.

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