Your Brain Might Be Lying. The Scientific Explanation for Cellular Memory, Why Universal Intelligence Can Be Found In Nature and How Past Memory Is Actually Changeable | Dr. Nikolay Kukushkin

Mayim Bialik's Breakdown

Mayim Bialik

Comedy, Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 25 November 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Are Your Memories Lying to You? Neuroscientist Dr. Nikolay Kukushkin—NYU clinical associate professor, research fellow, and author of One Hand Clapping—joins Mayim Bialik's Breakdown to BREAK OPEN everything we thought we knew about memory, consciousness, evolution, and the future of humanity. Dr. Kukushkin might be the first to scientifically prove that “the body keeps the score," and he's here to share his groundbreaking research revealing that every cell in the body may have the potential to store memory. What this means for trauma, healing, and everyday life will blow your mind! We explore how human memory evolved, why we remember the way we do, and the hidden purpose memory plays in meaning-making, identity, and human experience. You’ll learn how memory is stored, changed, and distorted, why memory is NOT reality, what makes the human experience truly special, and what sea slugs can teach us about being human. We also discuss whether it’s more accurate (or useful) to view reality through a materialist vs spiritual lens, how natural selection is far more creative and intelligent than we ever imagined, and whether Artificial Intelligence is humanity’s evolutionary path. Dr. Kukushkin reveals what we've been getting wrong about dopamine: its real evolutionary purpose, how to harness this new science to boost motivation, productivity, and well-being, and why social media “dopamine hits” are so addictive - and so damaging. Dr. Kukushkin also breaks down: - Overlooked implications of being a carbon-based species - Sinister effects of sleep deprivation - Can the human brain ever reach its memory capacity? - What happens when we’re downloading too much information from our environment - What happens when we outsource our language abilities to technology? - What are the consequences of forming human-like emotional connections with chatbots? - Is there hope that we will return to using our brain’s full cognitive power? PLUS...the spiritual experiences technology can never replicate, and why real life will always give us what machines can’t! If you care about human potential, the future of consciousness, or understanding the truth about your own mind, this is the episode of MBB you CANNOT miss. Dr. Nikolay Kukushkin’s book, One Hand Clapping: Unraveling the Mystery of the Human Mind: https://www.nikolaykukushkin.com/press-1 Subscribe on Substack for Ad-Free Episodes & Bonus Content: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bialikbreakdown.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BialikBreakdown.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube.com/mayimbialik⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	We think of evolution as canceling God. God was creative and God's infinite imagination.
0:07.1	Darwin didn't cancel creativity. Darwin magnified it. He injected it into every part of the natural world.
0:14.1	It's the ocean that decides that seals need to be gray and their skin needs to be smooth.
0:20.4	That is the pattern of the world that shapes biological reality.
0:24.5	That's true for any cell.
0:25.8	We've shown that kidney cells grown in a petri dish, also form memories,
0:29.5	and they use the same tools, the same molecules, the same genes as brain cells do.
0:34.6	Did you just prove that the body keeps the score?
0:43.3	Dr. Nikolai Kukushkin is a Harvard and Oxford-trained neuroscientist specializing in cell biology and memory processing.
0:46.3	His description of our existence will change the way you look at the world forever.
0:52.3	We tend to think of memory as the snapshot of reality,
0:56.1	but memory is not a reflection of reality.
0:58.4	You are creating your own impression of what you experienced,
1:02.0	and you're storing that impression, changing the brain for the future.
1:06.0	That's nuts.
1:07.4	But humans need a very, very deep level,
1:10.0	belonging to something that's bigger than you.
1:12.0	We know enough to make an origin story that would give our life meaning.
1:17.1	Those patterns of the world unfolding through our consciousness.
1:21.6	You're speaking to an intelligence across every aspect of life.
1:26.9	That gives your life meaning.
1:29.3	Mimebiall's breakdown was supported by MintMobil.
	...

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