This episode explores how electricity plays a vital role in the body, beyond current understanding, with potential future applications like enhancing brain function, healing wounds, regenerating limbs, combating cancer, and even reversing ageing. Science journalist Sally Adee, author of We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, joins to discuss these groundbreaking possibilities. Adee, a former editor at New Scientist, has also contributed to Yuval Noah Harari’s Homo Deus.

Key Points:

This podcast delves into the untapped potential of bioelectricity in transforming healthcare and biology, exploring its applications in brain stimulation, cancer treatments, and regenerative medicine. Featuring insights from Sally Adee, the discussion bridges history, current innovations, and future prospects.

• Bioelectricity Basics and Historical Perspectives: Sally Adee discusses how bioelectricity underpins cellular communication beyond the nervous system, emphasizing historical experiments and the dual skepticism and fascination surrounding its applications.
• Brain-Machine Interactions: Advances in brain-machine interfaces include decoding brain signals at speeds of 65 words per minute and attempts to "write" signals back to the brain, although significant technical and ethical challenges remain.
• Therapeutic and Cognitive Enhancements: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) shows potential for therapeutic uses such as treating depression and aiding stroke recovery, but consumer-grade devices lack the precision needed for consistent results.
• Cancer Treatment Innovations: Techniques like tumour-treating fields (TTFs) and room-temperature plasma utilize electrical properties to disrupt cancer cell division, showing promising results in glioblastoma and lung cancer treatments.
• Bioelectricity's Role in Regeneration and Identity: Bioelectric codes influence cell differentiation and regeneration, with experimental results showcasing the regrowth of tissues and even organoid developments, such as "two-headed" planarians.
• Future of Bioelectric Implants: Researchers are exploring biocompatible materials and bioelectric interfaces for implants, like proton transistors and glucose-powered batteries, to minimize rejection and improve longevity, paving the way for next-generation medical devices.