The Observable Unknown

Interlude XV – Inheritance in Motion: Phylogenetic Inertia, Epigenetic Writing, and the Future of Human Becoming

What if evolution is not a finished act, but an ongoing collaboration between ancestry and awareness?
In this interlude of The Observable Unknown, Dr. Juan Carlos Rey of crowscupboard.com explores the profound intersection between phylogenetic inertia - the evolutionary gravity that preserves our biological past - and epigenetic rewriting, the molecular poetry of adaptation that lets life edit its own script.
Through studies by Dr. Samuel Almeida, Dr. Michael Kertes, Dr. Jessica Loke, Dr. Steve Horvath, and Dr. Helena Verdile, this episode reveals how inheritance moves beyond genes: into chemistry, emotion, opportunity, and choice.
From prenatal stress shaping neural architecture to trauma accelerating biological age, Interlude XV examines how the genome is less a fixed code and more a living text - revised through experience, reflection, and resilience.
The question at its center is timeless:If life remembers itself through us, what might we, in turn, choose to remember for it?
 
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Interlude XIV - Epigenetic Neuroplasticity: Life Writing the Brain

What if memory is not only electrical - but molecular?
In this new interlude, Dr. Juan Carlos Rey explores how experience, stress, and nurture inscribe themselves directly into the genome of the brain. Through the pioneering studies of Michael Meaney and Moshe Szyf, we learn that the nervous system is not a fixed circuit but a living manuscript - continuously edited by love, fear, and time.
From the first experiments at McGill University in the early 2000s that revealed maternal care could alter gene methylation in the hippocampus, to the recent findings that environmental enrichment can rewrite those very marks, this episode unveils a profound idea:that the brain is not only remembering life - it is being written by it.
Join Dr. Rey in exploring how trauma leaves biochemical footprints, how healing may be an act of epigenetic revision, and how consciousness itself may be a story the genome keeps telling anew.
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Interlude XIII — Neuroimmunology: When the Brain Meets Immunity

What if emotion were an immune response?What if the dialogue between inflammation and thought shaped not only how we heal—but how we hope?
In this interlude, Dr. Juan Carlos Rey explores the emerging science of neuroimmunology, where the immune and nervous systems reveal themselves as co-authors of consciousness.Through the work of Ronald Duman (Yale University), Harry Male (University of Illinois), and Jonathan Kipnis (Washington University in St. Louis), we trace how cytokines, microglia, and lymphatic pathways sculpt mood, memory, and meaning.
From autoimmune melancholy to the “sickness behavior” that demands rest, this episode unveils the silent director behind cognition itself—showing that inflammation and illumination may be closer kin than we ever imagined.
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Mailbag Episode 1: Moral Witness & Collective Obedience

In this first listener-driven episode, I turn the conversation inward - answering a question from Tanya W (Portland, OR) about what it means to be a moral witness in a world that often rewards unseeing obedience. We invoke Hannah Arendt’s “banality of evil”, explore the tension between witnessing and complicity, and ask: how do we interrupt history’s momentum?
Join me as we reflect on conscience, attention, and the subtle art of refusing sleep in the face of cruelty.
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Dr. Juan Carlos Rey, Part 2

In this episode, Dr. Rey takes a second opportunity to answer more listener-submitted questions regarding himself and his role as host of "The Observable Unknown" Podcast.

Interlude XII - The Gut-Brain Axis: Microbiome as Mind

What if intuition… digestion… and belief were all part of the same conversation?
In this interlude, Dr. Juan Carlos Rey explores the growing science of the gut-brain axis - where trillions of microbes whisper through the vagus nerve to shape emotion, cognition, and even moral intuition.
Drawing on research from Emeran Mayer, Sarkis Mazmanian, John Cryan, and Ted Dinan, this journey reveals a hidden ecology of consciousness - where neurotransmitters, bacteria, and the human nervous system collaborate to compose what we call self.
Here, the Observable Unknown is not distant or abstract - it’s inside you.Alive, responsive, and evolving.
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Interlude XI - The Neurochemical Chorus: Drive, Desire, and the Irrational Animal

What if every thought, memory, and feeling were a chemical symphony? In this interlude, Dr. Juan Carlos Rey guides listeners through the molecular foundations of consciousness—how neurotransmitters like acetylcholine, dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and cortisol shape our choices, memories, and moods.
Drawing on Michael Hasselmo’s groundbreaking work on acetylcholine and memory, Hans Krebs’ discovery of the metabolic “Krebs cycle” powering every thought, and the research of scholars such as Wolfram Schultz, Kent Berridge, Robert Sapolsky, Paul Zak, Bruce McEwen, Robin Carhart-Harris, Roland Griffiths, and Gregory Bateson, this episode uncovers the hidden chemistry of our inner life.
It’s a journey into the observable unknown where molecules meet mystery—where the self is revealed as a living metabolism of wonder.
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Interlude X: Hormones, Hierarchy, and the Architecture of Desire

What if your most “rational” decisions were already scripted by your bloodstream?
In this interlude of The Observable Unknown, Dr. Juan Carlos Rey traces the hidden hormonal currents shaping risk, loyalty, ambition, and status. Drawing on the fieldwork of Robert Sapolsky among Kenyan baboons, Anna Dreber’s research on traders’ testosterone surges, Carsten de Dreu’s discoveries about oxytocin’s double edge, Wolfram Schultz’s dopamine experiments, and anthropological studies from Kristen Hawkes to David Hazlerigg, this episode reveals how biology and culture braid into one force.
Testosterone asserts, cortisol constrains, oxytocin binds, dopamine drives - together forming the unseen scaffolding of our choices. By the end, you’ll never look at “free will” the same way again.
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Dr. Shireen Fatemi

In this episode, I am joined by Dr. Shireen Fatemi, a distinguished endocrinologist whose vision of medicine extends far beyond lab values and prescriptions. Raised in a family that blended science with intuition, Dr. Fatemi brings a rare voice to the conversation about the body’s most mysterious messengers: our hormones.
Together, we explore how endocrinology illuminates not just physical health, but also mood, memory, and identity. From the impact of cortisol and circadian rhythm, to the cultural overreliance on medication, to the uncharted mysteries of the pineal gland, Dr. Fatemi challenges us to see the human being as both rational and hormonal - balanced, interwoven, and profoundly alive.
This is not just a medical conversation. It is a meditation on how hidden systems guide our choices, shape our stages of life, and even open questions of spirit and selfhood.

Interlude IX — The Unconscious Collective: Crowd Mind, Contagion, and Hidden Governance

What happens when individuality dissolves into the crowd? From Durkheim’s collective effervescence to Tarde’s contagion of imitation, from Canetti’s swarm psychology to Girard’s scapegoat mechanism, and from Zimbardo’s situational power to Arendt’s banality of evil, this interlude explores the hidden dynamics of group mind.
The observable unknown here is the collective itself: a force that shapes choice, obedience, and even violence, while remaining invisible to those within it.
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