Explaining neuroscience in ongoing Instagram video series: A Q&A

At the beginning of the year, Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, PhD, pledged to post on Instagram one-minute educational videos about neuroscience for an entire year. Since a third of his regular followers come from Spanish-speaking countries, he posts them in both English and Spanish. We spoke soon after he launched the project. And now that half the year is over, I checked in with him about his New Year’s resolution.

How is your Instagram project going?

“It’s going great. I haven’t kept up with the frequency of posts that I initially set out to do, but it’s been relatively steady. The account has grown to about 13,500 followers and there is a lot of engagement. They ask great questions and the vast majority of comments indicate to me that people understand and appreciate the content. I’m really grateful for my followers. Everyone’s time is valuable and the fact that they comment and seem to enjoy the content is gratifying.”

What have you learned?

“The feedback informed me that 60 seconds of information is a lot for some people, especially if the topic requires new terms. That was surprising. So I have opted to do shorter 45-second videos and those get double or more views and reposts. I also have started posting images and videos of brains and such with ‘voice over’ content. It’s more work to produce, but people seem to like that more than the ‘professor talking’ videos.

I still get the ‘you need to blink more!’ comments, but fortunately that has tapered off. My Spanish is also getting better but I’m still not fluent. Neural plasticity takes time but I’ll get there.”

What is your favorite video so far?

“People naturally like the videos that provide something actionable for their health and well-being. The brief series on light and circadian rhythms was especially popular, as well as the one on how looking at the blue light from your cell phone in the middle of the night can potentially alter sleep and mood. I particularly enjoyed making that post since it combined vision science and mental health, which is one of my lab’s main focuses.”

What are you planning for the rest of the year?

“I’m kicking off some longer content through the Instagram TV format, which will allow people who want more in-depth information to get that. I’m also helping The Society for Neuroscience get their message out about their annual meeting. Other than that, I’m just going to keep grinding away at delivering what I think is interesting neuroscience to people that would otherwise not hear about it.”

Is it fun or an obligation at this point?

“There are days where other things take priority of course — research, teaching and caring for my bulldog Costello — but I have to do it anyway since I promised I’d post. However, it’s always fun once I get started. If only I could get Costello to fill in for me when I get busy…”



“The brain is just so amazing:” New Instagram video series explains neuroscience

Photo by Photo by Norbert von der Groeben

Many people make New Year’s resolutions to exercise more or eat healthier. Not Stanford neurobiology professor Andrew Huberman, PhD. This year he set out to educate the public about exciting discoveries in neuroscience using Instagram.

Huberman’s sights are high: he pledged to post on Instagram one-minute educational videos about neuroscience an average of five times per week for an entire year. I recently spoke with him to see how he’s doing on his resolution.

Why did you start the Instagram video series?

“Although I’m running a lab where we’re focused on making discoveries, I’ve also been communicating science to the general public for a while. I’ve found that there’s just immense interest in the brain — about diseases, what’s going on in neuroscience now, and how these discoveries might impact the audience. The brain is just so amazing, so the interest makes sense to me.

I don’t spend much time on social media, but Instagram seemed like an interesting venue for science communication because it’s mostly visual. My lab already had an Instagram account that we successfully used to recruit human subjects for our studies. So at the end of last year, I was talking with a friend about public service. I told him I was thinking about creating short, daily educational videos about neuroscience — a free, open resource that anyone can view and learn from. He and some other friends said they’d totally watch that. So I committed to it in a video post to 5000 people, and then there was no backing down.”

What topics do you cover?

“I cover a lot of topics. But I feel there are two neuroscience topics that will potentially impact the general public in many positive ways if they can understand the underlying biology: neuroplasticity — the brain’s ability to change— and stress regulation. My primary interest is in vision science, so I like to highlight how the visual system interacts with other systems.

I discuss the literature, dispel myths, touch on some of the interesting mysteries and describe some of the emerging tools and technologies. I talk a bit about my work but mostly about work from other labs. And I’m always careful not to promote any specific tools or practices.”

How popular are your videos?

 “We have grown to about 8,000 followers in the last six weeks and it’s getting more viewers worldwide. According to the stats from Instagram, about a third of my regular listeners are in Spanish-speaking countries. Some of these Spanish-speaking followers started requesting that I make the videos in Spanish so they could share them. Last week I started posting the videos in both English and Spanish and there’s been a great response. My Spanish is weak but it’s getting better, so I’m also out to prove neural plasticity is possible in adulthood. By the end of the year I plan to be fluent in Spanish.

I’ve also had requests to do it in French, German, Chinese and Dutch but I’m not planning to expand to additional languages yet. I think my pronunciation of those languages would be so bad that it would be painful for everybody.

Currently, my most popular video series is about the effects of light on wakefulness and sleep — such as how exposure to blue light from looking at your phone in the middle of the night might trigger a depression-like circuit. But my most popular videos include Julian, a high school kid that I mentor. People have started commenting #teamjulianscience, which is pretty amusing.”

What have you learned?

“It’s turned out to be a lot harder to explain things in 60 seconds than I initially thought. I have to really distill down ideas to their core elements. Many professors are notorious for going on and on about what they do, saying it in language that nobody can understand. My goal is to not be THAT professor.

I’ve also learned that I don’t blink. Sixty seconds goes by fast so I just dive in and rattle it off. After a couple of weeks, people started posting “you never blink!” — so now I insert blinks to get them to stop saying that.

I’ve also found the viewer comments and questions to be really interesting. They cue to me what the general public is confused about. But I’ve also found that many people have a really nuanced and deep curiosity about brain science. It’s been a real pleasure to see that.”


Virtual reality helps train emergency physicians

Photo by sasint

Imagine you are an emergency medicine resident, trying to focus on your patient with abdominal pain — asking about his medical history and symptoms as you give him a physical — but you keep getting interrupted. A technician stops by to hand you another patient’s EKG. A staff member asks about an order for pain medication for a different patient. And then you are called to see a psychiatric patient who is agitated. You return ready to focus and then an attending physician breaks in to redirect your attention to a new patient with a high heart rate.

All told, you’re interrupted 12 times during the patient exam. How can you possibly maintain your train of thought? How can you build trust with the patient, when all these disruptions are stressing him out?

The above narrative was inspired by the script of a new training simulation, which was filmed at Stanford’s emergency department as a virtual reality video.

This is a typical scenario faced by emergency physicians, who are interrupted on average every six minutes. These interruptions increase the likelihood of errors, so it is critical for emergency doctors to practice how to multitask in this fast-paced, high-risk and disruptive environment.

The script was written by Henry Curtis, MD, a Stanford clinical instructor in emergency medicine, and Cameron Mozayan, MD, a Stanford emergency medicine resident.

“A problem with many current learning modalities is that they don’t engage modern participants in an active, immersive learning environment, so it’s difficult to sustain their attention,” Curtis said. “Virtual reality-based education presents an innovative solution to address this problem. Distractions are minimized as the learner excitedly engages in the VR world. The perception of the experience also triggers strong memories, which connect them to the educational content. So participants allot their full attention as they contemplate important medical decisions.”

Over 30 health care educators and providers at the 2018 International Health Humanities Consortium Conference at Stanford tried the training simulation recently. While viewing, the participants were asked to choose which interruptions were more important than the patient-physician consultation. The participants then viewed the video again with expert pro and con discussions — interactively testing to see if the others’ viewpoints swayed their opinions on the importance of the interruptions.

“Training is more powerful if the participants are seeing it in 360 virtual reality and they are being engaged in an interactive experience,” Curtis told me.

Participants said the VR training realistically conveyed what it was like to work in an emergency department. One health care worker declared, “This experience makes me feel like I’m in the emergency department. I feel like I’ve seen all of these things happen at work.” Another said, “Sometimes emergency medicine feels like a warzone.” A third participant added, “I was feeling so tense in there with all of the interruptions.”

The users also provided insights. For instance, one person was struck by how often technology caused the interruptions.

Curtis worked with Jason Lowe, MD, and Anne Merritt, MD, members of Stanford’s medical humanities team and with Stanford’s Education Technology team to create the first video. Now, they are analyzing the data from the conference, and are planning a series of VR training simulations.

For his next project, Curtis is also working with Aussama Nassar, MD, to film a trauma simulation with an agitated patient who deteriorates into neurogenic shock after a bicycle accident.

Curtis said he hopes the virtual reality series will enhance the quality of the lessons learned during the training simulations, in addition to extending their reach to a larger audience. He added:

“VR education can be transported globally to allow learners across the world to immerse themselves in the intricacies of innumerable clinical encounters, as well as receive structured debriefing in the virtual world by renowned experts from Stanford University and the like.”



Photo by DomCarver


What motivated you to write novels?





How did you select which patient cases to include?


I keep them as realistic as I can. Sometimes you know the diagnosis immediately and other times it takes detective work. Sometimes you’re wrong because people aren’t textbooks and they don’t always follow the rules. I’ve put much effort into making all the science — medicine, geology and astronomy — as accurate as I can.

Why did you set your books in national parks?



How do you describe your books?


Are there similarities between writing and being a family physician?


Photo by DomCarver


New course highlights how surgeons can serve their communities

Photo courtesy of Jecca Steinberg

Stanford medical students Jecca Steinberg and Paloma Marin-Nevarez want to spread the word that service-minded medical students can care for underserved communities by specializing in surgery. With the help of their mentor James Lau, MD, they have created an upcoming seminar series for medical students called “Service Through Surgery,” which showcases how surgeons can address health inequities.


What inspired you to create the Service through Surgery seminar course?



What role can diversity play in overcoming health inequities?

Steinberg: “Low-income, minority communities continue to receive inadequate surgical services and bear unconscionable health burdens. Research has demonstrated that increasing diversity among physicians improves healthcare access and outcomes for traditionally disenfranchised communities, but surgery continues to trail behind other medical specialties in racial, socioeconomic and gender diversity. So the surgical workforce represents an underutilized resource for decreasing health inequities and improving the health of our communities.”


What causes surgery to be less diverse than other medical specialties?


Mentorship can make a huge difference in recruiting people into a field. For example, James Lau, MD, is an amazing mentor — he was the first person to make me believe that being the first surgeon in my family may be an attainable goal. Those who ‘make it’ without mentorship most likely had access to extra resources or had to work much harder than their counterparts, or both.”

How will your seminar course inspire change?




Educating the next generation of surgeons: A Q&A

Photo by Rachel Baker



Why is there a declining interest in surgical careers?



What do your students learn in SURG 205?



What other educational efforts are underway?








Photo by Shivam Verma




How can this enrich the everyday practice of science and medicine?





What are your career plans?

