LIVED EXPERIENCE
LINK TO FULL PODCAST EPISODE
This is the story of meeting Andrew Huberman for the first time, for a discussion on his podcast Huberman Lab. I had a blast. We talked mitochondria and health for over three hours.
On December 4, 2025, I settled into my seat and glanced out the window, ready to start the six-hour flight from New York City to Los Angeles.
As the plane’s engines came to life, I thought about how cool this is: one of the most popular science podcasts wants to talk about mitochondria. I was delighted to accept an invitation to meet Andrew Huberman and share my enthusiasm for these fascinating organelles.
The trip was just before the holidays too—it felt like a Christmas present.
I flew out with my parnter, Nirosha J. Murugan. We planned to visit our mitochondriac friend Orian Shirihai at UCLA while we were there.
On December 5, after spending the night at a hotel about 30 minutes away from Andrew’s studio, I went for a jog in the morning. The California sun was rising. It was already warm.
The moment felt pretty special. “I could live here,” I thought after I stopped to feel the energy resistance rising in my body, induced by a little interval coupled with nose-only breathing.
Following a lovely breakfast in the sun, we hopped in an Uber and headed to Malibu.
On the way, our driver shared his story of suffering from a traumatic brain injury. He was hospitalized for months after the injury. Even after being discharged, he was incapacitated—unable to work or do much at all—for years. Until he tried something we’ve been hearing about quite a bit.
Psychedelics. I think he mentioned LSD and psilocybin. He swears they helped him heal. The experience was therapeutic and helped him get his energy back.
“To get his energy back,” what does that even mean? Where does that come from? As scientists, we have to be curious about this.
I tell a few remarkable stories of healing like his in the upcoming ENERGY book.
Meeting Andrew’s Team
Speaking of curious, that’s a good descriptive for Andrew Huberman. He’s curious about everything science-related. About non-science-related things, too.
I think that’s what makes him so good at what he does. He’s able to inquire, to ask questions, and then come up with even more questions.
When we arrived at their studio, we met Rob Mohr, founder of Scicomm Media and producer of the Huberman Lab podcast. Rob explained how their team is creating content to help people live healthier lives.
Then Andrew arrived.
We sat in the sun, soaking up some infrared light while chatting about how science is changing. Things are changing. It’s a time of change. Not just for science, but in politics, and in our culture more generally.
“Why Now, Andrew?”
More and more people are interested in mitochondria. This has been my perspective as a mitochondrial scientist for over 15 years.
When I was a PhD student, there were only one or two mitochondrial conferences per year. Now, there are probably about 20!
And now, you don’t hear about mitochondria only in conference halls or in the corridors of university research departments, you hear and read about them everywhere on social media.
Even here, on Substack!
I asked Andrew why he thought there was such high enthusiasm for mitochondria now. What’s happening that made this the right time for us to talk about mitos on his podcast?
Their algorithm showed that people wanted to hear about mitochondria and energy, and this prompted their invitation in November. Since these are things I’m obsessed about, they thought having me on would be a good thing.
“Yes, people are interested,” he agreed. And mitochondria are a point of convergence. There are a bunch of things that were popular at one point or another in the health space. Like antioxidants, epigenetics, and inflammation.
Mitochondria, we both agreed, are a point of consilience. They are something in every one of our cells onto which several other mechanisms converge. There is biology behind the wave of interest in mitochondria that, I believe, makes this unlikely to be a fad.
“Now it’s mitochondria. And in 10 years it’s going to be mitochondria,” quipped Andrew.
There is a high probability he’s right about this.
Recording the Podcast
Sitting down at his iconic table felt a little surreal. His crew came over, positioned my cup exactly where it needed to be. They did a few sound checks while we chatted about life.
And off we went.
“What’s the deal?” he started, with his inquisitive energy.
Ha, we were off to a great start. Plunging immediately into a dialogue.
We chatted for about two and a half hours, until we both had to pee and fuel up. We took a break. Andrew had a shake, and I had a bowl of awesome peanuts-only peanut butter they had in the kitchen and a nice cup of tea.
Then we got back to it.
In the end, we chatted for about three and a half hours. I didn’t feel the time pass. It was awesome.
Here’s What People Liked
A few weeks later, Andrew’s team wrote to share the feedback from the community. They were happy with how the episode was received.
So far, it’s clocked over 382k views on YouTube, and there have been many more views and listens on Spotify and other platforms. It has been so wonderful to see people interested in this topic.
Here are the 10 segments Andrew’s team said were the most popular:
We’ll dive into some of these topics in more detail in future posts. However, if you’re looking for just one short clip with some ideas about what you can do to potentially support your mitochondria and improve your energy, I recommend watching the clip below.
The Comments that Moved Me Most
Andrew’s team also shared a summary of the comments from people who watched or listened to the episode. Some actually brought me to tears, making me feel that our work was oh so worth it.
Some of these comments reinforced something I have been led to believe more strongly in the past couple years: science has more to offer people than academic papers published for other academics.
Here are some of our favorite comments:
“I’m infected by Dr. Picard’s energy about energy. This is one of the most passionately engaging individuals I’ve ever listened to.”
“I absolutely love when Dr Huberman has a guest like this and they get talking fast and in a flow state. Their depth and width of knowledge, passion and ideas combined with comfort with each other to create and share is so inspiring to see.”
“Dr. Picard is renewing my faith in Science...thank you for the brilliant conversation.”
“Human experience is the most direct way to tell if the content of your life matches your energy and matches what matters to you”
“This hair conversation is SOO AMAZING to me!! I’m a hairstylist for 25 years and science nerd... I was able to trace back her body trauma and it was spot on to where this kink was located.”
“This is the best podcast episode I have ever listened to! Thank you.”
Next Episode, Please
The discussion was a blast. I loved every moment of it.
Andrew and Rob said they’d be in touch when the ENERGY book comes out. This book has everything I’ve wanted to write about and share with the world over the past ten years. I’m excited to share it with you.
I hope this conversation also reaches as many of you as possible. And that we can use this platform to share ideas and explore how we can benefit from a scientifically-informed, energetically-inspired view of the world.
Exciting times are ahead.
Thank you, Andrew!
Visit the Huberman Lab website to hear other inspiring conversations.
We’re excited to be building a community around the Science and Experience of Energy with this Substack. We hope to bring people together to reflect on how we experience energy in our everyday lives. If this post made you take a pause or if it resonated with you, please share with someone you love.
Only Science would bring people together over Mitochondria. Going in to listen. 🎧
> bowl of awesome peanuts-only peanut butter
I think this may be a brand new sentence!