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Brave New World

Brave New World

By: Evening Standard
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About this listen

Welcome to Brave New World, hosted by Evgeny Lebedev, for the London Standard. We dive deep into the ideas of thought leaders, scientists, and intellectuals who are shaping the future and transforming our culture.


Tune in each week for interviews with some of the brightest minds of our time, and explore the realms of longevity, neuroscience, biohacking, and psychedelics.


Join Evgeny as he leads thought-provoking conversations with guests such as Dame Helen Mirren, Wim Hof, Deepak Chopra and Sam Harris – and others who are driving change, thoughtful debate, and challenging our views and preconceptions.


Whether you're curious about the secrets to longer life, the mysteries of sleep, or the future of medical technology, it’s all here in Brave New World.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Evening Standard
Hygiene & Healthy Living Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • Gary Brecka on What's Wrong with Modern Medicine and the Secrets to a Longer Life
    Jan 6 2026

    For Episode Four, Evgeny is joined by human biologist, longevity science monolith and founder of The Ultimate Human, Gary Brecka. Together, they explore why so many people feel stuck at a “six out of ten,” what Gary believes to be the cause of fatigue, brain fog, poor sleep, soreness, low mood, and why poor exercise recovery is often driven by nutrient deficiencies.


    Gary shares his unconventional background as a mortality expert in life insurance, where he used massive datasets to predict lifespan with extreme accuracy. In the conversation, he challenges modern medicine’s tendency to label many chronic conditions as “familial” or “idiopathic” and details how to treat the most common gene mutation in the world, which is also Gary's bêtes noire: MHTF.


    We’d like to thank The Ultimate Human for providing the video clips featured in this episode.


    This episode was produced by Message Heard and The Standard.


    Producer: Florence de Schlichting

    Production Coordinator: James Cox

    Production Manager: Kirsty McLean

    Video Editor: Nani Wenani


    The Standard team:

    Joe Bromley

    Will Rogers-Coltman



    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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    46 mins
  • Will Ahmed on Perfecting Your Sleep Routine and Analysis Paralysis
    Dec 23 2025

    In Episode Three of Brave New World, Evgeny is joined by Will Ahmed, founder and CEO of WHOOP. Together, they explore recovery, sleep, and the idea that “you can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Ahmed explains how overtraining as a Harvard athlete led him to build his own wearable, identifying a major gap in health diagnostics at the time: measuring recovery, not just performance.


    He explains what WHOOP tracks - sleep quality, strain, heart rate variability (HRV), recovery, and stress; dives into why seven hours in bed can still mean poor sleep; and why consistency of bedtime and wake time often matters more than raw hours.


    Evgeny and Ahmed get practical on health trends, address the criticism that wearables culture a state of analysis paralysis and how to use metrics as a tool, not a verdict.


    This episode was produced by Message Heard and The Standard.


    Producer: Florence de Schlichting

    Production Coordinator: James Cox

    Production Manager: Kirsty McLean

    Video Editor: Nani Wenani


    The Standard team:


    Joe Bromley

    Will Rogers-Coltman

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show More Show Less
    38 mins
  • ZOE's Dr Federica Amati and Professor Tim Spector Debunk the Biggest Food Myths
    Dec 9 2025

    In this episode, Evgeny sits down with Professor Tim Spector and Dr Federica Amati - two of the leading scientific voices behind personalised nutrition company ZOE - to rethink everything we’ve been told about food.


    From the myth of “good” and “bad” fats to calorie-counting obsessions, Tim and Federica uncover why so much of our nutritional advice is outdated, over-simplified - and in some cases, actively harmful. They unpack how ultra-processed foods and constant snacking damage our gut, why breakfast is not magically the most important meal of the day, and how time-restricted eating might be the key to optimising your daily health.


    At the core of their discussion is a simple idea: eat for your gut microbes.


    This episode was produced by Message Heard and The Standard.


    Producer: Florence de Schlichting

    Production Coordinator: James Cox

    Production Manager: Kirsty McLean

    Video Editor: Nani Wenani


    The Standard team:

    Joe Bromley

    Will Rogers-Coltman

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    Show More Show Less
    48 mins
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