Pocket Science
Pocket Science
Podcast Description
A compact guide to how your body works, powered by the world-class scientists of Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC is one of the nation’s fastest-growing academic biomedical research enterprises and a destination for world-class researchers. The institute’s scientists focus on diseases that are the leading causes of death and suffering in the United States, including brain disorders, heart disease, and cancer.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast emphasizes themes around biomedical research and health, with specific focuses on nutrition, brain function, and chronic diseases. An example episode discusses the impact of ultra-processed foods on health and the psychological aspects of food addiction, featuring insights from researchers on how our modern food landscape affects our choices.

A compact guide to how your body works, powered by the world-class scientists of Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute. The Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC is one of the nation’s fastest-growing academic biomedical research enterprises and a destination for world-class researchers. The institute’s scientists focus on diseases that are the leading causes of death and suffering in the United States, including brain disorders, heart disease, and cancer.
Conventional wisdom tells us that, to be healthy, we should exercise and limit fatty foods. Exercise helps us lose weight, build muscle, strengthens our hearts and boosts how we take in and use oxygen for energy — one of the strongest predictors of health and longevity.
But people with high blood sugar often don’t enjoy those benefits from exercise, especially the ability to use oxygen efficiently.
For them, a new study suggests the answer could be eating not less fat, but more.
Exercise medicine scientist Sarah Lessard explains her new study that examines how the keto diet might help people with diabetes and high blood sugar in the latest episode of Big Science Small Pod.
“What we're really finding from this study and from our other studies is that diet and exercise aren't simply working in isolation,” she said. “There are a lot of combined effects. And so we can get the most benefits from exercise if we eat a healthy diet at the same time.”

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