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#21
Water Cooler / Re: Don’t answer the phone
Last post by ergophobe - August 20, 2026, 12:47:49 AM
I was going to pull that quote, but closed the tab and didn't go back. But that was the line that struck me too.
#22
Water Cooler / Re: Cancer and mRNA vaccines
Last post by ergophobe - August 20, 2026, 12:45:17 AM
#23
Water Cooler / I need this nic
Last post by rcjordan - August 20, 2026, 12:09:03 AM
bsky user: Amateur Expert Opinions
#24
Water Cooler / Re: 2026 aug 17
Last post by rcjordan - August 20, 2026, 12:05:57 AM
>ELSD

Recent Temperature and Energy Imbalance Trends Point to Higher Estimates of Future Warming - Gyuleva - 2026 - Earth's Future - Wiley Online Library

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2026EF008356
#25
Water Cooler / Re: Wealth and mortality in US...
Last post by rcjordan - August 20, 2026, 12:00:53 AM
>chasing the latest intervention

My feed can confirm that both old & new media thrive on this stuff. Avoiding dementia is hot-hot-hot currently.
#26
Water Cooler / Re: Don’t answer the phone
Last post by rcjordan - August 19, 2026, 11:42:54 PM
"the most prevalent mechanism of fraud remains the humble telephone. And yet it also makes sense: everyone has one"

a good read
#27
Water Cooler / Cancer and mRNA vaccines
Last post by ergophobe - August 19, 2026, 10:35:53 PM
I know this is all over, but still... mRNA vaccines have now shown success with operable pancreatic cancer and late-stage melanoma.

Cancer vaccines may come into widespread use... just as measles and polio vaccines go out of fashion.

https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/moderna-merck-breakthrough-could-usher-wave-cancer-vaccines-2026-08-19/
#28
Water Cooler / Wealth and mortality in US and...
Last post by ergophobe - August 19, 2026, 10:27:12 PM
Spoiler: mortality decreases with wealth but, "Survival in the wealthiest U.S. quartile appeared to be similar to that in the poorest quartile in northern and western Europe."

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40174225/

Summary from Inigo San Millan
https://x.com/doctorinigo/status/2090194765010915331


QuoteA study with almost 74,000 subjects ages 50-85.

Conclusion:
-The wealthiest Americans had approximately the same survival rates as the poorest people in Europe.

Wealth helps enormously within the United States, but even high wealth does not completely overcome the US–European mortality disadvantage.

Wealthy Americans presumably have much greater ability to buy excellent medical care, better housing, healthier food, gyms, preventive testing and so forth. Yet their survival remained roughly comparable to the poorest group in Northern/Western Europe.

The study doesn't provide direct answers to why this happens. However, maybe wealth cannot outperform lifestyle, strong social safety net, great food around friends and family, lower stress, walking significantly more everyday to your bakery (yes, believe it or not, Europeans are big on bread), local food stores, coffee shops, affording to retire when it is time without worrying about paying bills especially when you get sick...

As both an American and European citizen, I believe it may be time for Americans to recalibrate how we think about longevity.

We are increasingly chasing the latest intervention such as rapamycin, peptides, cold plunges, red-light therapy...hoping that targeting a single enzyme or metabolic pathway will move the needle.

As a systems physiologist, I struggle with that view. Human physiology is not a collection of isolated pathways. Trillions of cells communicate across metabolic, vascular, endocrine, immune and neurological systems. Health emerges from their integration.

Perhaps longevity is less about hacking individual pathways and more about creating the environment in which the whole organism can thrive.
#29
Water Cooler / Don’t answer the phone
Last post by ergophobe - August 19, 2026, 10:18:43 PM
Don't bank online answer the phone or reply to text messages

https://torontolife.com/deep-dives/the-phone-scammers-next-door/
#30
Water Cooler / Why constipation is common in ...
Last post by ergophobe - August 19, 2026, 08:47:05 PM