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@science
A sickle-cell gene can raise disease susceptibility while protecting against malaria, depending on the environment.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Self-experimentation creates anecdotes, not reliable evidence, so coincidence can masquerade as causation.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Public health works better with a panel offering nuanced explanations and acknowledging why difficult questions are reasonable.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
When tissue needs repair, mutated cell clones with a growth advantage can outcompete neighboring cells and fill the gap.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Your immune system runs recurring cellular playbooks shaped by both your genes and your biological history.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Analogies make complex science easier to follow, expanding how many people it can reach.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
T cells form a distributed sensory system, measuring specific proteins and peptides and acting when their levels become abnormal.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
A biological system with one control point can collapse when pathogens discover how to exploit it.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
The evidence around complex health questions is rarely as polarized as media coverage makes it appear.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
The strongest causal test starts with the experiment that could decide the question, then follows the numbers.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Scientists need to learn how to relate to other human beings, not treat expertise as separate from ordinary life.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Skin cells may acquire roughly 10,000–30,000 mutations per cell each day, partly from ordinary ultraviolet exposure.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Cancer becomes more common later in life as mutations accumulate and immune surveillance grows less discriminating.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Sleep deprivation makes lymphatic fluid collect beneath the eyes, causing bags and glassy eyes that adequate sleep clears.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Aging weakens immunity in two ways: existing immune cells work less effectively, and fewer new ones are produced.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Tumor vaccines can train immune cells to recognize proteins or peptides unique to a tumor.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Aging increases immune-system background noise, making genuinely abnormal cells harder to recognize.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Your immune system helps maintain the brain, regulate gut microbes, control liver metabolism, and clear cellular waste.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
As your cells become more genetically varied, immune defense faces a harder question: what still counts as self?
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Your body gradually becomes a genetic mosaic as different cells accumulate different mutations.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Your immune system appears to eliminate potentially precancerous and early cancerous cell populations throughout life.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
A drug’s success may depend on delivering it in the right sequence, timing, and location.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Science celebrates breakthroughs, but researchers live through far more failure than the public ever hears about.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Immune cells form temporary signaling clusters in tissues, integrating local observations before deciding whether a threat warrants action.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Relocating tissue requires more than a suitable environment: the immune system must accept its new home.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Cancer immunotherapy showed that T-cell reactivity is tunable, letting immune cells attack tumors they previously missed.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Tumors break the simple self-versus-foreign rule. They begin as your own cells, then evolve into threats.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Cancer can evade immunity by growing slowly, without the sharp temporal spike that normally triggers a strong response.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
GLP-1 obesity drugs trace back to Gila monsters surviving long periods without eating.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
The thymus produces its greatest flood of new T cells during infancy and early childhood, as immunity takes over from maternal protection.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Meditation breathing may offer voluntary control over the autonomic nervous system.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
The supplement world is scattershot: peptides span beneficial to experimental, so broad confidence still outruns the evidence.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
The thymus tests developing T cells against the body's genes, removing cells whose receptors would attack the body's own tissues.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Your body contains roughly 100 billion T-cell sensors continuously monitoring its internal environment.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Developing T cells can create roughly 10^11 receptor types, giving immunity enormous reach while demanding strict removal of self-reactive cells.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Complex biological systems stay robust through many interacting pathways, while a single control point creates an opening for collapse.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Checkpoint blockade is an exceptional cancer treatment: in about 50% of melanomas, tumors can disappear and outcomes can be excellent.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Checkpoint drugs transformed melanoma treatment, raising the chance of a cure from effectively zero to roughly 50%.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Cancer immunotherapy began with a basic T-cell experiment. Blocking one molecule made tumors disappear in mice.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
The human genome has about 20,000 genes, so symbiosis with other species vastly expands what the body can do.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
A human is not just human cells. Associated microbes add genomes and biological capabilities your own genome does not contain.
Andrew HubermanHow Your Immune System Works & How to Improve It | Dr. Max Krummel
@science
Drug repurposing declines as medicines age, especially when long trials shrink their remaining patent lives.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
A moderate drug effect can become an enormous public benefit when it reaches a very large patient population.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Repurposed drugs begin with a major advantage: existing treatments provide a large body of safety data.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Nobody knows whether Shingrix, the newer adjuvanted subunit shingles vaccine, matches, beats, or trails the older live-attenuated vaccine against dementia.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Over three years, diabetes developed in about 18% on placebo versus about 2% on tirzepatide.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Gila monsters survive on only a few meals per year while controlling blood sugar, pointing scientists toward unusual biology.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Today’s longer-lasting GLP-1 drugs trace back to a peptide discovered in Gila monsters.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Dexamethasone’s usefulness against COVID-19 was established in a publicly funded trial, despite its origins as a steroid.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Most people begin regaining weight after stopping GLP-1 drugs, while an 18-month trial captures only a short window.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Gila monster venom contains Exendin-4, a peptide that resembles human GLP-1 and activates the same receptor.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Vaccines given broadly to healthy children demand highly specific, low-toxicity effects, limiting repurposing opportunities.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
In SURMOUNT-1, tirzepatide reduced prediabetes progression to type 2 diabetes by 94% over three years.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Xanomeline reduced hallucinations in dementia trials before researchers developed it as a schizophrenia treatment.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Pull funding works best when useful knowledge is scattered across firms and no single funder can see the best path.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
GLP-1 drugs are being investigated for heart disease, kidney disease, sleep apnea, and Alzheimer’s disease.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
A compelling biological discovery can wait years for medicine when its commercial potential is dismissed.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Moxidectin began as a veterinary dewormer before a nonprofit-funded trial found it cured 70% of childhood whipworm infections in Tanzania.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Thalidomide destroys a cancer-causing protein through the same biological tagging process involved in limb development.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
Exendin-4 lasts for hours, while natural human GLP-1 lasts minutes because one changed amino acid resists enzymatic breakdown.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
By June 2020, RECOVERY showed hydroxychloroquine failed while dexamethasone worked, months before vaccines arrived.
Saloni DattaniAre miracle drugs hiding in plain sight?
@science
An angel round raised $1 million from 37 individual investors after the minimum investment fell from $250,000 to $5,000.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
Education develops people through moral, mental, and physical principles, not merely through coursework.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
A life-saving breakthrough can still be inadequate. The obligation is to return to the drawing board for something better.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
Better healthcare requires both newer treatments and a serious commitment to bringing them to everyone who needs them.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
In biotech, brilliant teams, advanced facilities, and massive funding still fail when the core technology fails.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
You do not need to be a scientist to invest in biotech. You need access to people who are.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
Planning too far ahead can steer you toward a useful field you dislike, while life later invalidates the plan.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
Within six months of its UK launch, the Pompe medicine reached over 30 to 40 percent of people living with Pompe disease.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
Long-term biotech investing starts with deep diligence on leadership, character, experience, and resilience.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
A résumé establishes baseline technical qualifications. The real hiring decision comes from how you spend the remaining time with the person.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
A doctor predicted a Pompe disease cure within about a year. Nearly 25 years later, that goal remained unmet.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
AI and machine learning could make drug screening and clinical trials faster, cheaper, less redundant, and more successful.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
In the 1990s, science and biopharma transformed HIV/AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable long-term condition.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
One failed clinical study and the loss of a major pharmaceutical partner can threaten a biotech’s survival.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
Amicus’s global pivotal Pompe study enrolled about 120 people and cost more than half a billion dollars.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
Going public brought capital but exposed the company to severe pressure managing a micro-cap biotech during the financial crisis.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
A German infant failing approved Pompe therapy improved on Amicus’s experimental treatment, leaving the hospital breathing independently and feeding himself.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
The Pompe enzyme treatment normalized the children’s enlarged hearts within six infusions or 12 weeks, preventing fatal cardiac decline.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
The initial Pompe treatment made two adult patients weaker, prompting Amicus to stop the trial and request an FDA clinical hold.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
The failed Pompe drug weakened patients because its half-life in human muscle differed from its half-life in animals and healthy volunteers.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
About 90% of drugs entering clinical trials never become commercial products, while about 90% of successful products miss sales expectations.
Joys of CompoundingJohn Crowley - Biotech's Chief Evangelist - [Art of Investing, EP.15]
@science
Your immune system is not separate from you. It is your biology protecting you from microorganisms and cancerous cells.
Kurzgesagt – In a NutshellHow The Immune System ACTUALLY Works – IMMUNE
@science
Damaged tissue releases chemical alarm signals from surviving, injured, and dying cells, rapidly activating local immune defenses.
Kurzgesagt – In a NutshellHow The Immune System ACTUALLY Works – IMMUNE
@science
Your body maintains billions of distinct helper T cells, creating receptors capable of recognizing an enormous range of pathogens.
Kurzgesagt – In a NutshellHow The Immune System ACTUALLY Works – IMMUNE
@science
Helper T cells reactivate exhausted macrophages with chemical signals, restoring their killing power and intensifying the local attack.
Kurzgesagt – In a NutshellHow The Immune System ACTUALLY Works – IMMUNE
@science
Inflammation opens blood vessels so fluid floods damaged tissue, while complement proteins kill bacteria by perforating their membranes.
Kurzgesagt – In a NutshellHow The Immune System ACTUALLY Works – IMMUNE
@science
Neutrophils kill microbes with toxic chemicals and engulfing them, accepting substantial collateral damage to surrounding tissue.
Kurzgesagt – In a NutshellHow The Immune System ACTUALLY Works – IMMUNE
@science
Dendritic cells carry bacterial fragments from wounds through lymphatic pathways to lymph nodes, activating a matching helper T cell.
Kurzgesagt – In a NutshellHow The Immune System ACTUALLY Works – IMMUNE
@science
After infection clears, most immune cells die, while surviving helper T and B cells become long-term memory and antibody-producing cells.
Kurzgesagt – In a NutshellHow The Immune System ACTUALLY Works – IMMUNE
@science
An activated B cell can produce up to 2,000 antibodies every second.
Kurzgesagt – In a NutshellHow The Immune System ACTUALLY Works – IMMUNE
@science
Some neutrophils trigger suicide, explode, and cast DNA-based toxic nets that trap and kill bacteria.
Kurzgesagt – In a NutshellHow The Immune System ACTUALLY Works – IMMUNE
@science
A new Texas facility is designed to produce 300 million sterile flies weekly, while Mexico converts an insectary for screwworm production.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
Re-eradicating screwworm will require close to a decade of continuous facility construction and repeated sterile-fly releases.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
At its 1980s and 1990s peak, Central American eradication operations produced more than 400 million sterile flies every week.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
The screwworm barrier breach resulted from interacting failures rather than one clearly identifiable cause.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
Florida cattle ranchers were losing $20 million annually to screwworms, helping secure $3 million each from state and federal governments.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
Raymond Bushland grew screwworms in hamburger, blood, water, and formaldehyde instead of infecting live animals.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
Eradication was not self-sustaining: US screwworm cases surged from 170 in 1970 to more than 95,000 in 1972.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
Screwworms do not infect dead animals. They require living tissue.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
With no research funds, Bushland used an Army hospital’s X-ray machine free and obtained cobalt-60 from Oak Ridge.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
Texas was harder to protect than Florida because its more than 1,000-mile Mexican border sheltered screwworms year-round.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
Before eradication, livestock owners inspected animals constantly because even a small wound could become lethal.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
The first Southwest barrier failed because production reached only 20 million sterile flies weekly, far below the required scale.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
Central American eradication demanded more sterile flies per square mile and new airspace agreements with every participating country.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
The first sterile screwworm pupae release failed spectacularly: ants and other insects ate the pupae on the ground.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
Release enough sterile male screwworms and most females produce no viable offspring. Repeated releases can drive the population extinct.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
Radiation sterilizes male screwworms without stopping them from surviving or mating. Their eggs simply fail to hatch.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
Female screwworm flies mate only once, making every sterile male release far more powerful.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
New World screwworm maggots eat living tissue, unlike most fly larvae that feed on dead or decaying matter.
Brian PotterThe Fall and Rise of Screwworm
@science
Bloodstain pattern analysis entered courtrooms more than fifty years before its first baseline reliability study in 2014.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
A large 2021 study found analysts reached different conclusions about a bloodstain’s creation approximately 8% of the time.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
The largest DNA contributor on a shared object is often the person who shed the most cells, not the last person who touched it.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
DNA from four or more people becomes increasingly difficult to compare with a suspect’s clean profile as signal strengths overlap.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
There is still no minimum quality or quantity threshold for DNA samples. Each laboratory decides when a sample is too mixed or partial.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
Nine people were executed and 33 sentenced to death before errors in microscopic hair analysis were discovered.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
Bloodstain analysts use stain dimensions, physics, biology, and trigonometry to infer impact angles and trace spatter to its origin.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
Bloodstain pattern analysis became widely accepted after Herbert Leon MacDonell’s 1971 book, built on experiments in his basement.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
Forensic examiners need insulation from police and prosecutors to make independent decisions based on relevant scientific evidence.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
DNA evidence is powerful for identifying individuals, but it cannot be interpreted separately from the surrounding context.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
Across 411 models, the model that made a skin bite mark was not even its closest match.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
In a study creating 89 cadaver-skin bite marks, none matched measurements from wax impressions or the original teeth.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
In a 2013 NIST study, 69% of laboratories analyzed a four-person DNA mixture incorrectly. Only 21% called it inconclusive.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
In 268 FBI cases from the 1970s through 1999, DNA review found 96% of hair-analysis conclusions were false.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
Paramedics accidentally transferred a homeless man’s DNA from their equipment to a murder victim. He was charged and held five months while hospitalized.
VeritasiumWe've Been Using The Wrong Science In Court For 50 years
@science
The higher the voltage an inductor handles, the larger it must be, making high-power chargers physically larger.
VeritasiumAD - Why do I get this spark when I unplug my hair dryer?
@science
A 1-centimeter spark needs roughly 10,000 volts to cross air, far above the 120–240 volts mains electricity supplies.
VeritasiumAD - Why do I get this spark when I unplug my hair dryer?
@science
An inductor stores energy magnetically as current rises, then releases it as current falls, smoothing pulsed electricity into steadier DC.
VeritasiumAD - Why do I get this spark when I unplug my hair dryer?
@science
Unplugging a coil-powered appliance abruptly interrupts current, and its collapsing magnetic field induces voltage high enough to ionize air and create a spark.
VeritasiumAD - Why do I get this spark when I unplug my hair dryer?
@science
Caffeine-producing plants poison surrounding soil, suppressing nearby plants that never evolved caffeine resistance.
vlogbrothersCaffeine is Very, Very Strange...
@science
Caffeine partly harms insects, plants, and humans by mimicking adenosine, an adenine-derived molecule involved in physiology and nervous-system function.
vlogbrothersCaffeine is Very, Very Strange...
@science
Tea often feels gentler than coffee: less caffeine per serving and more theophylline produce a milder effect.
vlogbrothersCaffeine is Very, Very Strange...
@science
Theophylline and theobromine are weaker insecticides than caffeine and produce milder physiological effects in people.
vlogbrothersCaffeine is Very, Very Strange...
@science
Caffeine evolved independently in tea, coffee, cola, cacao, guarana, yapon, and yerba mate.
vlogbrothersCaffeine is Very, Very Strange...
@science
Some plants put caffeine in nectar, making bees return through intoxication rather than lethal poisoning.
vlogbrothersCaffeine is Very, Very Strange...
@science
Caffeinated drinks arose independently at least seven times: East Asia, Africa and Arabia, Mesoamerica, West Africa, Amazon, southern South America, and southeastern North America.
vlogbrothersCaffeine is Very, Very Strange...
@science
Plants already perform extensive chemistry on adenine, making caffeine an easy molecule for evolution to reinvent.
vlogbrothersCaffeine is Very, Very Strange...
@science
The strangest convergence is human: separated societies independently adopted drinks made from caffeinated plants.
vlogbrothersCaffeine is Very, Very Strange...
@science
Gravity batteries lift heavy objects when electricity is plentiful, then lower them to drive generators when power is needed.
Half as InterestingWhy This Giant Bag of CO2 is Actually Useful
@science
Most lithium-ion grid batteries last only four to eight hours, leaving cloudy periods and windless weeks uncovered.
Half as InterestingWhy This Giant Bag of CO2 is Actually Useful
@science
Energy Dome’s Sardinia installation stores roughly 2,000–2,200 tons of carbon dioxide inside an inflatable system.
Half as InterestingWhy This Giant Bag of CO2 is Actually Useful
@science
Pumped-storage hydropower pumps water uphill, then sends it through turbines downhill to turn stored gravity into electricity.
Half as InterestingWhy This Giant Bag of CO2 is Actually Useful
@science
Pumped-storage hydropower demands expensive construction, suitable terrain, and large reservoirs that must be maintained.
Half as InterestingWhy This Giant Bag of CO2 is Actually Useful
@science
Grid-scale energy storage can use water, gravity, iron oxidation, and compressed carbon dioxide, not just conventional batteries.
Half as InterestingWhy This Giant Bag of CO2 is Actually Useful
@science
Compressed-CO2 batteries liquefy carbon dioxide under pressure, then evaporate it through turbines to regenerate electricity.
Half as InterestingWhy This Giant Bag of CO2 is Actually Useful
@science
Iron-air batteries can discharge for up to 100 hours, returning approximately 50–60% of the energy used to charge them.
Half as InterestingWhy This Giant Bag of CO2 is Actually Useful
@science
Energy Vault’s 33-story facility in Rudong, China lifts and lowers 24-metric-ton bricks made from dirt, water, and polymer.
Half as InterestingWhy This Giant Bag of CO2 is Actually Useful
@science
Iron-air batteries release energy as iron rusts, then use electricity to turn that rust back into iron.
Half as InterestingWhy This Giant Bag of CO2 is Actually Useful
@science
Treating hay fever in Americans costs more than $4 billion annually, including over $1 billion for medication.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
One inaccurate penicillin-allergy label led from vancomycin to red-man syndrome, a wound infection, and C. difficile infection.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
Gene sequencing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence might one day predict drug-allergy susceptibility at birth.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
Evidence rules can quietly favor drugs: prevention tactics like tick avoidance rarely have money for large controlled trials.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
Among about 60,000 labeled patients versus more than 200,000 unlabeled patients, the label was linked to 14% higher all-cause mortality.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
After negative skin-prick and intradermal tests, studies show a 95% likelihood of passing a penicillin challenge.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
Obstetricians often advise patients with penicillin-allergy labels to undergo evaluation before a future pregnancy.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
Primary care can track penicillin-allergy label removal by clinic, revealing which interventions clear inaccurate labels.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
For many childhood illnesses, rest and plenty of water are legitimate discharge instructions, not empty advice.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
Published in 2015, the LEAP study argued that feeding peanuts to babies reduces their risk of peanut allergy.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
Hospitals can clear low-risk allergy labels through observation and a supervised two-step drug challenge.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
Anaphylaxis becomes fatal when blood pressure collapses, breathing fails, and the heart ultimately arrests.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
Food allergies affect roughly half a billion people worldwide.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
Most recorded penicillin allergies are believed inaccurate, yet the label is linked to higher postsurgical infection risk and mortality.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
Among roughly 3,000 suspected penicillin-allergy patients, only about 20 appeared allergic and just two had severe reactions.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
About 90% of people who believe they are allergic to penicillin can actually tolerate it.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
About 10% of Americans are labeled penicillin-allergic, but roughly 90% of those people are not actually allergic.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
@science
More than 30 million Americans believe they are allergic to penicillin, yet fewer than 1% actually are.
Freakonomics Radio NetworkAre You Really Allergic to Penicillin? (Update) | Freakonomics Radio
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Without teeth, Pseudomicrothorax ejects hundreds of vesicles packed with digestive chemicals that dissolve prey internally.
What’s It Like to Be Killed by Nature’s Most Brutal Predator
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Cyanobacteria repair fortress breaches with fresh slime and push attackers out, but the predators return.
What’s It Like to Be Killed by Nature’s Most Brutal Predator
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Inside Polykrikos, Alexandrium is digested externally as acids dissolve the prey alive.
What’s It Like to Be Killed by Nature’s Most Brutal Predator
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Coleps chemicals dissolve cell membranes, making cells burst and opening severe wounds for tissue consumption.
What’s It Like to Be Killed by Nature’s Most Brutal Predator
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Polykrikos kofoidii survives famine as a spore, awakening when toxic algal prey becomes abundant.
What’s It Like to Be Killed by Nature’s Most Brutal Predator
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Cyanobacteria rank among Earth’s oldest organisms, producing oxygen that supports life around the planet.
What’s It Like to Be Killed by Nature’s Most Brutal Predator
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Alexandrium launches crystalline trichocysts, hard defensive spikes, but they cannot free it from Polykrikos’ anchored weapon.
What’s It Like to Be Killed by Nature’s Most Brutal Predator
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Alexandrium produces saxitoxin, an extreme neurotoxin that drives fish away and makes shellfish dangerous to eat.
What’s It Like to Be Killed by Nature’s Most Brutal Predator
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Polykrikos kofoidii is one cell formed by four semi-independent beings functioning together as something larger.
What’s It Like to Be Killed by Nature’s Most Brutal Predator
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Cyanobacteria grow stiff end sheaths, then detach those ends when attacked and leave predators hungry.
What’s It Like to Be Killed by Nature’s Most Brutal Predator
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Cyanobacteria vomit out transparent, durable slime that seals their community inside a glass-like defensive fortress.
What’s It Like to Be Killed by Nature’s Most Brutal Predator
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Polykrikos fires a two-stage weapon: a dart slimes its prey, then a coiled harpoon pierces and anchors it.
What’s It Like to Be Killed by Nature’s Most Brutal Predator
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Coleps fires about a dozen poison-filled syringes, injecting prey with a cocktail of 19 chemicals.
What’s It Like to Be Killed by Nature’s Most Brutal Predator
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One remaining pier became habitat for endangered mussels, turning demolition remnants into ecological value.
Practical EngineeringBridge Demolition is Complicated
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Remove deck weight unevenly and trusses bow, towers deflect, and premature structural failure becomes possible.
Practical EngineeringBridge Demolition is Complicated
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Crane barges require stability calculations for lifting and swinging conditions, crane configuration, pick limits, and movement restrictions.
Practical EngineeringBridge Demolition is Complicated
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Bridge demolition must control debris size and landing location so crews can clear the water without blocking navigation.
Practical EngineeringBridge Demolition is Complicated
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The original I-74 bridges predated the interstate system yet eventually carried traffic they were never designed to handle.
Practical EngineeringBridge Demolition is Complicated
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Barge stability calculations covered varied loading, lifting and swinging forces, crane configuration, pick weights, and movement limits.
Practical EngineeringBridge Demolition is Complicated
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Previously removed bridge pieces became a stiffening truss that let workers lift the final deck truss as one piece.
Practical EngineeringBridge Demolition is Complicated
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Preparing a bridge for explosive demolition leaves it extremely vulnerable, creating a race against weather and unexpected collapse.
Practical EngineeringBridge Demolition is Complicated
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Suspension cables store immense elastic energy, making loose cable ends a severe snapback hazard during demolition.
Practical EngineeringBridge Demolition is Complicated
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Endangered mussels beneath the continuous truss spans ruled out blasting and temporary river supports.
Practical EngineeringBridge Demolition is Complicated
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On the I-74 bridges, workers cut each main cable at four locations until only 7 of 37 strands remained.
Practical EngineeringBridge Demolition is Complicated
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Shaped charges act like remotely operated saws, cutting structural members quickly and simultaneously.
Practical EngineeringBridge Demolition is Complicated
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Demolition explosives do not pulverize structures. They sever structural members precisely and start a controlled fall.
Practical EngineeringBridge Demolition is Complicated

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