034 - Social Anxiety, Beethoven's DNA, and Tattoos - HealthHippieMD Week In Review

New Year's Anti-Resolutions and To-Don't Lists

"when you don't know the right way forward, you might succeed by focusing on what you know to be wrong instead." I learned quite a bit from Your bad attitude can make you happier.

Galentine's Day-Dinner with Strangers

The Radical Act of Eating With Strangers was an interesting article about friendship and social connection. I wonder how it might work here in North Carolina. (I ran out of gift articles)

How to Combat Loneliness

An article from Harvard Health with suggestions to combat loneliness: 3 ways to create community and counter loneliness

What is the neuroscience behind social anxiety, an affliction that affects 40 million people in the U.S.? Fear of Failing: The Secrets Behind Social Anxiety

Steven Pinker Interview

Steven Pinker is an influential cognitive psychologist and author. In the interview, The ultimate guide to rationality, , he touches on "topics such as human progress, the tragedy of the commons, Bayesian reasoning, and strategies to curb our most destructive instincts, with the ultimate goal of improving the world for everyone."

Tattoos and Immunity

The skin is the body's first line of defense. For thousands of years, humans have been decorating their bodies with tattoos. Scientists still aren't sure what happens to our immune system when we receive one.Tattoos do odd things to the immune system

Foods that Fight Inflammation

Here is a brief but informative article from Harvard on anti-inflammatory foods: Foods that fight inflammation

GPT-4 AI Scores 85% on USMLE

Microsoft released a paper this week that showed that the latest GPT model could pass the USMLE: GPT-4 on Medical Challenge Problems - Microsoft Research. +Eric Topal breaks down the implications of AI for medicine: Multimodal AI for medicine, simplified - by Eric Topol

Intelligence and (un)Happiness

"Your intelligence is more likely to bring you happiness if you put it to use by chasing better ways to love and serve others rather than elbowing others aside and hoarding worldly rewards." Another interesting article in the Atlantic's How to Build a Life: Intelligence Is More Than a Tool to Get Ahead

Defining "Life" and "Death."

Technology forces us to reexamine what we consider alive and dead. The ideas are far-reaching, including law, medicine, ethics, and morality. Another thought-provoking article in Wired: The End of 'Life' As You Know It

Applying Scarcity to Gym Membership

Years ago, Robert Cialdini wrote a classic book on sales techniques: Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion. The rise of pricey, application-only gyms is an exemplar of Cialdini's principles: The Rise of Exclusive, Application-Only Gym Memberships (gift article)

Animal Personality and Scientific Results

Here is an interesting article questioning whether animal personality might alter scientific results. Animal Personalities Can Trip Up Science, But There's a Solution

Cancer and Circadian Rhythm

A study published in Trends in Cell Biology reviewed the influence of circadian rhythms on cancer biology. "The circadian rhythm governs most of the cellular functions implicated in cancer progression, and its exploitation, therefore, opens new promising directions in the fight against metastasis. In this review, we summarize the role of the circadian rhythm in tumor development and progression, with emphasis on the circadian rhythm-regulated elements that control the generation of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and metastasis. We then present data on chronotherapy and discuss how circadian rhythm investigations may open new paths to more effective anticancer treatments." A new time dimension in the fight against metastasis

Beethoven's DNA

An article on how sleuths tracked down and analyzed strands of Beethoven's hair. The findings are fascinating: DNA From Beethoven's Hair Unlocks Medical and Family Secrets (gift article) and Beethoven's Genome Has Been Sequenced for the First Time, Revealing Clues About the Great Composer's Health & Family History

Meat Lobbies

Here is an article on how the meat industry changed the proposed recommendations of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report. I learned quite a bit from the article, including that the global beef industry is estimated at around $400 billion and that meat and dairy produce about 14.5% of global greenhouse emissions. The meat industry got the IPCC to edit a climate change report

Using Google Maps to Plan your Vacation

I'm going to try this: How To Use Google Maps Immersive View To Vacation Plan Like a Pro

Who is Most at Risk for Long-Covid?

A meta-analysis revealed the risk factors for long-covid: being female, obese, over 40, a smoker, and having previous medical conditions. Who Is Most At Risk for Long Covid? (gift article)