Metabolic Health, The Future of Trucks and Arcane
This was a pretty exciting week! There are two podcasts worth listening to this week. The first one is with Dr. Casey Means on the WHOOP podcast talking about metabolic health. The second podcast is with Steve Viscelli talking about the future of trucking and autonomous drive. Worth is a regenerative medicine breakthrough repairing a spinal cord injury in mice, and as always, a few other ideas worth your time!
Worth Listening
Understanding Metabolic Health with Dr. Casey Means | Whoop Podcast
Casey Means, MD is a Stanford-trained physician, Chief Medical Officer and Co-founder of metabolic health company Levels, and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Disease Reversal and Prevention. This podcast helped me put my diet back into a better context. One wearable I'd like to experiment with is a CGM (continuous glucose monitor), but it's not necessary to have insight into how your body responds to foods. One idea from this podcast is that we should avoid spiking our glucose throughout the day. Typically this comes to food that we would discount, like a full helping of rice or a tortilla. The best way to avoid this is by cutting the dose of carbs with more fiber. Think whole fruits, veggies, and beans. That way, the glucose rise will be slowed down by the fiber available. The other topic that had a lasting impact is insulin response and sleep. If you sleep less than 6.5 hours, your body has to produce 50% more insulin to have the same effect if you had slept 8 hours. With these two ideas, I've shifted my behavior heavily in the last week.
"As an American adult, unfortunately, if we're not doing something different than the normal of American life, we are going to get a chronic illness. That's essentially a given," Casey says. "If you're going on the treadmill of the way culture is pushing you, meaning standard American diet, sitting eight hours a day at work, having your screens in bed, having your phone alarms going off at night, you're going to get sick."
#237 – Steve Viscelli: Trucking and the Decline of the American Dream | Lex Fridman Podcast
Steve Viscelli is an economic sociologist who studies work, labor markets, automation, and public policy. He is currently a Faculty Fellow at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. This podcast covers one of the most critical jobs in the country; trucking and the future with autonomous driving. The interesting this about this discussion is that it doesn't start with technology, as you may think. The conversation begins with a discussion of the truck drivers today and why they are taking the job. What skills do they have etc.? I think it is helpful to understand the current situation before we talk about what changes may happen. The first thing that struck me is that the automotive industry is going through at least major changes that have become interwoven heavily—the transition to battery sources and autonomy. Autonomy doesn't mean a truck would be run on batteries, because in theory, without an operator, it could go as far as the fuel source would allow it. In that way, a battery is not the only power source to power an ultra-distance vehicle of this nature. Imagine if a miniaturized nuclear reactor powered a truck. What would be the range on that kind of vehicle?
Worth Reading
Regenerative Medicine Breakthrough: "Dancing Molecules" Successfully Repair Severe Spinal Cord Injuries | SciTechDaily
This is an incredible breakthrough in biotechnology! Of course, it is still early stages from this type of procedure, but this could reverse many life-altering injuries. This will also provide a new pathway forward outside of Neuralink that could restore control of the body lost or born without. The future may one day be a choice to replace damaged limbs with biomechanical ones or regrowing the limb entirely. One step closer to a sci-fi future.
"By sending bioactive signals to trigger cells to repair and regenerate, the breakthrough therapy dramatically improved severely injured spinal cords in five key ways: (1) The severed extensions of neurons, called axons, regenerated; (2) scar tissue, which can create a physical barrier to regeneration and repair, significantly diminished; (3) myelin, the insulating layer of axons that is important in transmitting electrical signals efficiently, reformed around cells; (4) functional blood vessels formed to deliver nutrients to cells at the injury site; and (5) more motor neurons survived."
Worth Watching
Arcane: League of Legends | Netflix
I've enjoyed this series greatly! I don't elaborate too heavily here on my love for games, and specifically, when an idea can transcend the medium, it was typically started in. Typically movies or TV shows based on games aren't the highest quality, but Arcane is a different show. Even if you haven't played League of Legends, this story serves as a backstory for many characters, and newcomers won't feel lost. The other aspect of this show is that it still takes its story and content seriously and is masterfully crafted even though it is animated. The series was released over the last three weeks with three episodes released each week which is a very interesting release schedule that follows the three-act structure of most stories. Overall, if you are a fan of fantasy stories, you'll find Arcane to be something you can't wait for more!