Languages
• Outside of the box scientific paper on how the over-reliance on English language may hinder research. Figure 2 is very cool. One of the authors, Henrich, has written a few huge books on Anthropology.
Interesting people
• Check out this thread of comments on Marginal Revolution, a site from Tyler Cowen, a true polymath. He asked what historical figures should have a movie made about them.
• Really interesting people, some you may not have heard of. And in many cases, commenters point out that for many of them, there are in fact movies already made.
Rucking
• The Ruck movement is really catching on. Peter Attia is now a huge fan. He had Michael Easter on his podcast The Drive. Easter has been sending some informative but short email newsletters.
• A recent one covered a few studies specifically looking at females and rucking. Short answer, it is great for bone health, and the ladies are often better than guys!
Salt Substitute
• Multiple studies have established the benefit of using salt substitutes to reduce blood pressure. The reductions aren’t huge, but they are actually quite close to what is achieved with use of medication. I always recommend people try a Magnesium supplement before going on a blood pressure pill. But switching to one of these salt substitutes (ideally with potassium and magnesium) can have an additive effect.
• The implication of sodium intake in causing high blood pressure may simply be due to a suboptimal ratio of sodium to potassium, rather than the absolute sodium intake.
• This study used something called Smart Salt, which uses a little more than half the sodium of regular table salt. And remember, sea salt has tons of minerals, far beyond simple sodium and chloride. My favorite brand Real Salt publishes their components.
How did we learn?
• Cool article on cultural evolution, how we learned to safely cook and eat poisonous plants. Apparently we can eat acorns! Thanks for teaching me about it Mateo, can’t wait to try it.
• A residency applicant told me about a book she was reading on plants that are going extinct. I think it was this one, specific plants in North America. Going to have to check it out.
Quotes
“To explain all nature is too difficult a task for any one man or even for any one age. ‘Tis much better to do a little with certainty, and leave the rest for others that come after you, than to explain all things by conjecture without making sure of anything.”
– Newton
“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ … You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
– Eleanor Roosevelt
