Sean Mark, PhD

The field of "health" lacks any meaningful theory. In theory, probably the closet "theory base" to health is evolution. But there's widespread disagreement about HOW evolution happens and that has MUCH bigger impact on health than many people realize. Consider the genome... we thought we'd sequence it and have all the answers. But, from an evolutionary perspective, no strong gene -> disease associations CAN persist in the population because they'll get "selected out". I suppose the social determinants of health is a sort of theory base...kind of, sort of... but the social determinants of health doesn't stop the production of crappy observational studies linking things like processed meat to cancer. Health science is lost

The lion never saw it coming 😂

🔬Scientific progress depends on discovery, but also the freedom to question, debate, and examine evidence wherever it leads. In the spirit of that ideal, I’m thrilled to announce the launch of our NIH Scientific Freedom Lecture Series, an exciting new forum aimed at advancing transparency, rigor, and open scientific inquiry. Please join me March 20 at 2:30pm ET for our inaugural talk, titled “Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19” featuring a conversation with Matt Ridley, D.Phil. Guests can attend in person at the Masur Auditorium in NIH Building 10 or online via the NIH videocast page. bit.ly/3PsHAu5

James Cameron has great explainer on how he made "The Terminator" (1984) for cheap: ▫️approach the story as a low-budget horror slasher film  ▫️find areas with brightest street lights, to save money on lighting ("used car lots were great because they cast enough light from their floodlights onto the streets") ▫️the casting of Arnold (he hadn't really broken through yet and was only paid $75,000 which worked out to $1,293 per word) The horror approach also worked because they could shoot a lot of the film guerilla style (no permits) in dark alleyways and parking garages. Smartly, Cameron layered on the sci-fi backstory to make it higher concept (leading to the glorious T2 sequel). There were also a lot of indoor shots (apartment, store, bar) that didn’t need permits. At the time, 30-year old Cameron was living so frugally that his mom was sending him "2-for-1 Big Mac coupons" from McDonald's because she didn't think he was eating enough.  The film ultimately made $80 million globally on a $4.3 million budget, launching Cameron and Arnold's Hollywood careers.

Population collapse is the biggest threat to civilization!!

@PracheeAC If science is the closest thing humanity has had to a collective-human system of "not fooling ourselves" (Popperian falsification). Then... Do you think the lessons we've learned about how science has gone wrong could help us build AGI?

Kind of interesting how people who have fully abdicated to journal editors their scientific judgment, entire trajectory of their field, how their colleagues and students are hired/judged are worried AI is the biggest threat to independent thinking

@rauchg True

The chances of being slapped by a random fish are always extremely low, but never zero.

@dr_alphalyrae @miniapeur ...agree, but not controversial.

Controversial opinion -- if you spent 5-6 years getting technically skilled but your personality and emotional intelligence is a hot dumpster fire, you are absolutely screwed. And speaking from experience a LOT of people in academia, especially in life sciences, have really shitty people skills, and they are going to suffer because of it

"Ive started applying to coffee shops. I just want a fuckin job at this point."

The computational power in your iPhone is >100 million times more powerful than the computers that landed Apollo 11 on the Moon. And yet, most people use it primarily to argue with strangers on the internet. The future's already here—we just need to deploy it better.

A powerful scene in the Odyssey happens when Odysseus finally returns to Ithaca after twenty years of war and wandering. You would expect the story to end with celebration, with the hero coming home, the family reunited, and order restored. Homer does something far stranger. Odysseus arrives disguised as a beggar, because Athena warns him that the palace has been taken over by more than a hundred suitors who have been living there for years, eating his food, drinking his wine, and pressuring his wife Penelope to marry one of them. They believe Odysseus is dead and in their minds the kingdom is already theirs. So the king of Ithaca walks through his own halls dressed in rags while the men stealing his house sit comfortably at his tables. They mock him, throw scraps at him, and one of them even strikes him, and Odysseus takes it. That is the remarkable part, because the same man who blinded the Cyclops and survived twenty years of disasters now stands quietly while strangers insult him in his own home. Homer tells us his heart burns inside his chest and that he wants to attack them immediately, yet he restrains himself and waits. Instead of striking, Odysseus studies the room carefully. He counts the men, watches their habits, and quietly observes which servants remain loyal and which have betrayed him. The hero of the Odyssey does something most people cannot do, which is delay revenge until the moment is right. Eventually Penelope announces a contest and brings out Odysseus’ great bow, declaring that she will marry the man who can string it and shoot an arrow through twelve axe heads lined up in a row. One by one the suitors try and fail, because none of them can even bend the bow. Then the beggar asks for a turn. The suitors laugh at first, but the bow is eventually handed to him. Odysseus takes it in his hands and strings it effortlessly. Homer says the sound of the bowstring tightening rings through the hall like the note of a swallow. Then he places an arrow on the string and sends it cleanly through all twelve axe heads. In that moment the beggar disappears. Odysseus turns the bow toward the suitors and reveals who he is. What follows is one of the most brutal scenes in Greek literature. The doors are sealed and the suitors realize too late that they are trapped inside the hall. Odysseus, his son Telemachus, and two loyal servants begin killing them one by one. There is no escape, no mercy, and no negotiation. The men who spent years consuming another man’s house die inside it. It is a violent ending, but Homer wants you to understand something important. The real danger to Odysseus was never just the monsters and storms on the long journey home. It was the possibility that someone else might take his place while he was gone. When Odysseus finally returns, he reminds everyone in Ithaca of a simple truth: a man’s home is not truly his unless he is willing to fight for it.

Richard Feynman’s savage takedown of pseudo-science still burns in 2026: “Social science is an example of a science which is not a science. They follow the forms… but they don’t get any laws. They haven’t found out anything.” He goes harder: Experts who “sit at a typewriter and make up” claims — “organic food is better,” “this diet cures everything” — as if it’s settled science, when no rigorous experiments or checks have been done. Feynman: “I know what it means to really know something. How careful you have to be. How easy it is to fool yourself. I see how they get their information… and I can’t believe that they know.” The Nobel physicist calls it straight: most of what passes for “expert” opinion is noise dressed up as knowledge. In an age drowning in TikTok “science,” influencers, and clickbait studies — Feynman’s 1:52 rant feels more relevant than ever. Who’s the biggest pseudo-expert that grinds your gears right now? Clip is timeless fire — watch it and feel the clarity.

A single dose of antibiotics can have lasting effects on your gut microbiome, with changes that last well beyond 4 years. Three types of antibiotics stood out for their long term disruptive impact (3 at left, Figure) @NatureMedicine nature.com/articles/s4159…

Yeah

Current average residential electricity prices and gas prices by U.S. state, with the average cost to fully charge a @Tesla Model Y Premium at home compared to the cost to fill a 2026 Honda CR‑V Hybrid AWD: Ranked by cost per kWh (cost to charge Model Y Premium): • Hawaii: $0.39/kWh ($30.81 per full charge) • California: $0.34 ($26.86) • Massachusetts: $0.32 ($25.28) • Rhode Island: $0.31 (24.49) • Maine: $0.30 ($23.79) • Connecticut: $0.28 ($22.12) • New Hampshire: $0.27 ($21.33) • New York: $0.27 ($21.33) • Alaska: $0.27 ($21.33) • Vermont: $0.25 ($19.75) • District of Columbia: $0.24 ($18.96) • New Jersey: $0.23 ($18.17) • Maryland: $0.22 ($17.38) • Pennsylvania: $0.21 ($16.59) • Michigan: $0.21 ($16.59) • llinois: $0.19 ($15.01) • Wisconsin: $0.18 ($14.22) • Delaware: $0.18 ($14.22) • Ohio: $0.18 ($14.22) • Indiana: $0.17 ($13.43) • Alabama: $0.17 ($13.43) • Minnesota: $0.16 ($12.64) • Virginia: $0.16 ($12.64) • Colorado: $0.16 ($12.64) • West Virginia: $0.16 ($12.64) • Oregon: $0.16 ($12.64) • Texas: $0.16 ($12.64) • Florida: $0.16 ($12.64) • South Carolina: $0.16 ($12.64) • Arizona: $0.16 ($12.64) • Kansas: $0.15 ($11.85) • North Carolina: $0.15 ($11.85) • New Mexico: $0.15 ($11.85) • Georgia: $0.15 ($11.85) • Wyoming: $0.15 ($11.85) • Mississippi: $0.14 ($11.06) • Oklahoma: $0.14 ($11.06) • Montana: $0.14 ($11.06) • South Dakota: $0.14 ($11.06) • Washington: $0.14 ($11.06) • Nevada: $0.14 ($11.06) • Utah: $0.14 ($11.06) • Kentucky: $0.14 ($11.06) • Iowa: $0.14 ($11.06) • Arkansas: $0.13 ($10.27) • Nebraska: $0.13 ($10.27) • Tennessee: $0.13 ($10.27) • Missouri: $0.13 ($10.27) • North Dakota: $0.13 ($10.27) • Idaho: $0.12 ($9.48) • Louisiana: $0.12 ($9.48) Ranked by gas price (cost to fill a 2026 Honda CR-V Hybrid AWD): • California: $5.15/gal ($72.23 per tank) • Washington: $4.60 ($64.47) • Hawaii: $4.51 ($63.18) • Oregon: $4.18 ($58.65) • Nevada: $4.18 ($58.56) • Alaska: $3.92 ($54.89) • Arizona: $3.84 ($53.84) • Pennsylvania: $3.57 ($50.02) • Michigan: $3.55 ($49.70) • Illinois: $3.49 ($48.99) • Maryland: $3.48 ($48.79) • Indiana: $3.46 ($48.52) • District of Columbia: $3.46 ($48.45) • Florida: $3.45 ($48.34) • Colorado: $3.39 ($47.47) • Maine: $3.37 ($47.31) • New York: $3.37 ($47.26) • West Virginia: $3.37 ($47.26) • Vermont: $3.33 ($46.69) • Connecticut: $3.33 ($46.68) • New Hampshire: $3.32 ($46.52) • New Jersey: $3.31 ($46.47) • Rhode Island: $3.30 ($46.20) • Massachusetts: $3.29 ($46.09) • Virginia: $3.28 ($45.98) • Minnesota: $3.25 ($45.53) • North Carolina: $3.25 ($45.50) • Idaho: $3.23 ($45.30) • Georgia: $3.22 ($45.16) • Utah: $3.16 ($44.30) • Iowa: $3.158 ($44.21) • South Carolina: $3.13 ($43.90) • Wisconsin: $3.13 ($43.90) • Montana: $3.12 ($43.75) • Kentucky: $3.11 ($43.55) • Texas: $3.11 ($43.55) • South Dakota: $3.06 ($42.95) • Wyoming: $3.06 ($42.88) • Nebraska: $3.04 ($42.56) • Alabama: $3.03 ($42.48) • Louisiana: $3.03 ($42.43) • Mississippi: $2.98 ($41.85) • Tennessee: $2.98 ($41.73) • Arkansas: $2.97 ($41.68) • Missouri: $2.97 ($41.65) • Oklahoma: $2.96 ($41.48) • Kansas: $2.91 ($40.75) • Average cost in the U.S. to fully charge a Tesla Model Y Premium: $14.22 (up to 357 miles of range). • Average cost in the U.S. to fill up a Honda CR-V Hybrid: $48.30 (about 518 miles per tank). That’s 45% more range for the CR-V Hybrid, but 240% higher cost per fill, it can't self-drive and received a lower safety rating than the Model Y.

💯😂

a big reason college is such a bad investment is kids move away from home and the value of all relationships they’ve ever built goes to zero then you spend 4yrs making new friends and building a network and then everyone leaves and those relationships go to zero again now you are looking for work and don’t really know anyone in the city you’re living in no family, no day 1 homies, no college friends you make very narrow informational progress in one area at the expense of absolutely everything else in your life worth thinking about before selecting a school

This is absolutely inspiring! 81 years old, 29 sec 200m sprint!

The gold standard for research is that ~3 secret people will implicitly adjudicate truth and gate what science sees the light of day upon reading work the moment it drops (when instead, rigor and quality is substantively determined upon further testing over time). Many will claim the way to fix it is to pay these same people… or expand the pool from which these few people are sourced. Can’t wait for this totally bullshit system of scientific journal peer review to die, even if for orthogonal technological and operational factors

🎯