I just finished my yearly read of Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It. It is a beautiful book about fly fishing, where the rhythms and art of fishing serve as a metaphor for the struggles of love, relationships, and life. It remains my favorite literary exploration of the human condition. I find solace in how Maclean frames our ephemeral lives against geologic time scales and the majesty of nature, capturing the profound paradox: we cannot fully understand others, even when we care about them, and, as such, we are all alone, together. I draw inspiration from the prose and backstory; I suspect we all have one good, unwritten book in us. Learn more (Maclean wrote his first book at age 70): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Maclean "On the Big Blackfoot River above the mouth of Belmont Creek the banks are fringed by large Ponderosa pines. In the slanting sun of late afternoon the shadows of great branches reached from across the river, and the trees took the river in their arms. The shadows continued up the bank, until they included us. A river, though, has so many things to say that it is hard to know what it says to each of us. As we were packing our tackle and fish in the car, Paul repeated, "Just give me three more years." At the time, I was surprised at the repetition, but later I realized that the river somewhere, sometime, must have told me, too, that he would receive no such gift." Maclean, Norman. A River Runs Through It and Other Stories, Twenty-fifth Anniversary Edition (pp. 101-102). (Function). Kindle Edition. --- Listen to a Google Notebook LM-generated podcast of the newsletter, featuring two virtual hosts. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-gDYVs41ZqNNb4JRYtiU3dD-kyd0zMXp/view ------ Science and Technology Trends STAT News highlights a novel pre-clinical mRNA technology. Researchers are introducing transcription factors to induce basal skin stem cells to "rejuvenate" - treating scars, age-related skin changes, and hair loss (alopecia). [How many people who are skeptical of mRNA vaccines would be open to anti-aging and cosmetic mRNA treatments?] The STAT article highlights the ongoing work in biomedical technology, and the Harvard website is clearly investor-targeted marketing. Nevertheless, the novel use of mRNA technology is interesting. Paywall STAT article: https://www.st tnews.com/2025/11/06/biotech-investment-hair-loss-treatment-pelage-pharmaceuticals-veradermics/ The Harvard Institute conducting the mRNA research for hair loss treatment is: https://wyss.harvard.edu/technology/geneskin-a-novel-mrna-therapy-for-skin-and-hair-rejuvenation/ In 2023, Florida banned elementary and middle school students from using wireless communication devices during the school day. In high school, students can use wireless communication devices outside instructional time or when directed by a teacher solely for educational purposes. The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) published an analysis of the 2024-2025 school year: "First, we show that the enforcement of cellphone bans in schools led to a significant increase in student suspensions in the short-term, especially among Black students, but disciplinary actions began to dissipate after the first year, potentially suggesting a new steady state after an initial adjustment period. Second, we find significant improvements in student test scores in the second year of the ban after that initial adjustment period. Third, the findings suggest that cellphone bans in schools significantly reduce student unexcused absences, an effect that may explain a large fraction of the test score gains. The effects of cellphone bans are more pronounced in middle and high school settings where student smartphone ownership is more common." For context, this report is based on one school year of data from one FL school district and cannot control for many other confounders. It will be interesting if long-term data demonstrate similar outcomes in different states (with similar bans), sustained test performance, and improved graduation rates. NBER https://www.nber.org/papers/w34388 Perplexity AI-supported summarized Analysis (Claude doesn't like 49-page PDF files). https://www.perplexity.ai/search/summarize-this-in-a-new-artifa-yHrG22P6TAe_497bP5G_4g#0 Anti-Science Articles of Note It's been a good (in the not positive sense) week for bad science. On Friday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) voted 8 to 3 to change its recommendation on Hepatitis B vaccination for all babies at birth. ACIP is now endorsing Hep B vaccine only for infants born to mothers who test positive for the virus. [Adam's editorial comment - this vote is monumentally foolish - there are enormous amounts of data on the safety, efficacy, and value of timing of Hep B vaccines as is.] The Hill: https://thehill.com/policy/he lthcare/5636479-acip-hepatitis-b-vaccine-vote-takeaways/ Here is an analysis from a team of epidemiologists, pharmacists, and physicians who believe in science. They assert that the childhood vaccine schedule is strategically timed based on disease epidemiology, immune response optimization, and practical considerations in healthcare delivery. Multiple layers of evidence support these assertions—including concomitant use studies, post-marketing surveillance systems (VAERS, VSD, CISA), and a 2013 Institute of Medicine report. Blog: https://theunb asedscipod.substack.com/p/evidence-not-guesswork-the-childhood AI-supported Summary of Blog: https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/66b7b8fa-713f-48e0-b7da-45371be8a1af And for those with a short attention span, the Instagram immunologist Dr. Noc breaks the Hep B issue down: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DRzylffjvfw/?igsh=NzNiZWhreDFueTE= South Carolina is now among the states experiencing measles outbreaks, in part due to the relative ease of obtaining non-medical religious exemptions from school vaccination requirements. As the percentage of the population vaccinated drops below 95% the likelihood of outbreaks increases (even in previously vaccinated individuals). Measles has an R0 (R naught or basic reproduction number) of 12-18, meaning that a single infected person will, on average, infect 12-18 others. For comparison, R0 for other illnesses: Seasonal influenza: 1.3 Original SARS-CoV-2: ~2.5 COVID Delta variant: ~5-6 Chickenpox: ~10-12 Measles: ~12-18 How many of the 12-18 infected individuals would rather not get measles? https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/measles-outbreak-south-carolina-vaccine-misinformation-kennedy-rfk/ https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/d9b5c2fe-3d61-4353-8481-bb7f090fc693 Living with AI Dr. Julio La Torre, a hospitalist at Cedars-Sinai and an AI entrepreneur, wrote a fascinating (if somewhat self-serving) Analysis of the Epic EHR data problem. I am skeptical of his assertion that Epic is dying a slow death through technical irrelevance/disintermediation. Still, I appreciate his Analysis of how Epic's data architecture and "closed" system make it challenging to fully leverage AI to unlock the value of enormous volumes of clinical data. https://substack.com/ ome/post/p-180433769 AI-assisted Analysis: https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/7e9194fd-e5c2-42ed-82db-fa4136e4f053 The use of prisoner phone call data to predict crime is simultaneously amazing and dystopian. https://www.technologyreview.com/2025/12/01/1128591/an-ai-model-trained-on-prison-phone-calls-is-now-being-used-to-surveil-inmates/ I wonder if the AI tech listening to prison phone calls is tuned to poetry. Wired published "Poems Can Trick AI Into Helping You Make a Nuclear Weapons. It turns out all the guardrails in the world won't protect a chatbot from meter and rhyme." https://www.wired.com/story/poems-can-trick-ai-into-helping-you-make-a-nuclear-weapon/ Anthropic (makers of Claude) developed an AI-powered interview tool and used it to conduct 1,250 structured interviews with professionals (general workforce: n=1,000; scientists: n=125; creatives: n=125) to understand how workers integrate AI into their professional practice and envision its future role.
Flu in Europe:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74xqn2zg1eo
Wastewater Scan offers a multi-organism wastewater dashboard with an excellent visual display of individual treatment plant-level data. https://data.wastewaterscan.org/
Clean hands and sharp minds team,
Adam