James Smoliga, DVM, PhD

3I/ATLAS is the perfect internet drama:

One group: “Obviously a weird interstellar comet.”
Other group: “Obviously aliens.”

They’re looking at the same pixels.

Nothing exposes human confirmation bias faster than a new space rock.

This story recently made many headlines.

My comments here got a lot of engagment.

So, I decided to write more about it! Check it out on my free Substack newsletter, Beyond the Abstract: beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/when-a-fac...

Appreciated!

The Concussion Paradox: When Autonomy Collides with Impairment Jaxson Dart’s Week 10 head injury shows why self-reporting and “playing through it” remain football’s unsolved dilemma.

Unfortunate? But given his aggresive play style, was it unexpected?

It's no surprise that Dart tried to stay in the game, even though that wasn't in the best interest of his brain.

humanlimits.substack.com/p/the-concus...

The Concussion Paradox: When Autonomy Collides with Impairment Jaxson Dart’s Week 10 head injury shows why self-reporting and “playing through it” remain football’s unsolved dilemma.

Players are told to report symptoms of concussion, but they are often incentivized to downplay them.

It's no surprise that Dart tried to stay in the game, even though that wasn't in the best interest of his brain.

humanlimits.substack.com/p/the-concus...

Scientists Create $2 Saliva Test for Depression A $2 saliva test could transform early mental health diagnosis. Find out how it works and why it matters.

This came up in my feed and immediately triggered my BS detector.

The “$2 depression test” detects BDNF in saliva, not depression in people.

Cool engineering, zero diagnostic data.

Saliva ≠ brain, correlation ≠ diagnosis, prototype ≠ clinical tool.

www.emjreviews.com/en-us/amj/in...

⚾ The Don Mattingly Curse (and Why It’s Probably Just Statistical Probability) Eleven postseasons. Zero rings. Infinite narrative potential.

11 trips to the playoffs, but not a single World Series ring.

How unlikely is that?

humanlimits.substack.com/p/the-don-ma...

⚾ The Don Mattingly Curse (and Why It’s Probably Just Statistical Probability) Eleven postseasons. Zero rings. Infinite narrative potential.

How odd is it that he hasn't won one yet, despite making the playoffs 11 times?

humanlimits.substack.com/p/the-don-ma...

How an FDA cleared “brain protection” device built on shaky science made it to the NFL It’s time for the FDA to re-evaluate its decision to authorise Q-Collar, say James Smoliga and Mu Yang A wearable “brain protection” device known as the Q-Collar, which sells for $199 (£149; €170), ...

I should mention that I debunk lots of bad science.

Like a woodpecker-inspired anti-concussion collar (link at bottom)

Check out beyondtheabstract.substack.com for more!

www.bmj.com/content/391/...

This makes me want to write a letter-to-the-editor on this.

Look at those r2 values! The association for some of these issues seems to be tiny!

Faces and fitness: attractive evolutionary relationship or ugly hypothesis? | Biology Letters In recent years, various studies have attempted to understand human evolution by examining relationships between athletic performance or physical fitness and facial attractiveness. Over a wide range o...

About a decade ago, there was research claiming that faces could provide insight on athletic performance.

But, it was highly flawed on multiple levels.

So, we debunked it:
royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10....

⚾ The Don Mattingly Curse (and Why It’s Probably Just Statistical Probability) Eleven postseasons. Zero rings. Infinite narrative potential.

Is The Mattingly Curse real? @bluejays.com

Don Mattingly made the playoffs 11 times, but has 0 World Series rings.

I ran the math. There’s a 29% chance this would happen by luck alone: humanlimits.substack.com/p/the-don-ma...

In other words, he’s not cursed. He’s probability personified.

A sports device to ‘protect the brain’ illustrates a major problem with the FDA de novo pathway “This is not just about one device. It’s about what happens when institutions grow comfortable living in their own ambiguity and hiding behind opacity.”

Check out my latest:

A sports device to ‘protect the brain’ illustrates a major problem with the FDA de novo pathway www.statnews.com/2025/11/02/q... via @statnews.com

A sports device to ‘protect the brain’ illustrates a major problem with the FDA de novo pathway “This is not just about one device. It’s about what happens when institutions grow comfortable living in their own ambiguity and hiding behind opacity.”

"Patients and consumers shouldn’t need a FOIA request to understand whether “FDA authorized” reflects compelling evidence or a device permitted despite serious internal concerns, addressed only through labeling caveats."

www.statnews.com/2025/11/02/q...

Schneider Shorts 24.10.2025 – Our eureka moment Schneider Shorts 24.10.2025 – minibrained autism quacks poison Neanderthals, two sleuths expose massive FDA fail, journalists reveal secret investigation in Canada, California fraudster gets …

Happy Friday to those who celebrate!

forbetterscience.com/2025/10/24/s...

I truly feel for Sauce Gardner—not just for the concussion, but for believing the Q-Collar could actually protect his brain.

A few days ago, @washingtonpost.com featured him in their investigation questioning the evidence behind it.

www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

Thanks for sharing!

For those interested in the deeper story — incl data anomalies and the internal FDA deliberations — I’ve written two companion pieces:

📊 Data anomalies: beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/error-corr...
🧠 FDA authorization/weak evidence: humanlimits.substack.com/p/proven-to-...

Q-Collar: hope, hype, and another story of regulatory failure How far will you go to promote your medical invention? This is a question for clinical innovators. How far will you go to market the invention? This is a question for corporations whose primary purpos...

The BMJ's EIC's thoughts on Q-collar & FDA:

"the FDA, has a duty of care to the athletes and therefore the public. It’s a duty of care that the FDA failed to provide in its approval of Q-Collar—a decision that must be revisited."

@kamranabbasi.bsky.social
@bmj.com

www.bmj.com/content/391/...

football player wearing a Q-collar device

A more upsetting outcome is marketing of devices like the Q-collar, designed to protect athletes from brain injury, built on pseudoscience claiming to be inspired by bighorn sheep and woodpeckers, which untested, puts the user at risk 🧪

Thanks for sharing my work.

For more insight about the Q-collar story, check out my two substack posts:

1. Data anomalies: beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/error-corr...
2. FDA authorization, despite weak data: humanlimits.substack.com/p/proven-to-...

Thanks for sharing!

For more insight about the Q-collar story, check out my two substack posts:

1. Data anomalies: beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/error-corr...
2. FDA authorization, despite weak data: humanlimits.substack.com/p/proven-to-...

🧠 Can carbs really prevent concussions? Tua Tagovailoa thinks so—and the media ran with it. Tua Tagovailoa didn’t get a concussion — so which miracle worked this time?

Tua Tagovailoa says his secret to avoiding concussions is eating more carbs.

So… can bread really protect your brain?

I dug into the science (and the psychology).

Check out my brand new Human Limits newsletter, focused on sports science + medicine!

humanlimits.substack.com/p/can-carbs-...

The folklore of the “Swift” effect – lessons for medical research and clinical practice Taylor Swift’s presence at National Football League (NFL) games was reported to have a causal effect on the performance of Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs. Critical examination of the supposed...

It’s me, hi 👋 I’m the scientist, it’s me.

My new peer-reviewed study asks does Taylor Swift actually make Travis Kelce play better? 🏈🎤

The manuscript on Taylor Swift is published in @plosone.org

journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

At rest, your heart pumps ~5L of blood per minute.

During max exercise, cardiac output can quadruple to 20–25L >80% of that blood is redirected to skeletal muscle.

All powered by a pump the size of a red onion, squeezing into an aorta about as wide as a mini cucumber.

My Coke can visual ⬇️

Spotted at the grocery store today: pre-decorated pumpkins.

At what point did we as a society decide getting a sharpie marker out was just… too much effort? 🎃🤔

Science Is Not "Truth" Our knowledge evolves, our methods improve, and that’s what makes science worth trusting.

🧪 “If we tell people science is the search for truth, every correction looks like a lie exposed. If we tell them it’s the search for better explanations, every correction looks like progress.”

beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/science-is...

🧠 Hot Brain Summer: When Climate Journalism Overheats Why separating data from narrative matters — especially when the science is real, but the story overheats.

🧠 Hot Brain Summer is here! But not in the way you think.

Heat affects health. But that doesn’t mean your neurons are about to melt.

I unpack how science, storytelling, and activism can blur together—and why that matters.

👇 Full piece (it’s nuanced): beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/hot-brain-...

No Dogs Allowed? Questioning Pre-Surgery Pet Bans How Anecdotes Turned into Medical Dogma—and Why It Matters

Back in my vet school days, a professor told us dogs will get blamed for infections they didn't cause.

On that note, I decided to write about how pets are perceived as risks to joint replacement surgery patients. What's the evidence?

Plz read + share

beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/no-dogs-al...

Research Illusions: The Magic Behind Poor-Quality Science The Hidden Trap Doors and Sleight-of-Hand in Scientific Research

When does science become sleight-of-hand?

My latest Beyond the Abstract post uses magician tricks—palming, misdirection, forced choice—to unpack how flawed research fools us. And why spotting real science is harder than it looks.

beyondtheabstract.substack.com/p/research-i...

Didn’t expect this: Beyond the Abstract hit #40 on Substack’s rising Science leaderboard in its first 48 hours.

Thanks to everyone who’s read, shared, or supported it—I truly appreciate it. 🙏

Give it a read—and if it resonates, consider subscribing:
beyondtheabstract.substack.com