Steve Downs

thanks!

This would suggest an opportunity for more varied form factors -- i.e. 1 or 2-passenger vehicles, to go along with more traditional 4-5 passenger vehicles for groups. Any sense of the distribution of passengers per trip for Waymo now?

Trends and Disparities of US Adult Obesity Prevalence This study uses measured body mass index (BMI) data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey and bias-corrected BMI values calculated from self-reported height and weight data from th...

New paper projects that US obesity will increase from 42.5% to 46.9% by 2035.

I'm betting against it. By 2035, I think obesity rates will be lower than they are today.

Drugs, obviously.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

The approach of identifying problematic design features is significant (vs. blanket bans by age, for example)

For our latest newsletter, we look at the new Dietary Guidelines for America — what people are saying about it and what it means in the context of a food system dominated by ultraprocessed foods. And more… mailchi.mp/44fb99628b19...

unconscionable

powerful and clear from @marionnestle.bsky.social:

"If the government leaves it to you to 'do your own research' and fight the food system on your own, it is saying it has no responsibility for creating a food environment that can help you eat and enjoy real food.

It’s all on you."

Read about @thgoetz.bsky.social‘s excellent new podcast in the latest @buildingh.bsky.social newsletter and, better yet, listen to the first episode at drugstory.co

The wellness wild west is back on its bullshit with unapproved weight loss drugs I bought an unapproved, experimental drug in five minutes on TikTok.

In this week’s Optimizer, I buy an experimental “GLP-3” drug off the gray market after five minutes on TikTok.

The Wellness Wild West is unregulated and people are turning themselves into guinea pigs with unapproved weight loss drugs.

www.theverge.com/column/84640...

It’s Time to Save Silicon Valley From Itself Big Tech has lost its way. At WIRED’s Big Interview event, Techdirt editor Mike Masnick and Common Tools CEO Alex Komoroske announced a manifesto designed to help the industry get back on track.

www.wired.com/story/big-in...

The Food System Is Broken. The Narratives About It Don’t Have to Be. Why separating real structural problems from fear-based misinformation is essential for improving health in America.

This is good.

open.substack.com/pub/drjessic...

I got a sneak peek at this series and it is … so good!

Anyone want to buy a car that drives itself? No longer vaporware, but not ready for personal ownership.

Here we go: www.theverge.com/transportati...

🤦🏻‍♂️

Tx for flagging, @thgoetz.bsky.social -what a well-done visual feature, kudos @alicecallahan.bsky.social & team. The impact of a changing food environment is also key theme of important book by nutrition scientist @kevinh-phd.bsky.social & @juliabelluz.bsky.social timmermanreport.com/2025/10/food...

How America Got Hooked on Ultraprocessed Foods (Gift Article) They promised convenience and cheap nutrition. But they became one of the greatest health threats of our time.

With the news on ultraprocessed foods this week, it's worth going back to this excellent explainer, from @alicecallahan.bsky.social, on how we got to where we are today: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Report Finds That Leading Chatbots Are a Disaster for Teens Facing Mental Health Struggles A report found that leading chatbots are "fundamentally unsafe" for teens looking for mental health support, and failed to catch red flags.

NEW: A risk assessment found that leading general-use chatbots — ChatGPT, Gemini, Meta AI, and Claude — are "fundamentally unsafe" for teen mental health support, failing to catch important red flags and responding inappropriately to users exhibiting signs of crisis.

futurism.com/artificial-i...

Kudos to funders @neenap.bsky.social and @bloombergdotorg.bsky.social and all of the contributors for the moral clarity of this work.

Towards unified global action on ultra-processed foods: understanding commercial determinants, countering corporate power, and mobilising a public health response The rise of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in human diets is harming global public health. However, policy responses are still emerging—much like tobacco control efforts decades ago—indicating the need ...

3rd of 3: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Policies to halt and reverse the rise in ultra-processed food production, marketing, and consumption Dietary patterns high in ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have been associated with poor diet quality and health outcomes, and are displacing healthier dietary patterns—meals and dishes prepared with fres...

2nd of 3: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Ultra-processed foods and human health: the main thesis and the evidence This first paper in a three-part Lancet Series combines narrative and systematic reviews with original analyses and meta-analyses to assess three hypotheses concerning a dietary pattern based on ultra...

1st of 3 papers here: www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

At the launch of the @thelancet.com series on ultraprocessed foods, the speakers are making it crystal clear: the economic engine we use to produce the food system is hopelessly -- and dangerously -- at odds with societal goals for people’s health and the environment.

The deadliest roads in America The number of pedestrians killed by vehicles has increased in the U.S., with road infrastructure and inadequate safety measures among key contributing factors.

Smells like car bloat:

"More than 3,800 people were killed almost immediately when they were struck in 2023, an indication that high speeds and larger vehicles are making impacts more violent. The rate at which pedestrians are declared dead at the scene of the crash has more than doubled."

The surprising new use for GLP-1s: Alcohol and drug addiction Some doctors are prescribing weight-loss drugs such as Zepbound and Ozempic to help reduce cravings for illicit drugs and alcohol. But research on the benefits is limited.

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

The Applied Exercise Science at the Univ Michigan has launched two searches for tenure-line (open-rank) and clinical (asst/assoc prof) faculty colleagues with expertise in the Social and Behavioral Sciences of Physical Activity.

Incredible- Meta projected 10% of its 2024 revenue would come from ads for scams and banned goods, documents seen by Reuters show. And the social media giant internally estimates that its platforms show users 15 billion scam ads a day."

Business has long depended on emotional attachment as strategy to create switching costs. (E.g., Cadillac). Seems utterly obvious that despite their ethical commitments, the intentional engineering of AIs to generate human emotional attachment will soon be mainstream.

For our latest newsletter, we look at the current challenges facing public transit, how it matters for health, and ways to think about the future, ft perspectives from @humantransit.bsky.social, @davidzipper.bsky.social & @henriettalmoore.bsky.social -- and more mailchi.mp/bd7c1161a908...

Former F.D.A. Chief Backs Kennedy’s War on Processed Food

also popular in our newsletter last week was this piece in the @nytimes.com on former FDA commissioner @davidakesslermd.bsky.social's effort to rein in ultraprocessed foods: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/u...

Allergies seem nearly impossible to avoid — unless you’re Amish One Amish community living in northern Indiana is considered one of the least allergic populations ever measured in the developed world.

Another popular story from our newsletter last week was this piece, from @meeri.bsky.social on the curious case of low allergies among the Amish: www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...