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So, where exactly is that lead in your Stanley Quencher?

The 3D X-ray startup Lumafield did a CT scan of a Stanley Quencher water bottle to show you without destroying one (but if your viral insulated cup does happen to break, you should return it).

You can see where an airhole in the stainless steel outer layer is vacuum-sealed with a small lead pellet, which appears red in the image below. That way, it never comes in contact with your beverage in the inner flask or with you on the outside.


A diagram of a CT-scanned Stanley Quench separated into sections.
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90 scientists sign letter aimed at preventing AI bioweapons.

That’s a haunting thought, but the letter outlines principles for the responsible use of AI in designing new proteins (aka the building blocks of life). The fear is that AI could be used to generate new viruses or toxins. That said, the letter doesn’t seek to ban AI use completely — in fact the scientists say the benefits outweigh the harms. Rather, they’re hoping to regulate the actual equipment used to generate new genetic materials.


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Dexcom just got FDA clearance for an OTC glucose sensor.

Usually, the health tech I see at CES is vaporware, but good news! Dexcom’s Stelo continuous glucose biosensor just got FDA clearance, making it the first ever to not require a prescription. Stelo is meant to help folks with Type 2 diabetes who don’t use insulin better manage their condition.

It’ll be available starting this summer. We still don’t know pricing, but when I spoke with Dexcom in January they said it was meant to be an affordable.


How caregivers are using smart tech to help aging parents

Smart home devices can offer independence, safety, and companionship.

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Withings finally adds cycle tracking to its app.

Withings users can access the feature by pressing the “+” icon in the app’s Home tab and entering some basic questions about their period. You can also add tags for symptoms, and receive trends based on your last three cycles.

Withings is late to the game. Most major wearables started adding period tracking in 2018. That said, the timing makes sense as it recently launched its ScanWatch 2, which has temperature sensors and lets you add cycle data straight from the wrist. Ah well, better late than never.


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It’s not looking good for the EPA’s ‘Good Neighbor Plan.’

The largely conservative Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday for Ohio v. EPA, and it sounds like SCOTUS is sympathetic to plaintiffs fighting the agency’s Good Neighbor Plan. The plan would force states, including Ohio, to prevent smog-forming pollution from drifting downwind to other states. More than a dozen states are fighting the plan in lower courts, and Ohio wants SCOTUS to force the EPA to pause the plan entirely while those legal battles are ongoing. Whether SCOTUS sides with Ohio now likely points to how it would rule later if any of those cases in lower courts ultimately make their way to SCOTUS.


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Swiss company Vestergaard changed the coating on its malaria bed nets — and now malaria cases are soaring.

The new coating was cheaper, and much less effective. Did Vestergaard disclose the change to malaria control organizations, at least? No.

“This is a huge embarrassment,” [Tim] Freeman said. [He is a program manager for an organization attempting to eliminate malaria.] “They’ve been distributing, for 10 years, lower quality nets than in the past. No one wants to admit that.”


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Staying on Ozempic for weight loss in the long-term is expensive. Now what?

One reason GLP-1 drugs are tough for patients to take long-term is the cost... even without a telehealth subscription (expensive in its own right), the drugs are pricey. Doctors tell The Wall Street Journal that insurers are approving fewer patients’ prescriptions. And it’s not yet clear how to get off Ozempic and its ilk without regaining weight.


Switching to electric vehicles would be fantastic for kids’ health

Fewer asthma attacks, less bronchitis, and healthier lives for millions of kids.

Elon Musk has news on Neuralink’s first human implant and a new product name: Telepathy.

Elon Musk’s other other company, the brain-machine interface startup Neuralink, has apparently put an implant in a human, who is recovering well and seeing “promising neuron spike detection.”

As for why you’d let Musk put a chip in your brain, he says its first product, Telepathy, would bring control of a phone or computer just by thinking, as demonstrated previously with Pong-playing monkeysread here for more on the monkey experiments.


Elon tweets reading: “The first human received an implant from @Neuralink  yesterday and is recovering well.  Initial results show promising neuron spike detection.” “The first @Neuralink  product is called Telepathy.” “Enables control of your phone or computer, and through them almost any device, just by thinking.  Initial users will be those who have lost the use of their limbs.   Imagine if Stephen Hawking could communicate faster than a speed typist or auctioneer. That is the goal.”
Elon Musk Neuralink tweets on January 29th, 2024.
Screenshot: Elon Musk (X) (1) (2)
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Some more advice on aging, and not just for the young.

Given the emails I’ve been receiving about my advice to Gen Z, I thought many of you might enjoy this bittersweet essay by 90-year-old Sam Toperoff. He suggests that even in the absolute twilight years, there are still things to look forward to:

Here is the paradox simply told: Even while I am moving deeper into very old age, recognizing and recording my own diminishing as time passes, my truth is that this last decade has been the happiest of my entire life. 

One day I hope to find out what he means.


In the Land of the Very Old

[The Sunday Long Read]

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The viral cups that people are fighting each other over contain lead.

Stanley, the maker of the obscenely large adult sippy cups that people are going feral over, confirms that yes, one part of the cups is made with lead — but that exposure to it would be “rare.” Lead in drinking cups has been a problem with other brands’ products in the past.

Some background: people are stockpiling Stanley cups in a rainbow of colors. They’re losing their jobs at Target for these things. There are Stanley cup flippers who buy up limited edition colors and sell them for $200 on Facebook Marketplace. I have a feeling the lead will not dissuade the fans.


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I dedicate this post to the NSA agent who’s assigned to looking at my cat photos.

The NSA is buying your internet data!

Intelligence and law enforcement agencies sometimes purchase potentially sensitive and revealing domestic data from brokers that would require a court order to acquire directly.

Internet metadata can reveal sensitive information, such as whether someone is seeing “a telehealth provider who focuses on birth control or abortion medication,” Senator Ron Wyden says in his letter confirming the NSA is firmly in your business.


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Samsung’s eyeing noninvasive blood glucose monitoring.

In a recent Bloomberg interview, Samsung executive Hon Pak says it’s actively pursuing noninvasive blood glucose monitoring and continuous blood pressure checks. Pak declined to give any concrete timeline but said he hopes to bring it to market in five years.

This is all part of a larger push toward health, as evidenced by the forthcoming Galaxy Ring. (Which Bloomberg says is unlikely to work with iOS.) Just take stories like this with a grain of salt. There’s a good reason why this tech is taking so long, and probably won’t end up in wearables the way we expect.


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Fitbit’s WEAR-ME study is exploring whether wearables can monitor metabolic health.

Fitbit is working with Quest Diagnostics to see whether metrics like heart rate, heart rate variability, sleep cycles, and stress can be used to detect early signs of metabolic deterioration — a leading cause of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and Type 2 diabetes.

To do that, WEAR-ME study participants will need their blood drawn so Fitbit can draw correlations and develop algorithms for assessing metabolic health. Not a typical step for these kinds of studies! This could be very cool, or perhaps end up as vaporware, but you can find more information here.


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Wearing a German Bionic exoskeleton was an awesome and deeply weird experience.

The German Bionic Apogee+ is designed to protect backs of medical workers lifting patients out of beds and wheelchairs. It robotically lifts 66 pounds from lower back onto hips and legs, plus adds handles for patients to grab. Hours of use from a small Makita power tool battery!

It didn’t make me feel stronger or faster — except the new robotic spine automatically lifting me upright. It’s designed to be shared among a crew of workers for $9,900.


This high-tech sex toy syncs its vibes with music

The Oh! by Ohdoki uses the same LRA motor as a PlayStation controller and can sync with adult content via the ‘Handyverse.’

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Nanoplastics are another reason to ditch bottled water.

Researchers discovered up to 100 times more nanoplastics in bottled water than previous estimates. Add that the growing list of places microplastics are accumulating where they really shouldn’t be — including babies’ poop, seafood, the Arctic, and Great Lakes.


Here’s how you know urine Eureka Park.

At CES, Eureka Park is where you’ll find a ton of smaller startups and tech companies working on next-gen ideas. It’s also where you’ll generally find a handful of companies trying to innovate the way we pee. Toilet humor aside, there’s a lot of valuable information stored in urine — which is why it’s an area of interest for the health tech community. Here’s a look at three urine-related tech startups that caught my eye.


MEDiLIGHT bladder monitor on a mannequin

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MEDiLight is a wearable designed to help people who have a hard time gauging when it’s time to pee. It uses near-infrared light to monitor your bladder levels and will alert you when you need to empty the tank.
Photo by Victoria Song / The Verge
Formlabs says 3D-printed dentures made with its new resin look like the real thing.

The company announced at CES today that its “Premium Teeth Resin” has been registered with the FDA and enables 3D-printed dentures with “life-like aesthetics” that mimic “natural teeth translucency and opalescence.”

Dentists can order the resin now for $550 per kilogram.


Dentures made with Formlabs’ premium resin.
Dentures made with Formlabs’ premium resin.
Image: Formlabs
Apply (in)directly to the forehead.

I don’t know if this $249.95 Withings BeamO “multiscope” will ever gain a place in the culture that matches that of HeadOn, but combining a thermometer, stethoscope, pulse oximeter, and EKG all-in-one is ambitious, to say the least.

Check out the rest of the news from CES 2024 right here.


A woman pictured holding the next to herforehead, with illustrated veins overlaid on her skin to show how it can read temperature, pulse, EKY, and other data in a single contactless scanning device.
BeamO multiscope
Image: Withings