David Despain (he/him/el)
@daviddespain.bsky.social
MSc in Nutrition. MSc in Science Communication. NY Marine Rescue volunteer.
𓂃 ོ Long Island ☼﹏𓊝﹏𓆉﹏
𓂃 ོ Long Island ☼﹏𓊝﹏𓆉﹏
How bowhead whales achieve a long healthspan — being better at fixing damaged DNA
Life Lessons From (Very Old) Bowhead Whales
www.nytimes.com
November 3, 2025 at 12:14 PM
How bowhead whales achieve a long healthspan — being better at fixing damaged DNA
What to know about exercise while on GLP-1 therapy
Can You Exercise While Taking GLP-1 Medication? Absolutely—Here’s How to Do It Safely.
Endocrinologists, nutritionists, and personal trainers explain why it's important to stick to your workout routine when taking a GLP-1—and how to maintain your gains
www.outsideonline.com
October 26, 2025 at 11:15 AM
What to know about exercise while on GLP-1 therapy
RIP, Jane Goodall www.npr.org/2025/10/01/4...
Jane Goodall, legendary primatologist, has died at age 91
Jane Goodall, primatologist who transformed our understanding of the lives of apes, has died, according to an announcement from the Jane Goodall Institute.
www.npr.org
October 1, 2025 at 10:10 PM
RIP, Jane Goodall www.npr.org/2025/10/01/4...
Reposted by David Despain (he/him/el)
🥀 🧪 Jane Goodall 1934-2025
Jane Goodall, one of the most influential environmental figures in human history, has died at 91 while touring the country to deliver an urgent message about nature and human existence.
“We’re destroying the planet,” she said last week during the Forbes Sustainability Leaders Summit in NYC.
“We’re destroying the planet,” she said last week during the Forbes Sustainability Leaders Summit in NYC.
Listen to Jane Goodall’s final — and urgent — message
Her final interviews are essential listening for everyone.
www.vox.com
October 1, 2025 at 10:03 PM
🥀 🧪 Jane Goodall 1934-2025
Amazing www.redbull.com/us-en/andrze...
World first: Andrzej Bargiel just skied down Everest without bottled oxygen
The Polish athlete becomes the first person to climb to and ski from Mount Everest's summit without supplementary oxygen - cementing his place among the legends of high-mountain endurance.
www.redbull.com
September 26, 2025 at 2:39 AM
Amazing www.redbull.com/us-en/andrze...
Reposted by David Despain (he/him/el)
Hominin fossils from the Ledi-Geraru Research Project area, Ethiopia, suggest that early Homo and Australopithecus species co-existed in the region more than 2.5 million years ago, according to a paper published in Nature. go.nature.com/45Np847🏺 🧪
August 27, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Hominin fossils from the Ledi-Geraru Research Project area, Ethiopia, suggest that early Homo and Australopithecus species co-existed in the region more than 2.5 million years ago, according to a paper published in Nature. go.nature.com/45Np847🏺 🧪
This is helpful www.scientificamerican.com/article/weir...
Weird Weather: How to Tell a Williwaw from a Haboob
You may have endured a frost quake, pogonip or Saskatchewan screamer without knowing it. Take our tour of weird weather terms to find out
www.scientificamerican.com
August 27, 2025 at 2:49 AM
This is helpful www.scientificamerican.com/article/weir...
I really enjoyed this article on the brain's glymphatic system, from the discovery of how brains "wash" themselves" to new frontiers including "glymphograms" to measure brain clearance efficiency. I'm looking forward to seeing where this research leads in the years ahead. Now, time for bed.
Your Brain Literally Washes Itself while You Sleep
Washing waste from the brain is an essential function of sleep—and it could help ward off dementia
www.scientificamerican.com
August 20, 2025 at 9:13 PM
I really enjoyed this article on the brain's glymphatic system, from the discovery of how brains "wash" themselves" to new frontiers including "glymphograms" to measure brain clearance efficiency. I'm looking forward to seeing where this research leads in the years ahead. Now, time for bed.
The Need for Speed: Improving Muscle Power for Longevity - Mayo Clinic Proceedings www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S002...
The Need for Speed: Improving Muscle Power for Longevity
Cardiorespiratory (aerobic) fitness (CRF), often quantified by peak oxygen consumption,
is a powerful predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) as well as of all-cause and
CVD-related mortality.1 Howe...
www.mayoclinicproceedings.org
August 20, 2025 at 6:44 PM
The Need for Speed: Improving Muscle Power for Longevity - Mayo Clinic Proceedings www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S002...
Reposted by David Despain (he/him/el)
🩸A new study shows that adding SARS-CoV-2’s main protease (Mpro) enzyme to plasma from healthy donors can trigger blood clots by activating coagulation factors VII and XII. buff.ly/hWZB7aS
🩸This may help explain why COVID increases blood clot risk.
#medsky #hemesky #IDsky 🛟😷🧪
🩸This may help explain why COVID increases blood clot risk.
#medsky #hemesky #IDsky 🛟😷🧪
August 2, 2025 at 6:26 PM
🩸A new study shows that adding SARS-CoV-2’s main protease (Mpro) enzyme to plasma from healthy donors can trigger blood clots by activating coagulation factors VII and XII. buff.ly/hWZB7aS
🩸This may help explain why COVID increases blood clot risk.
#medsky #hemesky #IDsky 🛟😷🧪
🩸This may help explain why COVID increases blood clot risk.
#medsky #hemesky #IDsky 🛟😷🧪
Go watch this
Attenborough’s Ocean is the film I’ve been waiting my whole career for – now the world must act on its message | George Monbiot
The documentary shows the damage that fishing does to our planet. So why does the industry still hold governments to ransom? asks Guardian columnist George Monbiot
www.theguardian.com
June 19, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Go watch this
Sea turtle conservation strategies
Status, trends and conservation of global sea turtle populations - Nature Reviews Biodiversity
This Review takes stock of global sea turtle populations, summarizing the dominant threats and most effective conservation interventions.
www.nature.com
June 17, 2025 at 11:24 PM
Sea turtle conservation strategies
Reposted by David Despain (he/him/el)
The Science I Would Be Doing if I Weren’t in ICE Detention
By Kseniia Petrova
"Ms. Petrova is a Russian scientist who works in a lab at Harvard Medical School. She told her story through a Times Opinion editor, Alex Ellerbeck, over multiple calls from an ICE detention center."
By Kseniia Petrova
"Ms. Petrova is a Russian scientist who works in a lab at Harvard Medical School. She told her story through a Times Opinion editor, Alex Ellerbeck, over multiple calls from an ICE detention center."
Opinion | The Science I Would Be Doing if I Weren’t in ICE Detention
www.nytimes.com
May 13, 2025 at 12:20 PM
The Science I Would Be Doing if I Weren’t in ICE Detention
By Kseniia Petrova
"Ms. Petrova is a Russian scientist who works in a lab at Harvard Medical School. She told her story through a Times Opinion editor, Alex Ellerbeck, over multiple calls from an ICE detention center."
By Kseniia Petrova
"Ms. Petrova is a Russian scientist who works in a lab at Harvard Medical School. She told her story through a Times Opinion editor, Alex Ellerbeck, over multiple calls from an ICE detention center."
Reposted by David Despain (he/him/el)
The National Weather Service costs the average American $4 and prevents billions of dollars of damage PER YEAR. One in three local offices are now "critically understaffed" while summer's weather threats loom. 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
The National Weather Service Is Understaffed and Facing Huge Cuts—That Could Cost Lives
Weather experts warn that staff cuts at the National Weather Service that have been made by the Trump administration are a danger to public safety as tornadoes, hurricanes and heat loom this spring an...
www.scientificamerican.com
May 13, 2025 at 12:28 PM
The National Weather Service costs the average American $4 and prevents billions of dollars of damage PER YEAR. One in three local offices are now "critically understaffed" while summer's weather threats loom. 🧪 www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-...
What was food like before the FDA? www.popsci.com/health/food-... @deborahb.bsky.social
What was food like before the FDA?
Formaldehyde, brick dust, lead, and borax once made grocery shopping a minefield.
www.popsci.com
May 5, 2025 at 12:14 AM
What was food like before the FDA? www.popsci.com/health/food-... @deborahb.bsky.social
Cheers to the chimps, not so different from us 🍻
Wild chimpanzees share fermented fruits
Bowland and colleagues document intake of naturally fermented breadfruit containing
alcohol by wild chimpanzees.
www.cell.com
May 2, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Cheers to the chimps, not so different from us 🍻
Opportunistic penguins www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
What the ‘trash heap’ penguins of Argentina are teaching us about survival
For more than 60 million years, penguins of all kinds—including the opportunistic Magellanic penguin—have been driven by an evolutionary urge to reach beyond their boundaries. Today, many are surfacin...
www.nationalgeographic.com
April 20, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Opportunistic penguins www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/arti...
Wake me up when we live in a free country again
Leading Nutrition Scientist Departs N.I.H., Citing Censorship
Kevin Hall said his work on ultraprocessed foods has been “hobbled” under the Trump administration. Scientists have been raising such concerns for months.
www.nytimes.com
April 18, 2025 at 3:44 PM
Wake me up when we live in a free country again
NYC, please take note!
Paris said au revoir to cars. Air pollution maps reveal a dramatic change.
Air pollution fell substantially as the city restricted car traffic and made way for parks and bike lanes.
www.washingtonpost.com
April 17, 2025 at 12:53 PM
NYC, please take note!
Lilly's oral GLP-1 drug completes phase 3 trial, up for FDA approval for weight loss this year, T2D in 2026
Lilly's oral GLP-1 drug delivers Ozempic-like efficacy in phase 3 diabetes trial
Eli Lilly has met its goal of achieving semaglutide-like efficacy with an oral GLP-1 drug. | Eli Lilly has met its goal of achieving semaglutide-like efficacy with an oral GLP-1 drug. The phase 3 stud...
www.fiercebiotech.com
April 17, 2025 at 12:49 PM
Lilly's oral GLP-1 drug completes phase 3 trial, up for FDA approval for weight loss this year, T2D in 2026
Interesting. Overall from the study, looks like a 11-14% reduction in risk of all-cause dementia, and 12-19% reduction in risk of AD in APOE4 non-carriers (depending on score) -- that is meaningful -- but no effect on APOE4 carriers.
EAT-Lancet planetary diet shows no dementia risk, may protect against Alzheimer’s
In a large Swedish study, researchers found that the environmentally sustainable EAT-Lancet diet does not increase dementia risk and may lower the risk of Alzheimer’s and all-cause dementia, particula...
www.news-medical.net
April 17, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Interesting. Overall from the study, looks like a 11-14% reduction in risk of all-cause dementia, and 12-19% reduction in risk of AD in APOE4 non-carriers (depending on score) -- that is meaningful -- but no effect on APOE4 carriers.