🔥 Modern Neanderthals 🐈 Cat parasite 🤝 Meeting hack

🔥 Modern Neanderthals 🐈 Cat parasite 🤝 Meeting hack

You know how Ben Franklin was obsessed with the "early to bed, early to rise" thing? Turns out, that was just Ben's Neanderthal DNA talking. (Kidding...maybe). A study published this week in Genome Biology and Evolution found that Neanderthal DNA remains in many humans and may determine whether you're naturally an early riser.

💊 Bad decongestants 😳 Laxative boom ⏰ "Bad day" hack Reading 🔥 Modern Neanderthals 🐈 Cat parasite 🤝 Meeting hack 5 minutes
The best news, hacks, & facts from the past week!
September 15, 2023 Sign Up | Shop

News outlets have seemingly decided "humans don't sell" and have gone all-in on alien content.

Perhaps the most bizarre and tantalizing story of late is a journalist and doctor recently presenting what they claimed to be "alien bodies" at a Mexican congressional hearing.

Every legitimate scientist who caught wind of the story spit out his or her coffee. The data didn't add up and the bodies were clearly fake. But did that stop the internet from exploding?! No...no it did not.

Side note: guess what WON'T make you spit your coffee out? Our new Pumpkin Spice IQJOE :)

As always, please forward IQNEWS to a friend if you're a fan!

STORY OF THE WEEK

Turns out, Benadryl is fake

image: self

I've consumed $50 of decongestants every time I got a cold since I was licking sidewalks as a small child. Benadryl, Mucinex, Nyquil - all were welcome in my household. Nay, all were CELEBRATED.

And yet...*room goes quiet*...it was all a lie.

On Tuesday, an FDA advisory panel found that phenylephrine - the active ingredient in every major decongestant brand - doesn't decongest. Translation: it doesn't work.

"Modern studies, when well conducted, show no improvement in congestion with phenylephrine," said Dr. Mark Dykewicz, an allergy specialist at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

This is just a tad significant, considering $1.8 BILLION of these meds are sold annually.

Some pharmacies have already started pulling the implicated decongestants off shelves and we may see this happen en masse in short order.

For me, two questions come to mind here: 1) how many other OTC drugs are useless, and 2) how do I get my $50 back?

IN OTHER NEWS

Lithium find, surprising generosity, laxative boom...

image: cnbc
Lithium
You can't create electric cars batteries without lithium. The country that controls lithium supply has an epic advantage in the space. Well...the world's largest deposit may have been discovered in Nevada.
Generosity
Economics is based on the idea that people are selfish. However, a recent experiment suggests this idea is flawed and humans are far more generous than we thought.
Cancer
The Institute for Health Metrics just published a shocking cancer report - cases have jumped by 80% in the last 30 years in people under 50. Diet, alcohol/tobacco, and poor exercise are likely major drivers.
Laxatives
The demand for laxatives is so high right now that there's a national shortage. An aging population, inadequate fiber consumption, less exercise, and more stress seem to be major contributing factors.
Spicy Food
Tragically, a teen died after eating one Paqui ultra-spicy tortilla chip. The incident spotlights a crop of medical reports that suggest that the pursuit of ever-spicier hot peppers is getting more dangerous.
HACK OF THE WEEK

The Four Quarters Method

image: fun times guide

We're all familiar with the concept of a "bad day."

First you spill your morning coffee. Then you forget to CC someone on an email. Then your dad calls you and tells you he thinks the idea you've been working on for several years is dumb. We've all been there, right? RIGHT?!

Well, author Gretchen Rubin has a nifty framework to pull you out of the "bad day" mindset...

Pretty simple: break your day into quarters.

Assuming you get 8 hours of sleep, you have 16 waking hours each day. Divide those into quarters. If you wake up at 6am, you'll have Morning (6am-10am), Midday (10am-2pm), Afternoon (2pm-6pm), and Evening (6pm-10pm).

If a series of bad things happen to you, chalk that up to a "bad quarter" (instead of a "bad day"). This simple re-framing allows you to bounce back and win even the gnarliest of days.

SHOWER THOUGHTS

1. The satisfaction of slamming down a phone in anger became extinct due to the mobile phone.

2. The word subtle has a subtle letter in it.

3. Humans never moved out of caves. We just started building and living in our own custom caves.

4. Think of how much money you'd save being a nudist.

5. Pens are designed to leak ink.

QUOTE / TIL / WORD / TRIVIA
Coco Chanel: “Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.”
Today I learned that after his presidency, George Washington opened a whisky distillery. (more here)
orotund [ ohr-uh-tuhnd ] - adjective
(of the voice or speech) characterized by strength, fullness, richness, and clearness
"Stand up, please" she said in a orotund tone.
Q: What is the meaning of "fn" on your computer keyboard?
A: (see below next section)
TWEET OF THE WEEK
image: twitter
TRIVIA ANSWER: Function.
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