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The First Cohort
Medical research, with the receipts
Cancer

A Korean lab found cancer’s DNA-repair off-switch. In a mouse.

A tool compound strips the DNA-repair proteins tumors use to dodge PARP inhibitors. Preclinical only — but the gap between treated and control animals is the story.

Lena Marshall · 6 min read
Tumor clearance at 8 weeks — treated vs. control
Source: Kim et al., 2026 (preprint) — n=24 per group, murine xenograft model
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Metabolic

Where your sodium actually comes from

The saltshaker gets the blame. Processed food does the work — roughly 71% of daily sodium intake versus 6–20% from what you add at the table.

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Drugs & FDA

Europe had this sunscreen in 1999. The FDA approved it Tuesday.

A 27-year wait for a UV filter Europeans have used for decades. The approval is routine; the timeline is not.

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The Sunday Cohort

Weekly research digest, no noise

The week’s most important findings, with the sourcing intact. One email, every Sunday.

No ads. No tracking. Unsubscribe any time.
Infectious Disease

A DoD-funded fentanyl vaccine is headed to Phase 1

Antibodies that bind fentanyl before it reaches the brain. The DoD funded it; the overdose epidemic gave it urgency; Phase 1 trials will tell us whether the immune system can do what naloxone does.

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Brain & Aging

The Alzheimer’s drug that bets the plaques are a symptom

If amyloid is the body’s response to something else, clearing it may not be clearing the disease. This drug bets differently.

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Autoimmune

Fish oil rewired the T-cells in non-obese diabetic rats

Omega-3s shifted regulatory T-cell ratios in an animal model of Type 1 diabetes. Promising mechanism, long road to a human trial.

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Cancer

ALTAIR missed its endpoint. The press tour found something else.

The trial failed on progression-free survival. The company’s communications found a subgroup. Read the prespecified endpoint first.

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Nutrition

The thin trial behind England’s next supermarket-layout mandate

A government-mandated planogram shift covering thousands of stores traces back to a single small study. The evidence base deserves a closer read.

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Investigations

A Senate subcommittee just put the COVID-shot cancer question on the record

Not a fringe hearing. A formal subcommittee proceeding with named witnesses and entered documents. What went into the record, and what it means.

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Investigations

The $401 CBC and the $32 CBC are the same test

Same reagents, same analyzer, same 23 values. Twelve-fold price spread across facilities in a single metro area. The billing codes are identical.

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Investigations

A 16-foot fire tornado burned an oil slick with 40% less soot

Controlled vortex combustion accelerates burn efficiency enough to meaningfully cut particulate output. The physics are counterintuitive; the numbers are real.

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