Six Ideas That Made Us Think

1. Americans Get Burned 

Alex Tabarrock, a veteran FDA watcher, explains why European sunscreen beats America’s. More efficient regulatory approval in Europe creates better, safer stuff. Another reason to skip the Jersey Shore for the Riviera:  

In the European Union, sunscreens are regulated as cosmetics, which means greater flexibility in approving active ingredients. In the U.S., sunscreens are regulated as drugs, which means getting new ingredients approved is an expensive and time-consuming process. Because they’re treated as cosmetics, European-made sunscreens can draw on a wider variety of ingredients that protect better and are also less oily, less chalky and last longer. Does the FDA’s lengthier and more demanding approval process mean U.S. sunscreens are safer than their European counterparts? Not at all. In fact, American sunscreens may be less safe.  

2. Microeconomics of Your Salad 

The Sweetgreen salad chain has sprouted up everywhere. But its food is healthier than its balance sheet. David Crowther crunchesthe P&L of your lunch: 

The cost of the actual food, drinks, and packaging is only a fraction (about $4.15 out of $15 in our example) of the final sale price. Labor costs take another $4.35 bite out of the earnings, and then rent, property costs, and other expenses swallow $3.78. Those total costs tally just over $12 — great! Sweetgreen’s restaurant operations, in isolation, are very profitable for a food service business… but, of course, there are overheads to consider. Those overheads take Sweetgreen well into the red. 

Still hungry? Dietician Julia Upton just dished out this guide on what to eat and avoid at Sweetgreen.

3. Where Do I Start? 

Chandler Dean has put together writing advice for “every speech you will ever have to give in your life.” Here’s guidance for the toughest assignment – the eulogy: 

My advice to anyone who doesn’t know where to start is: start. Get any words on the page. If you’re more comfortable speaking than writing, consider recording a voice memo and starting from a transcription. Then, once you’re done being mortified by the number of “ums,” “uhs,” and “likes” you’ve been subconsciously saying all your life, you can get to the second-hardest part of writing, which is editing. 

4. The Ethics of Denying Patients Ozempic 

New data shows that the weight loss drug Ozempic “slashes” risk of kidney failure and death for people with diabetes. In fact, in a clinical trial, the drug proved so effective that researchers deemed it unethical to withhold from the control group: 

Participants who received semaglutide were also 29% less likely to die from heart attacks and other major cardiovascular incidents than were those who got a placebo, and 20% less likely to die from any cause during the trial period. Semaglutide manufacturer Novo Nordisk...halted its kidney-disease trial because of a recommendation from an independent data-safety monitoring board that the overwhelmingly positive results made it unethical to continue to give some participants a placebo. 

5. The Successful War on Drunk Driving 

Nick Cowen has written a definitive examination of how efforts to stop drunk driving have succeeded. Criminologists were skeptical of success. But their assumptions were wrong:  

Many drunk drivers are thought to be alcoholics. That would suggest they are not paradigmatically good long-term decision-makers. This has led some researchers to claim, just as they do for other criminals, that prospective sanctions will not work on drunk drivers because of fundamental personality differences between them and the general public. What’s more, drunk driving has a very low detection rate. Can people really be worrying about getting caught when so few who drive under the influence are detected at all? In fact, these researchers are too pessimistic. Drunk driving was deterred and reduced much like other crimes. 

6. Why Things Are Clicky 

Steve Bryant writes what many have written before: writing advice. But his suggestions are tuned to an age of clicks and shares:  

 When you write, write for your audience’s audience (this is how things get shared) 

Whatever you write, make it timely, relevant, and interesting (this is why things are clicky) 

When you create a thing, the goal isn’t the thing; the goal is to create a relationship with the viewer of the thing. (this is how communities begin to be built) 

Websites Worth Reading

Emoji History: The early years of Emojis

Music vs. Lyrics: A debate on which matters more

3 Quarks Daily: Links on literature, science

Feeds We Follow

@CoffeewClassics: Best opening lines in literature

@planesanity: Airplane accidents

@Milei_Explains: Argentinian president in English