Phobias, Peptide Safety, and Long COVID Treatment

Everyone has fears, but phobias are specific, intense fears that cripple one's ability to conduct activities of day-to-day life. Common phobias include fears of spiders, snakes, heights, and flying. Phobias must persist for six months or longer to be officially diagnosed. 

> Nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, may be "the phobia of the 21st century." (More)

> About 19.2 million Americans suffer from phobias, including omphalophobia, an intense fear of the belly button. (More)
> Phobias of creepy-crawly animals, including mice, are prevalent in the US. (More)

Phobias can manifest for multiple reasons, and some research suggests that there are both environmental and genetic factors. Traumatic early life experiences can lead to phobias, as can observing others' fears or hearing other people talk about them. Yet these types of exposures will not always result in phobia development—life experiences can have different effects on different people. 

> Fear or disgust related to clusters of holes and cracks, called trypophobia, may stem from evolutionary processes to help us avoid pathogens. (More)

> Recent research suggests parents should rethink their approach to phobias. (More)

> Explore what 20,000 letters to an advice columnist tell us about US anxieties and concerns. (More)

Exposure therapy, or gradually exposing oneself to the thing you're afraid of, remains the leading phobia treatment approach, and virtual reality advances are making it more accessible. Other treatment and management options include cognitive behavioral therapy and medication to support phobia symptoms.

> Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation. (More)

Discover more: 

> Apeirophobia is the fear of everlasting life, perhaps related to the brain's inability to conceptualize something infinite. (More)

> See 16 art pieces that were inspired by or evoke elements of top phobias. (More)

> ... and explore everything we learned about phobias. 

In partnership with EnergyX

The 1,700%+ Lesson From SpaceX’s IPO

SpaceX IPO’d at a $1.75T valuation. Three days later, they were the 6th-most valuable public company. Those who bought at the open saw 40% gains. Andreessen Horowitz, who invested back in 2023? 1,700%+. The lesson? Today’s biggest growth can come at the private stage. 

Now, a similar dynamic’s playing out in lithium, where industry giants like General Motors backed $1B+ private unicorn EnergyX. This time, you can join them. EnergyX’s patented tech recovers up to 3X more lithium than usual methods. They opened America’s largest lithium production demo facility of its kind, and recently won a conditional lease at Texas’ Red River Army Depot to process lithium. And with lithium demand projected to grow 5X by 2040, they’re perfectly positioned.

Now, they’re preparing to unlock ~15M+ tons across the Americas. Become an EnergyX investor by 7/16.*

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 News in Context 

1440 brings you the knowledge and context behind recent intriguing stories:

The US government just gave personalized medicine a boost with the world's largest database of human genomes paired with clinical data. (More)

> Precision medicine offers tailored, individualized medical care, informed by genomics, data analytics, and other technologies.

> The Human Genome Project met its goals, but its outcomes were overpromised.

An FDA panel will evaluate seven popular peptides on July 23 and July 24, including those marketed for wellness or regenerative properties, such as BPC-157 and TB-500. (More)

> Watch this primer on BPC-157, a peptide composed of 15 amino acids. 

> China is supplying many of the peptides or peptide components that are being sold in the US. 

> ProPublica spotlighted unsolved emergencies following peptide injections.

There's a suspected Marburg virus outbreak in Uganda, complicating the Ebola response. (More)

> Marburg is related to Ebola and was discovered first but has no vaccine.

The National Institutes of Health is expected to award fewer grants overall this year—this follows last year's drop, when the agency funded 2,800 fewer new grants in 2025 than the average number in fiscal years 2021-24. (More)

> Roughly 40% of basic US research is federally funded, including much of the foundational research that underpins modern vaccines.

 Medical Developments Spotlight 

We love spending time learning about the latest medical breakthroughs and spotlighting research that piques our interest, may influence future research directions, or inform healthcare conversations. Here's what we found this week.

Fake cancer research papers are proliferating and are widely cited in real research. 

BioRxiv | Baptiste Scancar, Jennifer A. Byrne, et al. Paper mills, groups that produce and sell fabricated or low-quality research, are receiving as many as double the number of citations as authentic papers in the years following their publication, according to an analysis of more than 30,000 articles. The finding was published on a preprint server, meaning the work hasn't yet been peer reviewed. (More)

> See why a universal cancer treatment remains out of reach, with such varied malignancies.

People with HIV are 4.5 times more likely to develop a cancer fueled by HPV.

CIRDAP | Liz Szabo. Sex can expose humans to human papillomavirus, a group of viruses linked to six cancer types, but the body can usually clear the pathogens.  New analysis of more than 300,000 people in Sweden concludes that people with HIV—a disease that compromises the immune system—are about 59 times as likely to develop anal cancer as compared to other people. To a lesser extent, it also elevates the risks of penile, vulvar, and cervical cancer. (More)

> HPV vaccines drastically reduce cancer risks for men and women, including cervical cancer risks by 90%.

Cognitive rehab, used after strokes, also effectively treats long COVID brain fog. 

JAMA Network Open | Martina Vanova, Aysha Mohamed Rafik Patel, et al. A randomized controlled trial of 78 people finds that cognitive rehabilitation, delivered as 10 weekly hourlong telehealth sessions, helped participants with cognitive impairment linked to their long COVID achieve their goals related to returning to work or improving work performance. (More)

> There are four main theories about the causes of long COVID—a term now used to describe a range of conditions.

 ICYMI: The Hidden Science of Flatulence

In partnership with EnergyX

There’s a 500X Faster Way to Mine Lithium

The majority of today’s lithium supply is mined. But 75% of the world’s natural resources are in water. EnergyX's patented direct lithium extraction tech recovers it 500X faster than evaporation ponds. And where they recover roughly 30% of available lithium, EnergyX can recover up to 90%+.

Now they've commissioned the largest lithium demo facility of its kind in the US, with rights to 150K acres across the Americas. Perfect timing: Morgan Stanley forecasts an 80K-ton shortage in 2026. Invest in EnergyX by 7/16.*

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 Etcetera 

> Scientists have created the first-ever synthetic cell, raising hopes for future drug development that would harness cells' production power. 

> Powassan virus, a rare tick-borne scourge, is on the rise in the northeastern US.

> Fruit fly sperm is gigantic, roughly 40 times the size of a human's. 

> Humans have contracted tuberculosis from drinking raw milk.

> In Germany, early 20th-century ID cards nominally protected transgender people using hormone therapy.

> Diabetes is one of the most common hormonal disorders.

> Artificial sweeteners aren't very helpful for weight loss.

> Alzheimer's in the US is most prevalent in the South and the East.

> Depression causes distinct structural alterations visible on brain scans.

> Multiple sugar substitutes were accidental discoveries when lab workers didn't wash their hands.

> "Biohacking" encompasses everything from vitamin regimens to brain implants.

> In partnership: Real founders, real receipts. Subscribe to In Stock for the unfiltered stories behind building from scratch.*

> It's never too late to start hormone replacement therapy for menopause symptoms.

> Oral rehydration solution was developed in the 1960s in response to cholera deaths.

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