GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic are usually discussed as weight-loss medicines. But in October 2025, a testing company announced that semaglutide had reversed biological age by 3.1 years, and in 2026, a study in Nature reported that old female mice given the drug lived longer. The story of these drugs began with a gut hormone the body destroys in about two minutes, a lizard venom, and heart safety trials that were never meant to find a benefit. This investigation follows that evidence from the original discovery to the latest human trials to determine what GLP-1 drugs actually do, and whether their reputation as longevity drugs has been earned.

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Intro
0:48 The two-minute hormone
1:33 The Gila monster discovery
2:29 The heart safety scare
4:02 Ozempic becomes a weight-loss drug
4:42 The SELECT and FLOW trials
6:13 Where the 3.1 years came from
7:48 The Alzheimer's trials
8:56 Old mice lived longer
10:22 What happens when people stop
11:34 What the evidence actually shows

Nicotine is usually discussed as an addictive drug. But in 1959, researchers noticed something unexpected: people who smoked appeared less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. That observation survived decades of scrutiny and eventually led to animal experiments, memory studies, nicotine patches, and major clinical trials. This investigation follows that evidence from the original anomaly to the latest human research to determine what nicotine actually does to the brain—and whether its neuroprotective reputation has been earned.

Time Stamps

0:00 – Intro
1:44 – Reverse causation theory
2:32 – The Swedish snus study
4:00 – Animal trials: mice vs. monkeys
5:16 – Nicotine's effect on the brain
7:35 – The NIC-PD trial
9:04 – The MIND trial
11:31 – The 2009 paper that predicted the failure
12:55 – What the evidence actually shows

Microplastics have been detected in human brain tissue, and in 2025 one study produced a number that spread around the world: roughly a spoonful of plastic in the brain. But the closer you look at how that number was produced, the stranger the story becomes. This investigation follows the evidence to find out what is actually accumulating in our brains, how much is there, and whether it is doing harm.

Time Stamps

0:00 – The spoonful of plastic claim
1:00 – What the first brain study found
3:35 – An experiment inside living brain vessels
5:29 – The dementia finding
6:54 – A second human brain study
8:49 – How scientists measure plastic in tissue
10:15 – Another way plastic could affect the brain
12:02 – Where things stand now