Podbit · Modern Wisdom
Tim Ferriss has taken Avmacol — a sulforaphane precursor that activates your body's own detoxification pathways rather than supplying an external antioxidant — for nine months, primarily for neuroprotection given his family's Alzheimer's history. An unexpected side effect: more skin compliments than he's ever received.
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At 2:12:00 · chapter starts 2:11:35
Tim Ferriss produces Avmacol, a tablet containing a glucoraphanin precursor and myrosinase enzyme that the body converts into sulforaphane. He has been taking it for nine months, motivated primarily by multiple family members with Alzheimer's and his desire for neuroprotection — alongside xylitol mouthwash for the same reason. He notes that sulforaphane activates NRF2 pathways — biologically plausible, reasonably safe, interesting human data, but not a slam-dunk clinical intervention. An unexpected bonus: Ferriss has received more compliments about his skin in the past six months than ever before, and attributes it tentatively to Avmacol and Timeline's Urolithin A. Chris Williamson then drops a bombshell: University of Michigan researchers have amended the foundational microplastics study, finding that latex and nitrile gloves worn during sample collection shed stearate particles chemically identical to polyethylene that the instruments couldn't distinguish from plastic. The credit-card-per-year consumption figure may be off by a factor of 100.
Tim Ferriss has taken the sulforaphane-precursor supplement Avmacol for nine months primarily for neuroprotection, given multiple family members with Alzheimer's, and has noticed unexpected improvements in skin tone.
University of Michigan researchers found that latex and nitrile gloves worn during microplastics sample collection shed particles chemically identical to polyethylene, suggesting the widely cited credit-card-per-year consumption figure may be inflated by up to 100 times.
AI nailed Andrew Huberman's vertigo-vs-low-blood-pressure diagnosis because that pattern has been reported millions of times. But every patient's liver is different and data on liver surgeries is scarce worldwide — making solo robot surgery dangerous. The rule is simple: data abundance means AI can help; data scarcity means keep the human in the loop.
Fei-Fei Li's father had liver surgery performed by a da Vinci robot guided by a surgeon. The result: 10 times less blood loss than a typical procedure. This isn't replacement — it's the gold standard of human-machine collaboration, where the human's judgment and the robot's precision combine.
US drug overdose deaths fell from 110,000 to roughly 70,000 — the biggest CDC-recorded single-year drop ever. Men's rates fell 27% in one year, and the steepest decline of all was among 15–24-year-olds, down 37%. The crisis narrative around young men needs to make room for signs of genuine progress.
Kessler thought his grief expertise would protect him. It didn't. When his son David died unexpectedly, he found himself on the floor — and eventually realized that acceptance alone wasn't enough. That unmet need became the sixth stage: finding meaning.
Grief isn't just death — it's any unwanted change. Kessler lectured at Coca-Cola and General Mills not because they had lots of funerals, but because change management is grief management. People who grieve well live well.
Witnessing someone's grief isn't just emotional support — it's an essential act of healing. Kessler argues grief is a severance and connection heals it. But real witnessing has two steps: seeing the pain AND affirming the person's capacity to recover.
Avoiding grief isn't free — it's exhausting. Kessler's beach ball metaphor nails it: pushing a small balloon down is easy, but holding a massive beach ball underwater takes constant, draining energy. Unattended feelings don't disappear; they just consume you.
Most people try to control their environment to avoid triggers. Kessler flips this entirely: triggers aren't problems to manage around — they're a detailed map to your pain and your healing. Every trigger points directly to what needs attention.
Running from pain doesn't leave it behind — it accelerates the chase. Whatever we run from pursues us, and whatever we face transforms us. Both Kessler and Lewis Howes testify to knowing both roads firsthand.
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