Hacker News: brandonb

Why Our Memory Slips After Age 50

brandonb — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 03:09:26 +0000

Article URL: https://erictopol.substack.com/p/why-our-memory-slips-after-age-50

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49294383

Points: 12

# Comments: 6

Google's newest Pixel Watch monitors blood pressure and insulin resistance

brandonb — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 08:13:52 +0000

Article URL: https://www.engadget.com/2235228/google-health-guardian-pixel-watch-5-blood-pressure-insulin-resistance/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49283060

Points: 4

# Comments: 3

Lessons learned from the fate of AstraZeneca's drug pipeline

brandonb — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 23:37:43 +0000

Article URL: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24833294/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49265961

Points: 4

# Comments: 1

Appetite-suppressing hormone may protect liver from inflammation

brandonb — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:33:08 +0000

Article URL: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-appetite-suppressing-hormone-liver-inflammation.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49262557

Points: 12

# Comments: 0

Vitamin D regulates >5% of the human genome

brandonb — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:27:16 +0000

Article URL: https://www.empirical.health/blog/vitamin-d-genome-regulation/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49262458

Points: 6

# Comments: 0

Hack's Law

brandonb — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:06:21 +0000

Article URL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack%27s_law

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49262158

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Why Are Rivers So Mathematical?

brandonb — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 18:02:46 +0000

Article URL: https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-are-rivers-so-mathematical-20260810/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49262104

Points: 4

# Comments: 1

Sphere packing, AI, and mathematical beauty

brandonb — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 17:36:17 +0000

Article URL: https://www.empirical.health/blog/ai-math-sphere-packing/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49261676

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

The AI takeover of mathematics has begun

brandonb — Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:46:36 +0000

Article URL: https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/977273/the-ai-takeover-of-mathematics-has-begun

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49258278

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

New comment by brandonb in "Midlife Vascular Risk Burden and Dementia-Free Survival Years"

brandonb — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:43:42 +0000

Previous studies have shown that heart health at 50 predicts brain health at 75.

This study is interesting in that it quantifies the benefit as 12.5 extra dementia-free years. People with 0 risk factors had 30 years of dementia-free survival, vs 17.5 years for people with all 3 risk factors measured.

The risk factors in this specific study are blood pressure, diabetes (HbA1c), and smoking. You could reasonably also include cholesterol/ApoB, inflammation (hs-CRP), and perhaps Lp(a) as potential risk factors.

Apple considers round screens and more designs for Apple Watch revamp

brandonb — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 15:18:08 +0000

Article URL: https://9to5mac.com/2026/08/09/apple-watch-revamp-redesign-round-screen/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49244841

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

Big Tech Changed Health Care. The System Must Keep Up

brandonb — Sat, 08 Aug 2026 23:01:40 +0000

Article URL: https://www.newsweek.com/big-tech-changed-health-care-the-system-must-keep-up-opinion-12291938

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49226719

Points: 5

# Comments: 0

New comment by brandonb in "Worried about your blood pressure? A $399 Ring measures it without a cuff"

brandonb — Fri, 07 Aug 2026 16:46:44 +0000

Blood pressure is a major input into the risk equations for heart attacks, strokes, kidney disease, and so on. For the most part we've used a one-time measurement, assuming it's an average. But if we had a time-series of blood pressure, I could see blood pressure variability actually becoming an important metric.