Building H

Today, we’re unveiling our new work on measuring corporate health impacts in economic terms – estimating the societal costs associated with individual companies…

“Hype is eating the future, and leaving us the bones.” Sun-ha Hong of UNC-Chapel Hill says the Silicon Valley hype machine systematically “borrows credibility from the future to purchase legitimacy in the present.” The cost, he argues, is a planetary-scale drain on our alternatives.

Applications for Cohort 6 of the Food Leaders Fellowship open Tuesday, Nov 10. Building something that makes our food system better? Get the people, plan, and partners to go further. Subscribe to get the link first: https://ow.ly/ZQZn50ZZq0X #FoodLeadersFellows

For all of you who believe GLP-1s don't target the root cause of obesity. That would be the food environment, and the eating habits of GLP-1 users are forcing Big Food to reformulation. More protein, fiber, & nutrients. Fewer calories & sugar. foodinstitute.com/consumerinsi...

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That can't be good. ☹️ wapo.st/4zm4rtH

The grocery store of the future could have more mini cans and personal packs. Thank inflation and Ozempic. f-st.co/HYGQHwM

Health is often treated as an end goal, achieved by procedures, prescriptions, and physicians. A new book from physician, population health scientist, and author Sandro Galea argues that we should see health instead as a social value. 🎧 podcast.publichealth.jhu.edu/why-health

Terrific report which looks at the devastating toll of the US food environment — and the opportunity that would come from bettering it

Our latest newsletter looks at the loneliness epidemic, the industry it has spawned, and some of the deeper structural and technological trends that made it happen (and might be keeping it in place). Plus: teens are doing better; fixing the food environment & more: mailchi.mp/7f3d0185f6d9...

A rise in golf cart usage for everyday trips & a slew of new mini-cars on the market may herald a shift on American streets filled w/SUVs & car bloat: a turn toward smaller, slower & more sustainable. My latest for @fastcompany.com on the shrinking family car(t) www.fastcompany.com/91620959/ame...

ChatGPT for Teens keeps teens talking, even during mental health crises

ICYMI: California has officially passed a bill creating a label that will identify foods as "non-ultra-processed," requiring stores to group them together with special signage so shoppers can easily ID them. I wrote about the bill back in March: www.statnews.com/2026/03/25/c...

Terrific guide on what people can do to work towards a healthier food environment from @juliabelluz.bsky.social and @stuartgillespie.bsky.social: juliabelluz.substack.com/p/fighting-o...

Nearly 70 percent of Gen Z thinks AI will wreck their brains. About the same number use it weekly. www.vox.com/advice/50482...

“It is that using AI comes first, and middle school students are increasing their sense of loneliness following the use of AI.”

Op-Ed: How Urban Planning Can Succeed in America

And then there’s this … www.theverge.com/report/10021...

Health insurers and employers are dialing back coverage of GLP-1s for weight loss due to the drugs' high prices and usage. Now, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk are marketing the drugs more to "customers" than to payers. Great read from @elaineywchen.bsky.social: www.statnews.com/2026/09/28/g...

Terrific piece by @julieebeck.bsky.social in the @theatlantic.com on the social cost of convenience: www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...

www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...

University students who are highly motivated to watch sports online do not report higher participation in exercise go.nature.com/4haiI5Z

Congratulations to @juliawolfson.bsky.social and Cindy Leung on a new article in @ajpmonline.bsky.social, published with Verasight survey data.

Social media algorithms don't allow us to understand or control what we see online and why... until now! Top scholars @jonathanstray.com and @noupside.bsky.social are sharing @mysky.social, a tool that allows users to adjust their feed’s priorities and explains why certain posts appear over others.

This is an excellent & important piece by @erictopol.bsky.social on the lack of serious outcome data for a lot of wearable parameters erictopol.substack.com/p/the-big-ho... - it's a topic I've recently discussed here: timmermanreport.com/2026/08/the-... excerpt below. @alicecallahan.bsky.social

time.com/article/2026...

GLP-1 Drugs: A collection of items More and more Americans are taking GLP-1 drugs; the current estimate is 11%. This causes a big problem for the food industry.  Eating less is bad for business. Here are some of the ways the food industry is responding. Analyzing the GLP-1 consumer Overturning 7…

This week on Optimizer — I am sick of my wearables trying to recontextualize age. You are your age! Time moves forward! This metric can be a useful gauge of where you might best direct effort but you’re not going to be magically aging backward! www.theverge.com/column/99593...

Nearly 72% of American adults reported experiencing the same health problem on multiple days. Here’s what the CDC found about fatigue. f-st.co/jbu5Ahw

🤖Digital determinants of health – want to hear from Series authors why it matters? Join Series authors representing 13 global experts. Register now for - Unsafe by design- webinar– co-hosted by DTH-Lab & @thelancet.com . Register: https://tr.ee/iY3uhd

New study finds the social cost of driving a car 1 km—including pollution, crashes, infrastructure, and noise—is more than *triple* the private cost paid by the car owner. doi.org/10.1016/j.tr...

www.statnews.com/2026/08/24/s...

Nature talks to specialists about the changes coming to Facebook and Instagram, and whether there’s evidence they will help. go.nature.com/4d8N6Lo

Researchers in Chicago tracked neighborhood-level tree canopy over two decades and discovered something startling: “Each year-to-year percent increase in canopy was associated with around a 10 percent reduction in mortality." Keeping mature trees alive can help keep people alive -and cooler, too.

Meta settles for $18 billion in lawsuit brought by 29 states over social media harms to children

We are JUST scratching the surface of what’s possible with social technology. Do you have a form-breaking idea for an app or digital platform that connects or informs people? We’re offering you three months to organize your thoughts: newpublic.substack.com/p/what-if-yo...

Our current investment system does not work for food companies or us This, from the New York Times on August 21. Here's the headline: A sales growth of ONLY 2.6% dropped Walmart's stock by 9%. OK, Walmart isn't all about food, but it has larger food sales than any other place by a wide margin. As…

A number of studies have tried to work out exactly how many hours is optimal. This is what they found

Public-facing workers are being filmed, harassed, and creeped out by AI-powered smart glasses. www.theverge.com/report/98241...

Fewer gas guzzlers --> Healthier kids "The proportion of children in London whose lung capacity was deemed "clinically impaired" (suggesting lung damage resulting in coughs or breathlessness) fell from 14% to 9%"

Check out Stanford Heath Policy's write up of our team's recently published work estimating societal costs that can result from commercial products and services: healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu/news/what-do...