Michael Okun

What Is Your Plan for Using Supplements for Parkinson's? Check out my newest Substack article on this important topic. A new clinical trial reveals why promising supplements may fail, sometimes cause harm, and why evidence matters more than hope. michaelokun.substack.com/p/what-is-yo...

Pluto has a friend! Rubin discovers a new dwarf planet!🧪🔭 www6.slac.stanford.edu/news/2026-10... Dubbed ED138, this icy body is currently 46 astronomical units (au) from the Sun. For reference, dwarf planet Pluto has an average distance of 40 au. youtu.be/_ssnabPxqxk?...

Invasive species can upset the natural balance of ecosystems and a lack of natural predators and diseases makes them hard to contain. If you can't beat them... eat them? @sfubiosciences.bsky.social professor @redlipblenny.bsky.social explains: time.com/article/2026... 🧪🌎 #marinecology

What if the brain's electrical connections are much smarter than we thought? Electrical synapses are specialized connections that allow brain cells to communicate directly through tiny channels called gap junctions. nature.com/articles/s41...

This important review by Sousa and colleagues resonates deeply with me because it highlights something I have witnessed repeatedly in caring for people with Parkinson’s: sometimes the most disabling fluctuations are not the ones we can see. movementdisorders.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Tiny plastic particles smaller than the ones shown here were found to be chemically active in water. They may be more harmful to the environment than previously known: cen.acs.org/biological-c... #chemsky 🧪

‘It’s magic’: scientists rediscover how to make ancient Roman colour-changing glass. Optical engineering that went into 1,600-year-old Lycurgus Cup has baffled experts for centuries. 🧪🏛️⚗️🏺🌈 www.theguardian.com/science/2026...

Recent analyses show that the "Treble Clef" is not a pulsar, as once thought, but is instead a radio phoenix. It's a large filament-like radio source inside a galaxy cluster hidden behind the Milky Way that revived when a cluster merger energized old black hole plasma! 🧪 arxiv.org/abs/2607.06659

Electric motors are so much more efficient that internal combustion engines that even on fossil fuel power they still cut emissions substantially. Run them on 100% renewable power & the impact is even greater. Switching to renewables saves money, improves health, environment & climate. 🧪💡🔌☀️💨💧🔋

Could measuring your calf help predict your risk of falling? What resonates with me about this new study in JAMA Network is how something as simple as a tape measure may help us recognize an important warning sign of declining health. Falling is big and a tape measure is small. cutt.ly/QyTTLvpv

Constipation is one of the most common and frustrating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. We discuss practical choices, including kiwi fruit and other fiber-rich foods, and how simple changes in your shopping cart may make a meaningful difference. www.youtube.com/shorts/2E7Mf...

I had the opportunity to hear Adam Grant interviewed by Nayeema Raza at the Masters of Scale Summit, discussing his new book, Vibe, and what resonated most with me was his message that the way we make people feel may matter as much as what we accomplish together.

The old ladies might have had a point; rule-breaking might be "contagious". At least in the sense that the odds are that more people will break the rules if they see someone else doing it first. 🧪 Link: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2026.1940​

So this paper (A. D. Mackey+2012 iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1..., section 3.2) finds a 97% probability of the planetary nebula being a cluster member, using the VLT. Cool.

In ALS, vulnerable α motor neurons transition into a "disease-associated motor neuron" state. Thousands of molecular changes occur, revealing key transcription factors driving degeneration. #ALS PMID:42335888, Cell 2026, @Cell https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(26)00647-1 #Medsky #RNA 🧪

📰Published📰Single-species cover cropping in agricultural fields at a large scale may homogenize the soil microbiome🌱 buff.ly/E7BZyg6 🧪🌍️

Elucidating and exploring specialised plant metabolism through a pangenomic and pantranscriptomic lens - Choudhary - 2026 - The Plant Journal - Wiley Online Library onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/.... 🧪 great review with lots of open questions worth exploring

Are we heading toward 25 million new dementia cases every year by 2050? A global warning we cannot ignore. The researchers examined 38,418 adults from 22 studies across 18 countries or territories on 6 continents. cutt.ly/EyRuzNu8

How are noxious heat conditions detected by mammalian #sensory systems? This study shows that the mechanosensitive cation channel TMEM63B contributes to heat sensation through a unique mechanism modulated by the membrane lipid environment. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4zM0VZ1

In a small preliminary study, women who received 15 micrograms of the psychedelic drug LSD focused for longer periods and responded faster to a stimulus than did those who were given a placebo. This effect was not observed for male participants. spklr.io/63321EVp25 🧪 🧠

Shigella vaccines are soon to be evaluated in large field trials. In this modelling study, Avnika Amin and colleagues assess the effect of acquired #immunity by natural #Shigella infection on trial-derived estimates of #vaccine efficacy to help inform trial design🧪💉 #MedSky plos.io/4z8Qf7c

Neurons in the central nervous system are often more vulnerable to #neurodegeneration than those in the peripheral nervous system. This Essay by Shuji Wakatsuki & Toshiyuki Araki argues that differences reactions to oxidative #stress could explain why. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/4dSfxh7

Did you know that one of the most effective treatments for Parkinson's disease, levodopa, may also be obtained from a plant? youtube.com/shorts/9N_La...

Could ultraprocessed foods be damaging our brains before we notice symptoms? JAMA Network Open study resonates with me because it raises an important question about brain health: could the foods we eat today be contributing to brain injury long before we notice problems with memory or thinking?

Human working #memory is capacity-limited, requiring information to be actively organized to support efficient encoding and maintenance. This study by @doellerlab.bsky.social &co shows that spontaneous eye movements track memory structure and adapt to cognitive demand. 🧪 #NeuroSky plos.io/4iuFzcY

How do #pathogens prioritize nutrients while adapting to changing environments? This study shows that an inositol-sensing receptor enables a #yeast to maintain inositol use even when glucose is abundant, linking nutrient sensing to carbon #metabolism and virulence. 🧪 #AcademicSky plos.io/3VK38FY

At the South Pole a research team from 30 institutions has recently put together one of the sharpest maps of how matter is distributed in the universe. Photo by Daniel Michalik Press release: news.uchicago.edu/story/south-... 🔭🧪⚛️ #cosmology

Should we test for Alzheimer's disease before symptoms begin? What resonates with me about this thoughtful JAMA Viewpoint by neurologist Gayatri Devi is the important reminder that just because we can test for Alzheimer's disease does not always mean we should. cutt.ly/eyRxDMsO

What should every person with Parkinson's disease have in their kitchen? In this short video, I share five building blocks for a Parkinson's-friendly kitchen, including nutrient-rich foods such as berries, leafy greens and beans. youtube.com/shorts/x3bqk...

Using AI to analyse medical scans from more than 100,000 people, researchers found that brown adipose tissue activity was associated with a healthier metabolic profile and lower prevalence of several health conditions, including psychiatric conditions. The findings are published in Nature. 🧪🩺

This study addresses an important clinical dilemma. Should we deny a potentially life-changing therapy to someone simply because they carry a GBA1 variant and may be at greater risk for cognitive decline? Instead, I would argue absolutely not. We must have thoughtful and transparent discussions.

What sticks with me about this fascinating case of adult-onset bobble-head doll syndrome is how a rare and potentially reversible neurological condition can masquerade as a more familiar movement disorder. tremorjournal.org/articles/10....

Happy birthday to Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) a physician who became the first Black woman to travel in space when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour for NASA, on September 12, 1992! 🐡🧪👩🏾‍🔬#histsci She also has a B.S. in chemical engineering, served in the Peace Corps,

The traits that helped our ancestors survive may still shape our health today. A new review in Physiology explores how ancient DNA links past diets, diseases and environments to #HumanPhysiology: APS Publications https://ow.ly/hBgQ50ZVC4b #ArticlesInPress #EvolutionaryHealth 🧪 📷: iStock

Clouds over the highest mountain ranges are responding more strongly and differently to climate change than clouds elsewhere, a new @aguadvances.bsky.social study finds. That has implications for some of the most important “water towers” of the world. 🧪 eos.org/research-spo...

Artificial light at night can have a negative effect on both plants and animals. Check out OPN's latest infographic to see some of the ways light disrupts nighttime behaviors: https://bit.ly/3TZIalS 💡 ⚛️ 🧪

Can we restore sight by turning nerve cells into light sensors? What resonates with me about this remarkable study in the NEJM, and the accompanying editorial by Nobel laureate Karl Deisseroth, is the possibility of restoring function even after the cells responsible for vision have been lost.

Grocery Shopping with Parkinson's: What Should You Buy? | The Parkinson's Plate. What should you put in your grocery cart if you have Parkinson's disease? How about bread? youtube.com/shorts/D0ZzF...

Could obesity be quietly aging our brains and increasing our risk of dementia? New review in Nature Reviews Neurology how obesity may affect memory, thinking and the biological pathways involved in dementia. Should we intervene earlier? www.nature.com/articles/s41...

#CASSINI ORBITER #SATURN MISSION Target: #Iapetus Time: 2010-02-18 Observed Distance to Surface (km): 1694576.465 Narrow Angle Cam 10x Ir1 Grn uv3 Filter opus.pds-rings.seti.org/opus/#/view=... NASA/JPL/j. Roger

Land is sinking in some major cities worldwide, including Mexico City, Mexico and Medan, Indonesia, according to satellite observations of 465 cities published in Nature Cities. go.nature.com/4hRSi7Z 🧪

A new view of the sun’s chaotic corona is revealing the hidden gyrations of our star’s tenuous outer atmosphere across an entire year. sciam.com/article/stun...

What resonates with me about this new study is that the biology may be far more complicated than the model. In 61 people with autopsy-confirmed PD, Braak stage did not correlate with motor disability, disease duration, age at death, or brain weight. www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/...

This week's Fitness Friday is LIVE! 💪 Join us online for Punch Out PD, featuring dynamic, high-energy drills that train muscle power. Register for free: Parkinson.org/events/2026/Oct16FF

New publication using Lead-DBS: In this article by Scafa et al., they show that real-time decoding of subthalamic nucleus dynamics can steer activity-dependent adaptive deep brain stimulation to improve locomotor deficits (ga... Check out the paper here 👇👇 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-026-04432-4

We must be careful here: this study does not prove that ADHD causes dementia and having ADHD certainly does not mean you are destined to develop cognitive problems. Should we rethink ADHD as more than a disorder of attention and behavior: potential implications across the lifespan. cutt.ly/UyWH9uHB

An unexpected clear night with no moon, so I had a go at a very challenging target from an urban back yard, Sh2-114, the Flying Dragon Nebula. Its long neck and body are clear, but even with 2 hours pointed at it, I only just made out the spread of its wings across the frame. 🔭🧪