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Building H

@buildingh.bsky.social
149 followers 291 following 290 posts

A research and advocacy group working to build health into everyday life, by design - www.buildingh.org. Co-founded by @thgoetz.bsky.social and @stephenjdowns.bsky.social. Part of @publichealthinst.bsky.social.

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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 10h
And then there’s this … www.theverge.com/report/10021...
theverge.com
Potato by air
Millennial potato subsidy
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Bob Herman @bobjherman.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
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...
statnews.com
Once described as obesity medicines for 'patients,' GLP-1s are increasingly lifestyle drugs for 'customers'
Blockbuster GLP-1 drugs have transformed the lives of millions of people. Lately, they’re undergoing a makeover of their own.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Terrific piece by @julieebeck.bsky.social in the @theatlantic.com on the social cost of convenience: www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
theatlantic.com
One Reason People Are Spending So Much Time Alone
There is a social cost to many modern conveniences.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...
washingtonpost.com
Column | What to eat to get better sleep, according to new research
Certain foods and dietary patterns may help you fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly.
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Nature @nature.com · 24/09/2026
University students who are highly motivated to watch sports online do not report higher participation in exercise go.nature.com/4haiI5Z
go.nature.com
Youthful fans of YouTube sports videos stick to the sofa
University students who are highly motivated to watch sports online do not report higher participation in exercise.
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Verasight @verasight.io · 22/09/2026
Congratulations to @juliawolfson.bsky.social and Cindy Leung on a new article in @ajpmonline.bsky.social, published with Verasight survey data.
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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 21/09/2026
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.
newpublic.substack.com
🎛️📲 Meet the algorithm you can actually control and understand
Jonathan Stray and Renée DiResta introduce MySky, a feed that shows its work
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David Shaywitz @dshaywitz.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
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
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
time.com/article/2026...
time.com
The Surprising Health Benefits of Reading for Pleasure
A new research review reveals what we lose when we give up reading.
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Marion Nestle @marionnestle.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
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…
foodpolitics.com
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 industry assumptions about the GLP-1 consumer: The newest evidence challenges some of the food industry’s most comfortable conclusions about GLP-1 consumers...
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Victoria Song @vicmsong.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
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...
theverge.com
Your ‘health age’ is fake
Your ‘health age’ is just your age.
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Fast Company @fastcompany.com · 15/09/2026
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
f-st.co
Nearly 72% of Americans have this health complaint, new CDC report finds
Fatigue is extraordinarily common among U.S. adults, and researchers say it’s also associated with depression, anxiety, and cognitive difficulties.
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DTH Lab @dthlab.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
🤖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: tr.ee/iY3uhd
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
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...
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Marina Bolotnikova @mbolotnikova.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
All the available evidence suggests Americans don't simply prefer to live in a car-dependent wasteland, & I wrote about it!! Our shortage of places where it's possible to walk to places is one of the most tangible but rarely voiced ways that we lack freedom & choice
vox.com
America is built for driving. There’s hidden demand for something better.
What can we learn from the European cities Americans love to visit?
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Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Cleaner Air, Smarter Toddlers By Claire Brown New research links climate policies to improved early-childhood development. @hclairebrown.bsky.social
nytimes.com
Cleaner Air, Smarter Toddlers (Gift Article)
New research links climate policies to improved early-childhood development.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
www.statnews.com/2026/08/24/s...
statnews.com
Americans bought 12% less soda under new SNAP restrictions, study says
The drop in soda purchases is meaningful, but not enormous, one of the study's authors said.
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Nature @nature.com · 28/08/2026
Nature talks to specialists about the changes coming to Facebook and Instagram, and whether there’s evidence they will help. go.nature.com/4d8N6Lo
go.nature.com
Will Meta’s deal make social media safe for kids? Researchers are dubious
Nature talks to specialists about the changes coming to Facebook and Instagram, and whether there’s evidence they will help.
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Eric Klinenberg @ericklinenberg.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
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.
nytimes.com
Climate: Saving Old Trees Might Save Lives
We know that trees are good for cities. A new study finds that mature trees are especially good.
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TechCrunch @techcrunch.com · 26/08/2026
Meta settles for $18 billion in lawsuit brought by 29 states over social media harms to children
techcrunch.com
Meta settles for $18 billion in lawsuit brought by 29 states over social media harms to children
The lawsuit alleged that Meta knowingly designed platforms like Instagram and Facebook to addict children, despite knowing about the harms the platforms could pose to young users.
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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 25/08/2026
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...
If you have a wild idea that looks nothing like what’s come before, but is still about humans connecting to humans or local and civic information environments, that's awesome. If you're trying to reimagine how people communicate with one another using technology, great! Everything shouldn't be Facebook-shaped.
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Marion Nestle @marionnestle.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
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…
foodpolitics.com
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 I keep saying, I'm not against profit. But the idea that 2.6% growth is insufficient to please stockholders explains everything about what's wrong with our food system.
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The Economist @economist.com · 21/08/2026
A number of studies have tried to work out exactly how many hours is optimal. This is what they found
bit.ly
Is too much sleep as bad as too little?
The quest for the optimal amount of shut-eye
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The Verge @theverge.com · 20/08/2026
Public-facing workers are being filmed, harassed, and creeped out by AI-powered smart glasses. www.theverge.com/report/98241...
theverge.com
Meta glasses are a workplace menace
“Pervert” glasses are making jobs weird and putting workers on edge.
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David Zipper @davidzipper.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
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%"
bbc.com
Children's stunted lungs show recovery in ultra low emission zone
Children's lung capacity caught up with their peers in less polluted areas once a clean air zone came in, a study shows.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
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...
healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu
What Do Your Favorite Brands Actually Cost Society?
Is it possible to measure the impact that food and entertainment have on our health? Researchers believe they've found the formula.
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STAT @statnews.com · 18/08/2026
Colorado biotech Enveda reports preliminary results on a drug to help people maintain weight loss after GLP-1 use. Just don't call it exercise in a pill. www.statnews.com/2026/08/18/e...
statnews.com
A pill that mimics exercise? Early results on drug designed to maintain both weight loss and muscle mass
Colorado biotech Enveda reports preliminary results on a drug to help people maintain weight loss after GLP-1 use. Just don't call it exercise in a pill.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
One of the most popular items in our newsletter last week was this excellent piece by @hamiltonnolan.bsky.social on why it’s so important we start to measure — and take action on — economic externalities www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/enshittifi...
hamiltonnolan.com
Enshittification Relies on Broken Economic Math
Pay no attention to the externalities behind the curtain.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
The focus of our newsletter last week was the new research our team recently published that demonstrated a methodology for estimating the societal cost, due to health impact, of popular products and services. journals.sagepub.com/eprint/TAMZN...
journals.sagepub.com
Prototyping a Methodology for Estimating the Economic Externalities Resulting From Commercial Products’ Influence on the Health of Their Users - Stephen J. Downs, Sara J. Singer, Carol Passarelli, Ina...
Purpose Determine feasibility of estimating economic externalities associated with influences that products of individual corporations have on their customers’ ...
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
"The comical charm of Meta’s new AI-enhanced, smart glasses is that they’re seemingly made for someone unimpressed, perhaps thoroughly, with the way they’re experiencing life." www.vox.com/culture/4966...
vox.com
What makes Meta glasses cool also makes them super weird
The plight of owning “pervert glasses” when you’re not a pervert.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Our latest newsletter gets into our newly released research on how to measure the health impacts of companies like Netflix and Burger King. Plus: all about inflammation; @drdanasuskind.bsky.social on chatbots and child development; Facebook as a public nuisance & more. mailchi.mp/a481763e847d...
mailchi.mp
Building H: Making It Count
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
"6330 premature cardiovascular deaths, 11,400 ischemic heart disease cases, 13,600 type 2 diabetes cases, 12.3 million highly annoyed, and 3.3 million with high sleep disturbance" pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42250846/
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Health burden of transportation noise in the United States: a national assessment with equity analysis - PubMed
The United States has not produced a national noise health burden estimate using disability-adjusted life year methodology. We quantified the population health burden of transportation noise across th...
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Steve Downs @stephenjdowns.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
So good. “The question is not whether it is possible to develop AI in a non-exploitative way, or even whether we can trust AI companies to act in the public interest...
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Natasha Loder @natashaloder.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
Want to hack your microbiome? There is no ideal microbiome to seek out, diversity is good but many different kinds of microbiome are healthy--whatever anyone tells you. From @economist.com www.economist.com/science-and-...
economist.com
Can you hack your gut microbiome?
Yes. But perhaps best not to overthink it
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CityHealth @cityhealth.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Explore CityHealth’s Healthy Food Purchasing policy to learn how cities are creating healthier food environments: www.cityhealth.org/our-policy-packa…
cityhealth.org
Healthy Food Purchasing - CityHealth — Helping everyone live healthy, full lives
Children who attend high-quality pre-k are more likely to succeed in school, go on to stable jobs and earn more as adults—all of which are linked to better health and stronger communities.
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New_ Public @newpublic.org · 07/08/2026
Great read from @alltechishuman.bsky.social's David Polgar! We highly recommend you read through, but here are the 5 lessons he wants responsible tech to think about 👇
projectlibertynewsletter.substack.com
5 lessons on the state of responsible tech
Is the responsible tech movement going through a reset?
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The Economist @economist.com · 07/08/2026
To boost sales, chains have turned to value deals and viral gimmicks. Neither are working bit.ly/45JZAFd Photo: Getty Images
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Justin Hendrix @justinhendrix.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
New Mexico court issues decision in State of New Mexico v. Meta Platforms Inc. Says Meta contributing to teen mental health crisis in the state, orders the creation of a $567 million abatement fund (on top of the $375 million jury penalty), amid other remedies. nmcourts.gov/wp-content/u...
Table titled "Abatement Fund" from paragraph 121 of a court order, breaking down the $567,000,000 abatement fund Meta is ordered to pay, allocated across five categories:

Awareness and Prevention: $33,000,000.00
Screening and Assessment: $90,000,000.00
Referral, Linkage, and Coordination: $15,000,000.00
Treatment: $420,000,000.00
Implementation, Continuous Quality Improvement, and Evaluation: $9,000,000.00
Total: $567,000,000.00
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
“Too often we ignore externalities in part because we don’t know how to measure them. We’ve now shown that calculating these sorts of costs—at the level of the individual company—is both feasible and, given the scale of the impact, worthwhile,” healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu/news/what-do...
healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu
What Do Your Favorite Brands Actually Cost Society?
Is it possible to measure the impact that food and entertainment have on our health? Researchers believe they've found the formula.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Today, we’re unveiling our new work on measuring corporate health impacts in economic terms – estimating the societal costs associated with individual companies…
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Steve Downs @stephenjdowns.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Nice write-up of our new paper from Stanford Health Policy: healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu/news/what-do...
healthpolicy.fsi.stanford.edu
What Do Your Favorite Brands Actually Cost Society?
Is it possible to measure the impact that food and entertainment have on our health? Researchers believe they've found the formula.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Today, we’re unveiling our new work on measuring corporate health impacts in economic terms – estimating the societal costs associated with individual companies…
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
"Its attempts to upsell Charpentier on extra Snickers for her Blizzard were perfectly polite."
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Civil Eats @civileats.com · 03/08/2026
From SNAP cuts to USDA grant cancellations, rapid changes to federal policy have had a deep impact on food and farming. Here’s our key coverage to date. ⬇️
civileats.com
The Most Impactful Food Policy Stories of 2026 (So Far)
From loosened regulations to cuts in SNAP and USDA, rapid changes to federal policy have had a deep impact on food and farming.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 27/07/2026
The fight against “food deserts” assumes that better options lead to better diets. The evidence is thin. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
newyorker.com
The Myth of the Food Desert
The fight against “food deserts” assumes that better options lead to better diets. The evidence is thin.
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Civil Eats @civileats.com · 31/07/2026
Senators are pushing for stronger labeling requirements on foods, including a warning label for ultra-processed foods and those containing non-nutritive sweeteners.
civileats.com
Congress Moves Forward on Two Food Labeling Bills
Legislation pushing an overhaul of the U.S. food labeling requirements and putting warning labels on ultra-processed foods have been introduced or advanced in the Senate this month.
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Peter Norton @norton.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Active modes are quiet modes. Car dependency is loud. David Rojas-Rueda: “Transportation noise causes a quantifiable and unevenly distributed health burden in the United States that remains invisible to federal health surveillance.”
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
Inflammation is a driver of age-related diseases (inflammaging) and this new NYT magazine article gets deep into the progress that is being made to track and block it gift link www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Inflammation Keeps Us Alive. It's Also Making Us Sick. (Gift Article)
The discovery that chronic inflammation is a cause of myriad illnesses could be this century's biggest medical breakthrough.
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Building H @buildingh.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
This. Great piece arguing that our failure, not just to price in societal costs that businesses generate, but to not even try, is unacceptable. Product impact on health is a classic example.
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Food Tank @foodtank.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
“We are seeing a strong body of evidence that the food you’re eating is going to influence how your mind is working.” -Ashley Gearhardt, PhD, Professor of Psychology, University of Michigan Tune in LIVE www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JcV... #FoodTank
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