iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Live discussion in an X space on Intrinsic health featuring Alan Cohen and Martin Picard. Join us! x.com/i/spaces/1yp...

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

I had a ton of fun recently doing a live comedy show on immortality with Dan Toomey at Good Work. See a clip here, then follow the link to the full 45-min video on Good Work's patreon.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

1/4 Scientific theories make testable predictions. Our intrinsic health framework hypothesizes that energy, communication, and structure are sufficiently integrated that a common health construct can be reliably measured. 🧵

300

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 07/07/2025

Peer review is breaking down. As an editor, it's nearly impossible to find reviewers. Editors end up needing to review articles themelves, outside their field. A flood of dubious-quality research is overwhelming the system.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

1/5 What if aging isn't primarily about damage accumulation, but the declining capacity of your body's integrated health field? Our research introduces 'intrinsic health'—potentially revolutionizing how we understand and measure biological aging. #LongevityScience 🧵

400

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

The Future of Aging Science 1/ 🚀 Breaking: The hallmarks of aging aren't as universal as we thought. Our 4-population study shows aging biology is far more flexible and context-dependent than textbooks suggest. 🧵

300

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 01/07/2025

The WEIRD Problem 1/ 🧵 Most aging research comes from WEIRD populations (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic). Our new paper shows this creates massive blind spots in understanding human aging.

300

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

NEW PAPER: What if "inflammaging" isn't universal? Our new study shows Indigenous nonindustrialized populations with high infections but low chronic disease defy industrialized aging patterns. The hallmarks of aging might vary by environment and lifestyle. www.nature.com/articles/s43...

nature.com

Nonuniversality of inflammaging across human populations - Nature Aging

Analyzing readouts of inflammaging across four cohorts, Franck and colleagues identify strong variation and observe that inflammaging, in its known form, primarily emerges in industrialized—but not no...

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 28/06/2025

The 'disease-first' approach to medicine is like having mechanics who only know how to fix broken parts, but don't understand how the whole car works. Our new 'intrinsic health' framework changes that. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... #ScienceOfHealth #SystemsThinking

010

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

1/4 The Paradigm Shift: For too long, medicine has defined health as "not sick." Our new paper in Science Advances proposes a revolutionary approach: "intrinsic health" as a measurable biological state that emerges from energy, communication & structure in our bodies. Read more…🧵

310

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 23/06/2025

Complex systems theory meets evolutionary biology in our new paper on 'intrinsic health.' We propose a first-principles approach to understanding health as an emergent property with measurable dynamics. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

051

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

Medicine treats your body like separate departments in a company. But what if it actually works more like a jazz ensemble—where harmony emerges from constant communication? Our new 'Science of Health' framework explains this revolutionary view. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 21/06/2025

What if our traditional approach to health has been backward? Instead of cataloging diseases, we should measure the unified biological state that underpins the resilience, performance & sustainability of our bodies. Our new framework: #IntrinsicHealth Article: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

1/5 JUST PUBLISHED: Our team has developed a first-principles framework for the #ScienceOfHealth based on complex systems & evolutionary biology. Here's why it matters... 🧵

410

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 18/06/2025

We intuitively know when we're healthy, yet science struggles to measure it. Our new paper bridges this gap by defining 'intrinsic health' as an emergent property of our biology. This could transform medicine & public health. #ParadigmShift www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.org

Intrinsic health as a foundation for a science of health

Intrinsic health is an objective, measurable construct describing the biological capacity of the organism to self-maintain.

010

Reposted by Science of Health at Columbia University

eLife @elife.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

One protein, two opposing roles: This ‘compelling’ study shows how the same signalling molecule can drive either protrusion or retraction in migrating cells depending on its concentration and activation dynamics. buff.ly/pMGXJVM

12410

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Whatever you think about RFK, this is unqualified good news. Not yet clear how big the health benefits will be, but more than nothing! www.nytimes.com/2025/06/17/b...

nytimes.com

Kraft Heinz to Eliminate All Chemical Dyes Over Next 2 Years

011

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Amazing new research from Diego Bassani: We can map networks of communities to see how ideas, diseases, and many other things spread. This produces a crucial new tool, SEEDNet, for public health research. So cool!

042

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Too much competition in science leads to worse science: we over-optimize the metrics of success (publications, funding, etc.) at the expense of actual good science. It's Goodhart's law (see this post I wrote years ago before I heard of Goodhart): maketheworldworkbetter.wordpress.com/2013/04/03/w...

maketheworldworkbetter.wordpress.com

What crime statistics, standardized tests, and scientific researchers have in common

I had thought about calling this post “Cohen’s law for predicting distortions in incentivized systems.” Tongue-in-cheek of course – it’s approximate, and thus not real…

020

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Meet our member Christine Kuryla, a Ph.D. student using wearable data to tap into complex systems and take personal health tracking to the next level.

010

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Meet our member Dr. Berhane, a leading expert in longitudinal and trajectory modeling, uncovering how complex, evolving data patterns shape long-term health outcomes.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Meet our member Dr. Liu, a biostatistician at Peking University pioneering federated models to reveal how whole-proteome dynamics shift under stress in both health and disease.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

There is a citation penalty for researchers who pivot fields, a(nother) clear example of Goodheart's Law. Over-structuring science and the competition that drives it often does more harm than good. We need to reduce competition to achieve more. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

Researchers who ‘pivot’ into new fields should not be given a citation penalty

The COVID-19 pandemic showed the value of changing direction in research. It should be incentivized, encouraged and celebrated.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

Distinguishing correct from incorrect facts could be a problem for AI, but also for normal people. One of our biggest challenges as scientists is right-dosing our skepticism. Too little and we buy into nonsense. Too much and we are paralyzed.

073

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Meet our member Dr. Sen Pei @senpei.bsky.social, an applied mathematician and complexity science expert exploring how networks of biological signals shape infectious disease dynamics—and how their interplay can support or disrupt health.

020

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Meet our member Dr. Jeff Goldsmith, developing data science methods for wearable device data to study how physical activity affects health across the life course.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Aging accelerates later in life. Great new work from Arun Balanchandran, @danbelsky.bsky.social‬, and colleagues extending the measure of Pace of Aging. Just out in Nature Aging. nature.com/articles/s43...

010

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

The science behind blood tests for Alzheimer's has been advancing rapidly in recent years. This is real and exciting. However, still no great treatment or prevention options. And defining Alzheimer's clearly is a challenge.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Meet our member Dr. Malinsky, a biostatistician blending the mathematics of causality with philosophy to unravel the complex networks behind health and disease, and what truly causes what.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Shout out to this beautiful piece by Dr. Martin Picard. Tracing mitochondria from the evolution of multicellularity to social beings to drivers of human health and well-being! Quite a journey, read it all! www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-...

scientificamerican.com

The Hidden Social Lives of Mitochondria

When these energy-giving organelles thrive, so do we

010

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

As if we needed another reason to know that sleep is good... The challenge is doing it! We need to start listening to our bodies again, and stop subjecting them to the rhythms of our crazy lives.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Meet our member Dr. Makarem, an epidemiologist specializing in cardiovascular health, exploring how lifestyle medicine, especially sleep, can prevent heart disease, hypertension, and diabetes.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Another example of how we need to be humble as scientists, not thinking we know everything or that one experiment can be definitive.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

Meet our member Dr. Ying Wei, a biostatistician leveraging AI-driven inference and quantile regression to analyze complex health data, uncovering subtle patterns that drive new insights into health outcomes.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

MDVs, yet another example of a new layer of biological information and mitochondrial complexity. Mitochondria are not just powerhouses, they have many roles, and many relate to information and communication. www.mdpi.com/2076-3425/14...

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

This graph shows how cost-inefficient US health care is. But it also shows (really interesting!) that if trends in other countries are extrapolated toward an asymptote, there's actually a fair amount of gain still to be had by smart spending on health! What is that smart spending then? 🤔

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

1/n Haven't read this book yet, but looking forward to it! The NY Times summary highlights many key points: @erictopol.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/05/06/w...

nytimes.com

A Longevity Expert’s 5 Tips for Aging Well

110

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

While this is cool work, the last thing we need is more ways to fake giving ourselves a sugar fix. Rather, we need to train ourselves away from sugar addiction and other societal and technological shortcuts to dopamine.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Fascinating correlation on how exercise is linked to lower amyloid levels in the brain — reinforcing its role in cognitive health.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

One of the impacts of federal funding cuts to health research: broken trust between researchers and the communities they're trying to help. If you care about getting toxins out of our lives, this is a big deal. www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/grant-t...

publichealth.columbia.edu

Grant Terminations Undermine Relationships Between Researchers and the Communities They Serve

Columbia Mailman researchers speak about the impact of grant terminations on community partners and study participants.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Science has become driven by conformity, and funding mechanisms prioritize what is conservative, not audacious. Bold science can't happen without bolder funders! We need to rethink project-based research funding.

000

Reposted by Science of Health at Columbia University

Renegade Research @renegaderesearch.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

A protein that disrupts cells’ energy centers may be a culprit in chronic fatigue syndrome Study offers clues as to how exhaustion could arise in people with ME/CFS—and potentially related conditions such as Long Covid www.science.org/content/arti... #PEM

science.org

A protein that disrupts cells’ energy centers may be a culprit in chronic fatigue syndrome

New study offers clues as to how exhaustion could arise in people with ME/CFS—and potentially related conditions such as Long Covid

1239

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Hear me discuss our new paper written with the inimitable Laurent Hébert-Dufresne and colleagues! @lhd.bsky.social #Complexity #Physiology #Governance www.nature.com/articles/s44...

0115

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Meet Dr. Julie Herbstman, director of Columbia’s Center for Children’s Environmental Health, leading bold, transformative strides in public health research and policy.

000

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Fascinating new study in PLOS Comp Biol uses foot traffic data to model neighborhood-level COVID spread in NYC—check it out!

010

Science of Health at Columbia University @cusciofhealth.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

Excited to launch our new series: Join Dr. Cohen as he breaks down the fundamentals of health science in our first episode—making complex biology simple, one concept at a time.

010