United We Eat

The future of food, health, and democracy...

🥕Food is medicine. 🥑
🏋🏻‍♂️Health is wealth!😎
🗽Democracy is like a muscle, use it or lose it. 🇺🇸

[United We Eat @UnitedWeEat]

What Iowa farmers can’t afford is a former Monsanto lobbyist cosplaying as a Secretary of Agriculture- when he really runs the agency as a front for his Big Ag pals he used to work for.

Under your watch Iowa has the 2nd highest rates of cancer and the most polluted water in the country. Your experience and leadership are seriously lacking and all of Iowa suffers.

This you?

[Matthew Zirwas, MD @MattZirwas]

I’m a dermatologist. I’m supposed to say there is no amount of safe sun exposure.

But I won’t, because that’s a lie.

The attached shows how much sun is safe in different cities at different times of year.

What do I mean by ‘safe’?

I mean this: UV causes DNA damage and skin cancer.

But, shockingly, your body repairs that damage. As long as the damage doesn’t outpace repair and start accumulating it shouldn't increase your risk of skin cancer.

Data just came out that tells us how much UV you can get without damage accumulating.

They took the people most susceptible to DNA damage from UV and exposed them to UV, then did skin biopsies to measure the damage, then more skin biopsies to measure the repair, and repeated it daily for 4 days.

At 1.6 ‘Standard Erythemal Dose’ (SED) there was no accumulation of damage.

So, the attached charts show how much sun it takes to get 1 SED in different cities at different times of the year at different times of day.

And there are extra safety margins built in. It assumes a perfectly clear day with zero air pollution and that the sun is hitting your skin perpendicularly. Unless you’re laying flat, most sun is hitting you at an angle, which isn’t nearly as intense.

But a bigger question you might be asking is ‘Why would a dermatologist be telling you to get sun in the first place?’

Because getting sun reduces your risk of death.

Mostly by reducing your risk of heart attacks and strokes. That is very well proven.

But it’s also very likely that sun exposure reduces your risk of autoimmune disease, dementia, cancer and depression. It’s just not as well proven as the protection against heart attacks and strokes.

And before you reply and say ‘just take vitamin D!’, know that it has been ROBUSTLY proven that vitamin D has little (if any) benefit for preventing any of the above. Vitamin D is mostly useful as a marker of if you’re getting enough sun.

What do I do myself and what do I tell my patients?

Get as much unprotected sun exposure as you can without getting a burn.

That’s my GUESS as to what has the best risk/benefit ratio. Dying of skin cancer is actually really rare, especially when compared to the risk of heart attacks, strokes, autoimmune disease, dementia and other cancers.

But I’ll admit it’s not for sure best to get as much sun as possible, since sun does increase the risk of skin cancer and it might be the case the benefits plateau at a low level.

So, if you’re really worried about skin cancer stick to the charts.

The best science I can find says that amount won’t cause skin cancer.

The takeaway?

Sun is good for you, just don’t get a burn.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Scientists have resurrected "extinct" enzymes from ancient cannabis ancestors that lived millions of years ago, opening the door to more powerful anti-inflammatory treatments and dramatically cheaper drug production.

A team at Wageningen University in the Netherlands used ancestral sequence reconstruction—a cutting-edge technique that reconstructs the genetic history of a species—to revive long-lost enzymes from the prehistoric relatives of the cannabis plant.

Unlike modern cannabis, which relies on highly specialized enzymes to produce specific cannabinoids such as THC or CBD, these ancient enzymes were remarkably versatile ("promiscuous"). They could generate a wide range of cannabinoids at once, revealing how early cannabis plants likely evolved sophisticated chemical defenses against ancient pests and diseases.

The breakthrough has major implications for medicine and biotechnology. One resurrected enzyme proved exceptionally efficient at producing CBC (cannabichromene)—a cannabinoid prized for its potent anti-inflammatory effects but scarce in today's strains. By reintroducing these ancient genes into modern plants or using them in microbial fermentation systems, researchers aim to develop far more efficient, scalable, and cost-effective ways to produce therapeutic cannabinoids.

This work not only sheds new light on the evolutionary origins of cannabinoids but also provides a powerful new toolkit for engineering the next generation of affordable, high-potency plant-derived medicines.

[Villard C, Baser I, van de Peppel AC, Cankar K, Schranz ME, van Velzen R., "Resurrected Ancestral Cannabis Enzymes Unveil the Origin and Functional Evolution of Cannabinoid Synthases", Plant Biotechnology Journal. 2025 Dec 26. Advance online publication. DOI: 10.1111/pbi.70475]

[ZeeeMediaOfficial @zeeemedia]

Meta data centers casually releasing rare bacteria that can cause bloodstream infections, pneumonia, abscesses, peritonitis, meningitis. Mortality can be up to 30% overall.

But we need a moratorium to prevent data center regulation, amiright?!?!

[Rachel Frazin @RachelFrazin]

ICYMI: EPA this week approved new pesticides that could be considered "forever chemicals" under the OECD definition

Agency says they aren't PFAS

Another step that may upset the MAHA crowd

https://t.co/JIwUd3PyPR

[Beef Support | BeefMaps.com @BeefMaps]

Cargill paid the family that owns it $1.46 billion in dividends last year. This year it locked out 1,700 Teamsters rather than raise wages $2.15/hr over five years or guarantee a bathroom break without discipline.

https://t.co/abIMfCK0yJ is the rancher direct alternative to a packer that treats its own workforce as an afterthought.

The math is not close. Cargill-MacMillan family members hold a combined net worth in the tens of billions. The plant floor workers who cut, bone, and pack the beef that carries the Cargill name were offered a raise that still trails cost of living — while some say they can’t get relief on the line without notifying a supervisor and waiting, sometimes past the point of no choice.

Since the lockout began May 20 in Fort Morgan, Colorado, workers have leaned on union strike pay to cover bills while their employer-sponsored health insurance runs out. Cargill says it halted the plant over safety concerns tied to a possible walkout. The union never took a strike vote. Cargill locked the doors first.

This is what consolidation buys a company: the room to sit out a labor dispute in a small town where it’s one of the largest employers, while the people who make the product absorb the cost of the standoff.

[@amuse @amuse]

SCOTUS: The current ethics rules allow Supreme Court justices' spouses to accept millions from Democrat law firms without any disclosure. Chief Justice Roberts' wife has accepted millions from law firms with cases in front of her husband.
https://t.co/CFUh45GWXB

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

A mature Giant Sequoia can use 2000 liters of water every day during the summer. That's why snowy winters are fundamental: with adequate water they can live over 3,000 years

[📹 Michael Block]

[Ben Inskeep @Ben_Inskeep]

❌️💧Meta's closed loop cooling system at a new data center in Wyoming unlawfully released a rare bacterium into a city's wastewater system, contaminating the reuse system, prompting months of cleanup, its permit revoked, and a suspension on more data center discharges. 🧵

[Craig Brockie @CraigBrockie]

In the 1960s,

The sugar industry paid a few Harvard scientists to look into what really causes heart disease.

The researchers pointed the finger at fat.

Sugar got a pass.

That review ran in one of the top medical journals in 1967.

The funding behind it was never disclosed to the people reading it.

For the next 50 years, fat was the villain.

And sugar sat quietly in almost everything on the shelf.

We only found out in 2016, when researchers dug up the old letters.

Follow the money. Then read the label.

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

The oldest hotel in the world is The Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan in Japan and has been in business since 705 AD.

The crazy thing is that it’s still a family business. For 52 generations.

[For ღ of God ✟ & Country 🇺🇸 @CMSGF52777]

@WallStreetApes Come pick free nectarines at 21500 E. Parlier, Reedley CA. June 29 through July 3, 7AM to 10AM only. Look for the signs when you arrive and please park on the street. One bag or bucket per person. See you out there!
– No Nectarines Wasted - Cesar Mora

[Barn Raiser @Barn_Raising]

Chris Jones, a retired water scientist, is rewriting the political playbook in Iowa, taking on the state’s water and cancer crisis by challenging the power of Big Ag.

https://t.co/ocRiuobOEz

[Massimo @Rainmaker1973]

Scientists have created one of the most detailed 3D reconstructions of a human cell (eukaryotic cell) ever produced.

This groundbreaking model, often termed a "Cellular Landscape Cross-Section Through a Eukaryotic Cell," combines data from X-ray tomography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and cryo-electron microscopy to map molecular structures in extreme detail.

[United We Eat @UnitedWeEat]

What Iowa farmers can’t afford is a former Monsanto lobbyist cosplaying as a Secretary of Agriculture- when he really runs the agency as a front for his Big Ag pals he used to work for.

Under your watch Iowa has the 2nd highest rates of cancer and the most polluted water in the country. Your experience and leadership are seriously lacking and all of Iowa suffers.

This you?

[Ben Inskeep @Ben_Inskeep]

Too many local governments, like this case in Jefferson County, Indiana, are ignoring their constituents to approve harmful data centers without meaningful transparency or due dilligence https://t.co/9nmtVDtwmG

[Mother Jones @MotherJones]

This week the Supreme Court sided with chemical giant Monsanto, ruling that the developer of Roundup is shielded from lawsuits claiming that people must be warned that glyphosate might cause cancer under state laws.

SCOTUS ruled that only the federal EPA could require warning labels. It said the EPA was responsive to new information.

However, the court cited multiple EPA reports that relied on peer-reviewed research that Monsanto had secretly orchestrated and ghostwrote. The company presented that research as “independent.” It was part of the company’s effort to convince regulators and the public that their billion-dollar herbicide was safe.

The EPA relied on those secretly ghostwritten studies, and continued to rely on them even after records showed they were ghostwritten. And, now, so as has the Supreme Court.

Reporter Nate Halverson breaks down how these reports went from Monsanto's hands to the mainstream.

[Matthew Cappucci @MatthewCappucci]

Have weather forecasts seemed less accurate lately? There's a major contributing factor: nearly half the morning weather balloons in the Lower 48 are "missing."

This is an ongoing crisis that is degrading critical severe weather forecasts that we all rely on. It's having real, tangible impacts on degrading forecast quality.

If you work in transportation, agriculture or commerce, this should matter to you.

Regardless of the causes, this negatively affects people of ALL political backgrounds. Weather affects everyone. And it's impacting ALL of us negatively.

We can't look at weather balloon data that doesn't exist. We can't pump nonexistent data into models. We can't rely as heavily on models that don't "know" what's happening above our heads.

This is especially concerning for severe weather forecasts. We can't go 18 hours without ascertaining how the atmosphere is layered, how much storm fuel has built up and if severe thunderstorms are going to erupt. The Storm Prediction Center has even acknowledged forecasting frustrations in at least one public bulletin.

As an atmospheric scientist myself, I can say firsthand – the forecasts I'm able to offer you are less accurate than they would otherwise be. I'm not able to predict severe weather with the confidence I normally would. That is extremely concerning.

The United States is "supposed" to launch balloons at 0Z and 12Z ideally – a.k.a. around 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Eastern time. That's not happening. Many sites, due to staffing issues stemming from broader political and organizational issues, have pushed to 18Z, or early afternoon. That's not helpful for morning severe weather forecasts. In other words, you get less lead time. Less advanced notice. Quicker ramp-ups and ramp-downs to the forecast.

We're not able to get jet stream, temperature, moisture or wind profiles of the atmosphere each morning like we otherwise would.

Moreover, the World Meteorological Organization encourages 12Z soundings; that data is shared via the Global Observing System (GOS) under the World Weather Watch (WWW). That's not happening.

[Glenn Greenwald @ggreenwald]

I don't know what broke in the matrix, but watching John Bolton not only plead guilty to a felony but the specific felony he spent decades depicting as the most egregious -- calling for life imprisonment or execution for it -- is a level of karmic justice I didn't know existed.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

This is correct. I attended the Supreme Court arguments. Trump DOJ argued alongside Bayer/Monsanto that because the EPA had already blessed glyphosate, no state government could require labels disclosing cancer risk. The EPA & DOJ in this instance was only there to protect Bayer.

[Congresswoman Chellie Pingree @chelliepingree]

Terrible ruling today out of SCOTUS.

After President Trump put his finger on the scales, Bayer has won in court what it could not get through Congress: a powerful new shield from accountability.

If the Supreme Court is going to put even more weight on EPA’s pesticide review and labeling process, then Congress and the President have a responsibility to fix the dangerous gap this decision exposes. EPA must be transparent, science-based, independent, and accountable to the public—not the industries it is supposed to regulate. 

We have won this fight before and we must again.