Scott Alexander examines how compounding pharmacies are producing cheaper versions of GLP-1 agonist drugs, exploring the economics, safety, and future implications of this practice.

Scott Alexander examines the surprisingly broad effects of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, exploring their mechanisms and speculating on why they seem to impact so many different conditions.

Scott Alexander summarizes and responds to comments on his post about semaglutide, covering corrections, additional information, and user experiences with the weight loss drug.

Scott Alexander analyzes the economic and societal implications of semaglutide, a new effective weight loss drug, and its potential to reshape obesity treatment.

The post explores a controversial theory linking saturated fats to weight control, critically examines the evidence, and discusses the paradox of historical vs. modern diets and obesity rates.

Scott Alexander speculates that anorexia might be caused by a distorted metabolic set point, similar to but opposite of obesity's mechanisms.

Scott reviews 'The Hungry Brain' by Stephan Guyenet, exploring the neuroscience of eating behavior and obesity, presenting a model focused on brain regulation of body weight.

Scott Alexander reviews Stephan Guyenet's critique of Gary Taubes' anti-sugar book, agreeing with Guyenet's multi-factorial view of obesity and disease causes, and retracting his previous support for Taubes.

Scott examines the relationship between altitude and obesity, then explores and ultimately dismisses the theory that increased atmospheric CO2 could be causing the obesity epidemic.

Scott Alexander critiques a study on fathers' influence on sons' obesity, highlighting statistical flaws and misleading publicity, while exploring the broader challenge of identifying genuine parental effects.

Scott shares various interesting links and findings, including studies on education and IQ, brain simulation challenges, obesity surgery outcomes, and various cultural curiosities.

A collection of interesting links spanning scientific research, politics, economics, and culture, with brief commentary from Scott Alexander on each item.

Scott Alexander examines different theories of weight gain, focusing on the roles of metabolism and appetite/exercise drive, and concludes that individual metabolic differences likely play a significant role in weight management.

Scott Alexander argues that biological solutions to societal problems may be more effective and easier to implement than social interventions, challenging common perceptions about mutability of human characteristics.

Scott Alexander argues that ancient Rome's welfare system was similar to modern progressive policies in causes and outcomes, despite different philosophical justifications.

Scott Alexander presents a roundup of recent scientific and medical studies, covering topics from hallucinations to obesity genetics to schizophrenia treatment.

Scott Alexander contrasts two studies with opposite conclusions about stress, highlighting the inconsistency in how we interpret adversity's effects.

Scott Alexander presents a roundup of recent medical and psychological studies, covering topics from UV light exposure to belief in science during stress.

Scott argues that debates about whether conditions like obesity are "real diseases" are ultimately questions about sympathy, blame, and treatment that should be addressed directly rather than through the misleading disease framework.