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The Verge
Victoria Song
Don’t make me tap the “noninvasive blood glucose monitoring isn’t coming for a while” sign.

Android Authority reports that Samsung may be the first to noninvasive blood glucose monitoring in the Galaxy Watch, citing comments from Samsung senior vice president Hon Park saying the tech will be a “game-changer.”

I hate to be a wet blanket but people have been working on this tech since 1975. Here’s a report I did on why this tech is taking so long and why it probably won’t look like what you expect if / when it does arrive.

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Justine Calma
‘Panic’ sets in for health researchers in the US.

National Institutes of Health is reportedly reeling from canceled meetings and a communications and hiring freeze under the new Trump administration.

“This kind of disruption could have long ripple effects,” Jane Liebschutz, an opioid addiction researcher at the University of Pittsburgh who posted on Bluesky about canceled study sections, tells ScienceInsider ... She and colleagues are feeling “a lot of uncertainty, fear, and panic,” Liebschutz says.

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Jay Peters
Masimo has a new CEO.

The company, whose patent infringement claim led Apple to remove blood oxygen sensing tech from newer Apple Watches, has named Katie Szyman, worldwide president of Advanced Patient Monitoring at Becton Dickinson, for the role, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Interim CEO Michelle Brennan, who took over after CEO Joe Kiani resigned, will become the chair of Masimo’s board.

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Victoria Song
Medicare will negotiate prices of weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.

The move is part of the Biden Administration’s initiative to lower prescription drug prices — particularly for medications needed by elderly and disabled citizens. Drug companies will have until February 28th to decide whether they want to negotiate. Ozempic and Wegovy, which are also used to treat diabetes, aren’t the only drugs on the list either. There are 15 total, and you can find the total list here.

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Dominic Preston
AirPods Pro 2 will soon work as hearing aids in the UK.

The government has ripped out “pointless regulation” that prevented Apple and other companies from including hearing tests and assistance in earbuds. Apple added the feature to its 2nd-gen AirPods Pro last fall, and told The Telegraph it will be enabled for UK users “in the coming weeks.”

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Richard Lawler
More than $1 million in refunds are going out to people who bought Razer’s Zephyr face masks.

The covid pandemic saga of Razer’s RGB-lit Zephyr face mask is probably ending now that checks and PayPal payments are giving money back to the 6,764 buyers.

Last year, the FTC settled with Razer over its misleading statements and “N95-grade” filtering claims made without evidence or testing, leading to refunds and a $100k civil penalty.

Razer Zephyr
Image: Razer
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Victoria Song
Supposedly I was not stressed at CES Unveiled last night.

I got to try out Eli Health’s Hormometer in person last night. I was fully expecting it to say my stress levels were high but my cortisol levels were apparently within range. Maybe my body is just used to all that CES adrenaline after all these years. In any case, here’s what using an at-home, portable hormone test is like.

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Victoria Song
Redemption looks beautiful on the Circular Ring 2.

I ranked the Circular Ring Slim dead last in my smart ring battle royale. When I heard their CES 2025 announcement, I was cautiously optimistic that a redemption arc was in the making with the Circular Ring 2. Now that I’ve seen and tried it, I’m even more hopeful. The hardware is such an improvement — all that’s left to see is if the software is too when it launches.

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Victoria Song
How much do you wanna bet this hormone test says I’m stressed?

I’m here at CES Unveiled trying out Eli Health’s Hormometer. I had to do it twice because this dry desert air makes it hard to generate a lot of spit. Here I am taking the cortisol (stress) test.

Preeeeetty sure my levels are going to be high. I find out in... three minutes.

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Elizabeth Lopatto
It’s not too late to join Dry January!

Sure, booze is fun but it’s also poison. Anyway, the Surgeon General has said alcohol should be labeled for its cancer risk. If you’re sober-curious, join me for a Dry Januarya ritual in which I get a month of great sleep.

2024 in wearables: the year of the smart ring

Smart rings had a resurgence this year. The question is whether the renaissance will continue.

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Wes Davis
Dexcom adds AI reports to its OTC glucose monitor.

Dexcom’s Stelo continuous glucose monitor (CGM) for those with Type 2 diabetes is starting to use generative AI to write weekly reports with “more personalized tips, recommendations, and education related to diet, exercise, and sleep” than the template previously used.

CNBC:

Stelo’s AI reports don’t give users medical advice, though Dexcom has been using an AI framework from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to help guide the feature’s development, [Dexcom COO Jake] Leach said.

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Victoria Song
RFK Jr.’s lawyer petitions FDA to revoke polio vaccine approval.

Aaron Siri, the lawyer in question, has a long history of challenging vaccines. But as the NYT story explains, this matters not only because polio is a devastating disease that can cause death and paralysis, but because Siri has also been helping RFK Jr. — Trump’s pick for health secretary — vet incoming federal health officials.

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Emma Roth
Tim Cook says Apple’s biggest contribution will be in health.

During an interview with Wired, Cook highlighted the Apple Watch’s AFib and sleep apnea detection, while also hinting at the possibility of using AI to alert users to serious illnesses:

I’m not going to announce anything today. But we have research going on. We’re pouring all of ourselves in here, and we work on things that are years in the making. We were working on hearing a long time before we got it dialed in to where we felt comfortable shipping it.

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Victoria Song
Oura’s diving deeper into CGMs with Dexcom.

The two companies announced a “strategic partnership” today where Oura Ring and Dexcom CGM users can more easily share their health data between the two platforms. Both companies will also sell and cross promote each other’s products.

Oura’s been diving into metabolic health lately, acquiring a CGM startup called Veri just a few months ago.

To top it all off: Dexcom is also investing $75 million in Oura.

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Lauren Feiner
Trump picks anti-vax Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead Health and Human Services.

The President-elect chose his former political opponent and anti-vaccine activist to lead HHS, a department that oversees the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Kennedy has embraced policies widely rejected by the scientific community, like halting the addition of fluoride to drinking water — a mineral that helps prevent tooth decay.

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Emma Roth
Amazon now sells low-cost subscriptions to treat men’s hair loss, motion sickness, and more.

It’s also offering monthly treatment options for erectile dysfunction and eyelash growth. Amazon says Prime members only have to pay for the cost of consultation and the treatment plan, which ranges anywhere from $2 / month to $43 / month.

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Victoria Song
Amazon just axed a secret fertility tracker project.

The goal was a product that could predict a user’s fertility by collecting saliva. Users would’ve then been able to log period symptoms, sexual activity, and other fertility data via a mobile app. CNBC says Amazon has laid off the entire team behind the project. Initially, it was set to launch later this year before technical issues resulted in delays.

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The Verge
Adi Robertson
It’s not the period tracking apps that get you.

A digital trail can provide evidence of someone obtaining an illegal abortion, but as Lux Alptraum wrote back in 2022, they’re not usually the initial tipoff:

A full 45 percent of cases were brought to the attention of the police via a healthcare professional like a doctor, nurse, or social worker. Another 26 percent of people were reported by friends or family members.

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Victoria Song
Oura’s data shows people slept like crap on election night.

Unsurprising. Oura also found that there was a 2.3 percent increase in stressed minutes, a 19.5 percent decrease in restorative time and heart rates were 3.7 percent higher.

My own Oura data shows that I had 4 hours 30 minutes of stress on election day and eight whole hours of stress processing the results yesterday.

For sale, a good night’s sleep, just $4,700

Using the Eight Sleep Pod 4 Ultra has given me the best sleep of my life. I just can’t get over the price and subscription.

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Twitter
Elizabeth Lopatto
I shouldn’t have to tell you not to do this, but just in case you don’t have any common sense...

don’t feed your fucking private medical records to a chatbot, Jesus Christ.