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Natasha Loder

@natashaloder

Health Editor, The Economist. My newsletter is about how life is being rewired by new med health tech, and changing ideas about health: overmatter.substack.com/subscribe

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Latest posts by Natasha Loder @natashaloder

Ah yeah I knew I’d read it somewhere. Brilliant piece, I’ll look out for the radio programme.

10.03.2026 18:57 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0

thank you! much appreciated. It is the 12th of March on Think on NPR

10.03.2026 21:28 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

It was published in The Economist at Christmas but I’ve written a short summary which is free to non subscribers. There is an NPR programme coming too!

10.03.2026 16:17 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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Ten million years of drinking-is the party over? A short and entertaining history of alcohol

Is our love affair with alcohol coming to an end? Humanity's history with alcohol suggests that while we may have reached "peak booze", we will not lose our attracting to the molecule ethanol any time soon. Read all about it here --
overmatter.substack.com/p/ten-millio...

10.03.2026 15:52 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
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I loved writing this story about "peak booze" and what it might mean. Read about it here, and find out about the forthcoming NPR show on this story. 🥂🍷🍺
open.substack.com/pub/overmatt...

08.03.2026 20:30 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Longevity influencers tell millions to take rapamycin, sit in hyperbaric oxygen chambers, blast themselves with red light therapy, and take 50+ supplements daily.

Meanwhile something that cuts dementia risk by 20% is invisible.

overmatter.substack.com/p/your-anti-...

18.02.2026 18:08 👍 64 🔁 21 💬 2 📌 2

And just to add, in men low testosterone can can also trigger low mood and can help some with depression.

09.03.2026 08:00 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

And for subscribers my article about how hormonal therapies can sometimes help with mood disorders. In women and men!

09.03.2026 07:58 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
Three in four women unaware menopause can trigger new mental illness, poll finds Royal College of Psychiatrists says impact on mental health often overlooked and calls for improvements in care

Important reminder for women going into menopause

Source: The Guardian share.google/efPf7UctNzBx...

09.03.2026 07:56 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 1
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I loved writing this story about "peak booze" and what it might mean. Read about it here, and find out about the forthcoming NPR show on this story. 🥂🍷🍺
open.substack.com/pub/overmatt...

08.03.2026 20:30 👍 4 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

Congrats on having the cheapest accountant on the planet. Maybe share his details online so we can all benefit.

03.03.2026 08:08 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

It’s so ludicrous that this has been obvious for decades but renewables seem as “greenery” rather than security.

03.03.2026 07:51 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

I don’t know why you trivialise this as an issue. It means reporting four times a year and digital compliance under making tax digital.

03.03.2026 07:45 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Wrong. He deleted his account, boy wonder. I only published the first three I had to hand. There are others.

01.03.2026 22:07 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Maybe but rich people do barmy things.

01.03.2026 11:43 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Prediction: Homo sapiens will never colonise Mars.

If humans settle then the changes needed and distance will mean another species will form. Right @endofthepier.bsky.social?

01.03.2026 11:09 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Oh clever. I see what you did there. Is that really your conclusion about why he was refused or you just being a troll?

01.03.2026 09:36 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0

Tom’s post is very lucid and worth a read.

28.02.2026 18:52 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0

Of course. We are not at the stage of even allowing a few virtual patients yet.

26.02.2026 21:29 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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In Brief #1: The lab with no lab. How AI is changing the rules of drug discovery Machines are making wet labs matter less

Last year I visited a pharma lab with no benches, no pipettes—just algorithms. In a short repot Overmatter, I give a high-level view of how GSK, Insilico, and others are using AI to design drugs, run virtual trials, and even create “digital patients.”

open.substack.com/pub/overmatt...

26.02.2026 18:52 👍 6 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
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Decades of social media harms on kids and this token move by social media firms ONLY when governments start legislating.

This 👉 PR-driven stunt has done more than anything to convince me of the need government action now. They could have done this years ago but chose not to bother.

26.02.2026 21:28 👍 8 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Preview
In Brief #1: The lab with no lab. How AI is changing the rules of drug discovery Machines are making wet labs matter less

Last year I visited a pharma lab with no benches, no pipettes—just algorithms. In a short repot Overmatter, I give a high-level view of how GSK, Insilico, and others are using AI to design drugs, run virtual trials, and even create “digital patients.”

open.substack.com/pub/overmatt...

26.02.2026 18:52 👍 6 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0

This is just the most awful story imaginable.

Right down to the detail where he is obliged to agree that he was carrying an offensive weapon because of the stick he used as a visually disabled person.

26.02.2026 09:40 👍 6 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Carrier USS Gerald R. Ford Sailing in the Atlantic, Headed for Strait of Gibraltar - USNI News Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and its escorts are operating in the Atlantic Ocean as they sail to U.S. Central Command amid tensions with Iran, USNI News has learned.  Gerald R. Ford an...

"Should Ford remain deployed until mid-April, it would have broken the post-Vietnam War 294-day record for carrier deployments ... If the carrier is out until early May, it would match the 300-day-plus deployments that carriers conducted to the Gulf of Tonkin"
news.usni.org/2026/02/17/c...

26.02.2026 08:16 👍 93 🔁 18 💬 4 📌 3
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The crummiest job in Washington—congressman—is getting worse Longer hours, lower pay, more threats and less power

This is a really great piece about how being a Congressman is a really crummy job.

www.economist.com/united-state...

26.02.2026 08:21 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Your anti-ageing stack should include this injectable The shingles vaccine seems to reduce the risk of dementia. There is speculation that it might slow down ageing

A Substack post that is going viral about how not to go viral (and live longer).

open.substack.com/pub/overmatt...

25.02.2026 21:07 👍 6 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 1
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Palantir sues magazine that revealed Switzerland rejected its approaches Peter Thiel-chaired data intelligence group alleges that Republik did not give it sufficient right to reply

Not a good look. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/... Palantir sues magazine that revealed Switzerland rejected its approaches

23.02.2026 22:48 👍 7 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0

I think that connection is via a different route but I’m going to do some more research on this.

23.02.2026 21:48 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Your anti-ageing stack should include this vaccine The shingles vaccine seems to reduce the risk of dementia. There is speculation that it might slow down ageing

A very popular post about which injectable will actually increase your longevity.

overmatter.substack.com/p/your-anti-...

23.02.2026 15:14 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 1
Preview
Your anti-ageing stack should include this vaccine The shingles vaccine seems to reduce the risk of dementia. There is speculation that it might slow down ageing

A very popular post about which injectable will actually increase your longevity.

overmatter.substack.com/p/your-anti-...

23.02.2026 15:14 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 1