October 10, 2025

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today. Fears grow that AI stocks are in bubble territory, what’s the deal with nitrates and nitrites, a vaccine against salmonella could be on the way, and get ready for some new music from Guns N’ Roses…maybe  😎

Let’s get into it!

When JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon starts talking about bubbles, investors start to think a lot more about bubbles. Unfortunately for the stock market’s artificial intelligence rally, Jamie Dimon has started talking about bubbles.

“Take AI, there’s a lot of money going into it,” Dimon said in an interview with the BBC. “AI is real, AI in total will pay off. Just like cars in total paid off, and TVs in total paid off. But most people involved in them didn’t do well.”

In reference to growing concerns about an imminent correction, Dimon said he’s all over it.

“I am far more worried about that than others,” he said. “I would give it a higher probability than I think is probably priced in the market.”

Others have expressed concern about AI trending in the direction of the dot-com bubble as well.

“Fired up by optimism about the productivity-enhancing potential of AI, global equity prices are surging,” Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, said in a speech on Wednesday.

“Today’s valuations are heading toward levels we saw during the bullishness about the internet 25 years ago,” Georgieva said. “If a sharp correction were to occur, tighter financial conditions could drag down world growth.”

Nitrates and nitrites are naturally occurring chemicals typically found in vegetables, but they’re also often added to processed meats prior to packaging. Some say they’re bad for you, others say they’re harmless; in reality, it depends on how and how much you consume.

When found naturally in vegetables like beets, celery, spinach, spinach, lettuce (or even in water), they can help nitric oxide form in the body.

“Research shows that consuming high-nitrate vegetables or beetroot juice can significantly lower blood pressure and boost exercise performance,” says Jennifer Pallian, BSc, RD, a registered dietitian and food scientist.

At the same time, when added to meat—such as bacon or hot dogs to give them a pinkish hue—they can form nitrosamines.

“Cured meats such as bacon, ham, and sausages often contain measurable nitrosamine levels because they combine nitrite additives with amine-rich proteins, certain spices, and high-heat cooking—conditions that promote nitrosamine form,” Pallian says, referring to the compounds that the World Health Organization believes make processed meat carcinogenic.

Experts say processed meat is okay in moderation, but due to the presence of nitrates and nitrites, its consumption should be limited over time to reduce colorectal cancer risk.

Scientists at the University of Maryland may have developed a vaccine that can protect against salmonella, which is the most common source of food poisoning.

Phase I clinical trials were conducted on human volunteers, with patients receiving their dose with no apparent side effects, while also appearing to develop a sturdy immune response to the illness-causing bacteria.

The trivalent salmonella conjugate vaccine (TSCV) is comprised of multiple sugar molecules taken from the outer layer of three different subtypes of salmonella, including salmonella typhi—the bacteria that causes typhoid fever. It also carries a messenger protein designed to trigger the human immune response to the presence of salmonella molecules.

The intention of the Phase I trial was to demonstrate the vaccine’s safety, which the scientists were able to do, though with the caveat that it contained a rather small sample size of participants.

“These results are highly encouraging,” lead researcher Wilbur Chen, a professor of medicine at UM, said in a statement. “They show that TSCV has the potential to protect children in regions where both typhoid and Salmonella are endemic and deadly.”

A study conducted using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study looked into the effects of internet access and use on older adults. It included 10,000 participants, half of whom had regular internet access, while the other half had none.

While overexposure to the vortex of information on the internet has proven potentially threatening to the mental health and wellbeing of children, this study found it may be helping to prevent cognitive decline in older people through mental stimulation.

The “digitally inclusive” group were found to have generally higher levels of cognition, including executive function and episodic or long-term memory. This group used the internet for chatting, consuming news, playing games, and managing money.

While this group also displayed fewer symptoms of extreme depression, both groups did report the same levels of “feeling blue,” hopelessness, and “delayed memory recall.”

The study suggests the internet may be helping keep older users sharp while delaying or staving off cognitive impairment; however, it may be the case that those who benefited hadn’t yet experienced cognitive decline, and those who didn’t were already experiencing such symptoms.

Guns N’ Roses fans have spent most of the time between 1993 and today waiting for the release of new music the band says is imminent.

But we’re not holding our breath since more time has now passed since Chinese Democracy was released in 2008 than fans spent waiting for it following the release of The Spaghetti Incident in 1993. So yeah, maybe the band is due.

On top of that, the group’s original members have been reunited for nearly a decade. Is it, in fact, time for a new album? Let’s ask Slash.

"There's so much material at this point, it's a matter of having the discipline to sit down and f***ing get into it," Slash told Guitar World. "But the thing with Guns is, in my experience, you can never plan ahead. You can never sit down and go, 'We’re going to take this time, and we're going to do this.' Every time we've done that, it falls apart."

No fan of Guns should truly ever get their hopes up for a new full-length album, but there’s nothing wrong with believing it could happen—especially when Slash himself thinks it will.

"It just spontaneously happens through some sort of inspiration that triggers it," he said in the new Guitar World interview, "and the next thing you know, it's off and running."

A la carte

Happy Friday, Staker! It’s time for another round of trivia à carte 🥳 

We’ve got another set of 10 random questions—the only thing connected them is that they’ll make sense if you were born in the ’60s. So walk on down memory lane with today’s trivia!

Complete the game and earn a shot at a $25 eGift Card ;)

Winner will be notified on Monday afternoon. Keep an eye on your inbox and your spam folder!*