October 16, 2025

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today. Coke downsizes, a blood pressure monitor you wear, why scientists want your toenail clippings (yeah, you read that right), and Robert Plant on why he didn’t want to make new music…until he did 🤘

But first our weekly poll!

You ever feel like more than just a shot but not quite enough to fill a glass? You’re in luck because Coca-Cola’s 7.5 oz single serve cans are hitting convenience stores this January.

These tiny cans feed into the grab-and-go consumer trend, and satisfy the craving for just a quick taste of Coke. They’ve been available in grocery stores in multi-packs for about a decade, but January will be the first time consumers will be able to punch in at a c-store and grab a single.

On top of consumer preferences, inflation continues to linger in the backdrop of every purchase. A smaller can that still satisfies a craving while costing considerably less money is a formula that’s worked well for food and CPG brands over the last several years, often in the form of shrinkflation.

Coca-Cola also says consumers tend to buy both a beverage and a snack when they go into a convenience store, and the company believes the mini can fits right into that.

“Convenience stores are where many of today’s quick decisions happen, and the cold vault plays a big role in those moments,” Bishop said. “By introducing mini cans into that space, we’re giving shoppers more choice and making Coca-Cola easier to enjoy and more accessible for the next generation.”

Those living with high blood pressure often have to monitor it regularly, but most wearable monitors are minimally effective or simply uncomfortable. A team of researchers at Seoul National University have developed a band-aid like patch that tracks and updates the wearer’s blood pressure in real time.
 
Unlike most wearable monitors, which rely on the traditional inflatable pouch to compress the arm, the patch reads the two signals sent by the heart with every beat. The first signal is the electrical pulse that cardiologists record when taking an electrocardiogram (ECG), and the second is the wave that carries blood from the heart through the body’s vessels.

The time between these two signals will signify the body’s blood pressure; the less time between them, the higher the pressure, since blood will pump and flow faster if it’s under more pressure.

Because the patch is listening to every beat of the person’s heart, it can detect rapid fluctuations in pressure, which can reveal important details about heart health.

On top of critical health information, the patch can also be used by athletes to optimize performance and monitor potential risks.

A team of researchers at the University of Calgar, led by biochemist Dr. Aaron Goodarzi, is studying the way human toenails can reveal signs a person may be at risk of lung cancer due to radon exposure. Yes, you read all of that correctly. 😲

Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, but in second place is exposure to radon—a natural gas with no color and no odor that also happens to be radioactive. It can creep into buildings, usually through cracks at their base, and long-term exposure is a serious health hazard.

Because it’s odorless and colorless, though, it isn’t a qualifier for lung cancer screening, since patients aren’t able to accurately recall how much exposure they’ve had over decades—unlike when decades-long smokers are screened.

So where do toenails fit into this?

“We’ve learned that our toenails hold long-term information about our exposure to radioactive toxicants in our environment such as radon gas. They are one of our body’s archives of past exposure,” said Goodarzi. “After you inhale radon, it quite quickly transforms into a specific type of radioactive lead. Your body treats radioactive lead from radon like it does all lead and stores it in slow-shedding tissues such as the skin, hair and nails.”

In other words, Dr. Goodarzi and his team have found a way to measure radon exposure over time and, in turn, can potentially identify someone’s cancer risk just by analyzing the radioactive content in their toenails.

Robert Plant was resigned to never releasing another album. He was happy to write a song here and there, and play live with his current band. Yet here we are, reflecting on the release of that band’s debut album, Saving Grace.

"This day, was never going to come, because originally it wasn't going to come," Plant said on a recent episode of the Rockonteurs podcast. "No more records, that's it."

"The bottom line is, I never even thought this was a starter in my being. I just didn't want to make [any more albums]," he said. "It wasn't the end, it's just like, that's enough."

It’s funny what you’ll find in your trail when you look back after six years of easygoing writing and jam sessions, including revisiting and reinterpreting some of the classic and timeless songs that shaped you.

"You know, there's a myriad of songs that [are] songs that we know now so well as part of the sort of canon of contemporary popular music going back 50 or 60 years," he shared. "If you think about House of the Rising Sun, when the Animals came down from Newcastle, went into Mickie [Most's studio and] did that, they didn't even hear the playback. They went straight on to Brighton to play, or something like that. That song, it's like, all those [classic] songs, they become something else."

Word up

Or in this case, words up 🤣 That’s right, today we’re back with another round of guess the song.

In today’s trivia we’ll give you a line from a song, and you have to guess the title. Complete the game and earn a shot at a $25 eGift Card ;)

Winner will be notified on Friday afternoon. Keep an eye on your inbox and don’t forget to check your spam folder!*