Say it with flowers

Good morning Staker! Here’s what’s cookin’ today. Could Big Tobacco be a roadmap for social media lawsuits? Are tariff refunds helpful for Wall Street or for Main Street? and The Who might be back again.

Let’s get into it!

When people retire, many relationships they have tend to fade. While they don’t necessarily always end up lonely, many do end up with fewer friends.

This is a fairly regular occurrence, since most relationships outside of family tend to be structured around the work people do. Even if many of those relationships are super friendly, they mostly lose their foundation when people stop working.

Called the “friendship cliff” by many psychologists, going over it is almost like a rite of passage.

“Many of our social and personal connections are related to the structure of work,” said Dr. Jeff Gardere, Professor, Touro University College of Osteopathic Medicine, and Board-Certified Clinical Psychologist.

“When we retire, that structure is now gone and so go many of the relationships that were associated with work and that were also connecting to our social lives…These changes can occur gradually, and they become easy to overlook until we begin to feel unusual amounts of isolation and even loneliness,” he said.

Being proactive about reconnecting with old friends is an excellent way to prevent the loneliness and isolation, especially when it comes to retirement.

After all, while it may seem a little awkward reaching out, when you’re already retired, you can be sure your contemporaries are going through the same thing, and would likely welcome the reconnection.

A study published in Science Advances found a molecular compound called 5-tetradecyloxy-2-furoic acid (TOFA) burns fat while maintaining muscle mass, combatting one of the downsides associated with taking GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic.

GLP-1 drugs stifle appetite, which ultimately leads to a lower intake of all nutrients. Their weight loss is driven mostly by major caloric reductions, rather than by burning more energy. If not careful, patients can end up decreasing their overall body mass—including lean muscle.

In the case of TOFA, scientists found the compound could block lipid and cholesterol production, while activating genes that burn fat and produce energy.

“TOFA appears to engage a coordinated metabolic response,” said study first author Justin Y. Lee, a postdoctoral student at UCSF who conducted the research as a Ph.D. student at Berkeley. “It is not simply blocking lipid synthesis. It is also activating energy expenditure pathways that may help the body handle excess lipid and glucose more effectively.”

Perhaps most notably, the researchers found TOFA could be used complementarily with GLP-1 drugs, rather than as an alternative.

The Who seemingly made it crystal clear that they were done. The latest farewell tour came with several definitively conclusive hints, most notably that its name was “The Song is Over” tour.

As recently as May, Roger Daltrey also suggested the band’s conclusion might have meant his solo career was over, too.

Nonetheless, it was recently confirmed that The Who was not only rehearsing, but was doing so with drummer Zak Starkey, who had been fired shortly before the farewell tour. Starkey himself offered insight into that outing.

"The rehearsal was great," he said in a social-media post. "I don't think we've ever rehearsed as tough as that. Usually, we drink tea and talk about what time we're going home!"

Daltrey didn’t confirm much, but didn’t deny reunion plans either—except for the unlikelihood that any such plans would include the Vegas Sphere.

"I think the management may have had talks about playing there, but when I think about it, I don't know whether it really interests me," Daltrey told the Review-Journal. “I think the Sphere's got its place…it is an extraordinary thing, but I like the energy from a show just to come from the stage."

Heaven in ‘87

La Bamba was crushing it at the box office, and the Los Lobos track was at the top of the charts, but do you remember what else was hot during this week in 1987? Find out, with today’s trivia 😏