The Expedition is our monthly journey into thoughts, opinions, ideas, observations, studies, facts, figures, etc.
Good ones, insightful ones, interesting ones, weird ones, and ones you can use to live better and longer.
It’s a roundup of all the worthwhile stuff I’ve discovered in the last month. The Expedition is a bit of an island of misfit toys. But, hey, the greatest journeys are winding.
In this month’s Expedition, you’ll learn:
Podcast: Ellen Langer, the first woman tenured in Harvard psychology’s department, on why mindset is “the whole ballgame.”
Numbers on:
The minimum dose of outdoors that improves mental health.
A 13-year-old’s dodgeball-related legal troubles.
Why bookstores are opening again after two decades of closing.
How many Americans have been on a GLP-1.
What working from home does to the birth rate.
The daily bad habit that just passed cigarettes and alcohol.
The five-fold gap in meth use between states—and which state at the bottom will surprise you.
London Marathon applications, and why running is having a moment.
Where nearly every all-time heat record in June was set.
How many lawmakers come from the working class.
An 11-year-old’s epic Misogi
What 23,000 books from year 0 to 1920 reveal about what the West values—and why that helped us grow.
How your personality shifts with age (the good, bad, and ugly).
A new JAMA review on continuous glucose monitors for people without diabetes—a verdict on whether they’re useful.
Navy SEAL fitness standards worth measuring yourself against.
A request: Tell us your three favorite TV shows of all time.
Why Bryan Johnson’s approach to living forever isn’t the experiment he thinks it is, according to a complexity scientist.
A parting quote that encapsulates “the point” of Misogi
Check out our partners
💪 David Protein bars have the highest amount of protein per calorie of all protein bars. They’re a stellar option for anyone who wants protein on the go without the excess sugar and fat of most bars. Also, a PSA: David now makes ice cream, and it’s excellent. Visit DavidProtein.com.
🧑🔬 MacroFactor is the best nutrition app I’ve found. MacroFactor uses dynamic adjustment, a scientifically-validated formula to help you find the right amount of food for your goals. It helped me realize I was under-eating. And when I ate more, my fitness improved and I felt better. Read more here, and get a free 14-day MacroFactor trial here. Use code TWOPCT.
Two Percent podcast: Mindset is “the whole ballgame”
Ellen Langer: A Harvard Psychologist’s Case Against Following the Rules
We treat aging, fatigue, and even disease as things that just happen to us. Ellen Langer, the first woman tenured in Harvard’s psychology department, has spent five decades showing that our way of thinking has a massive say in all of it.
By the numbers
10
Minutes outside improved mental health symptoms in a meta-analysis that included data from thousands of adults. It worked regardless of age or gender, and it didn’t matter if it was from a forest, park, or a backyard with a lot of plants.
13
Years of age of Abel Schipper, who was arrested for ‘relentlessly’ targeting his ex-girlfriend during dodgeball in gym class.
“I didn’t think a dodgeball would hurt. And these are small ones too. So you can squeeze them and like they compress and stuff,” Schnipper told AZ Family.
60
New stores Barnes & Noble booksellers plans to open in 2026. That comes after two decades of declining numbers, signaling that: BOOKS AREN’T DEAD YET.
In a statement, the chain explained: “In 2024, Barnes & Noble opened more new bookstores in a single year than it had in the whole decade from 2009 to 2019.” One reason their sales are improving: each bookstore is now controlled by local booksellers, who order books they know appeal to local customers.
Buy books. Read them. Be smarter.
12
Percent of Americans currently take or have previously taken a GLP-1 medication. Name brands like Ozempic and Wegovy make up 68% of current use. Compounded versions make up 19%.
1
Extra child born for every three couples that work from home at least one day a week.
This suggests hybrid work makes us more reproductive.
21.4
Million near-daily marijuana users in the United States.
For cigarette use, the number is 19.9 million. For alcohol, it’s 17.2 million.
2025 is the first year that marijuana is the most popular daily addictive product.
5
Fold variation between U.S. states in methamphetamine use.
Louisiana, Utah, Kansas, and South Carolina rank highest.
California, Hawaii, New Mexico, New York, and Nevada are at the bottom.
Source: Nicholas Badre using DEA data
1,338,554
Million ballot applicants for the London Marathon, which will accept 100,000 of those runners.
Running is having a moment. Records are falling, and races of all sizes are growing.
449
Weather stations worldwide logged all-time heat records in June. All but one of those records were in Europe.
The climate historian M. Herrera remarked:
All-time record at Pinsk (Belarus) was 36.3C in August 1905
‼️It took 121 years but it got smashed by 4.1C
INSANE
1
Percent of lawmakers in the United States are from the working class.
The coolest kid ever gave me a proud author moment
A friend sent me this article from a local Lake Tahoe-area newspaper:
LAKE TAHOE, Calif./Nev. – Grady Holman, 11, has been preparing for three months to paddleboard 72 miles around the perimeter of Lake Tahoe with goals to not only raise money for the Truckee Donner Land Trust (TDLT), but to shatter self-limitations and inspire others.
Motivated by a book called “The Comfort Crisis”, written by Michael Easter, Holman and his mother have set out on a Misogi, or as Easter describes it, “A circumnavigation of the edges of your potential to expand them.”
“I just wanted to try and push myself out of my comfort zone,” said Holman, who told the Tribune he’s been paddleboarding since he was three. “The farthest I’ve gone is about 10 miles on Lake Clementine in Auburn.”
Grady Holman, you’re going places and giving me hope for the future.
Follow this link to donate to Grady’s Misogi. Funds go to the Truckee Donner Land Trust (TDLT), which protects and maintains public lands.