i deny everything i have ever said or done. no further questions.
Joined October 2009
- Tweets616
- Following861
- Followers236
- Likes24.7K
prakhar retweeted
washing your hair with coffee to block the hormone that kills your follicles sounds like a DIY remedy that should stay on TikTok until you read the German research from the University of Lübeck showing that caffeine applied topically to the scalp directly counteracts DHT suppression of hair follicles, extends the anagen (growth) phase, and stimulates keratinocyte proliferation by 46% in concentration dependent manner. then it sounds like the $3 drug that most people drink every morning is a topical DHT antagonist that the hair loss industry never told you about because you can buy it at any grocery store
the research was led by Dr. Tobias Fischer at the University of Lübeck in Germany. the team took hair follicles from men with androgenetic alopecia (pattern baldness), treated them with testosterone (to simulate the DHT damage that causes miniaturization), and then applied caffeine. the caffeine reversed the testosterone induced suppression and stimulated the follicles to grow. the reversal was dose dependent: more caffeine produced more growth. the follicles that were being killed by testosterone were rescued by caffeine
the mechanism is phosphodiesterase (PDE) inhibition. caffeine inhibits phosphodiesterase at the follicle, which increases cyclic AMP (cAMP) levels inside the dermal papilla cells. elevated cAMP directly stimulates hair growth and counteracts the suppressive effects of testosterone/DHT. the mechanism is the same one that caffeine uses to make you alert (PDE inhibition in the brain), just applied to a different cell type. the molecule does the same thing everywhere: it blocks the enzyme that breaks down the growth signal
- caffeine reversed testosterone induced growth suppression in human hair follicles in vitro. the follicles that were being killed by the baldness hormone were rescued by the coffee molecule
- stimulated keratinocyte proliferation by 46% at optimal concentrations. the cells that produce the hair shaft grew 46% more actively when exposed to caffeine. more cell proliferation means thicker, faster growing shafts
- extended the anagen (growth) phase of the hair cycle. longer anagen means the hair grows for a longer period before entering the resting phase. longer growing periods produce longer, stronger hair
- penetrates the skin and reaches the follicle within 2 minutes of topical application. caffeine has one of the fastest transdermal penetration rates of any molecule tested. the shampoo doesn't need to sit on the scalp for 30 minutes. 2 minutes of contact is sufficient for the caffeine to reach the follicle
- Alpecin caffeine shampoo (the most studied caffeine hair product, made in Germany) has been the bestselling shampoo in Germany for over a decade. the Germans, who are not known for falling for pseudoscience, have been washing their hair with caffeine at scale for 10+ years based on the university research
- caffeine shampoo works through a completely different mechanism than minoxidil, finasteride, ketoconazole, and DHT blocking supplements. this means it can be STACKED with every other treatment without interference. the mechanisms are additive, not overlapping
the hair loss industry sells DHT blockers (finasteride $30 to $90/month, saw palmetto $10/month), blood flow enhancers (minoxidil $15 to $40/month), and anti inflammatory agents (ketoconazole shampoo $12/month). caffeine shampoo adds a 4th mechanism (PDE inhibition/cAMP elevation) that none of the others provide. the addition costs $8 to $12 per bottle lasting 2 to 3 months. the mechanism is unique. the cost is negligible. the stack becomes more effective without adding a significant expense
use a caffeine shampoo (Alpecin C1 is the most studied, $8 to $12 per bottle) as your daily or every other day shampoo. leave on the scalp for 2 minutes minimum before rinsing (the caffeine needs 2 minutes to penetrate to follicle depth). for a DIY approach: brew strong espresso, cool it, and use it as a scalp rinse after shampooing (leave on for 2 to 3 minutes, then rinse with cool water). the DIY version delivers the same molecule at lower but meaningful concentrations. results at 3 to 6 months. $8 per bottle. $0 for the espresso rinse if you already make coffee
a $3 molecule that 2 billion people consume daily blocks the enzyme that breaks down the growth signal in your hair follicles, reverses the testosterone suppression that causes pattern baldness, and stimulates the growth cells by 46%. the German university published it. the German consumers adopted it. the German shampoo has been #1 in Germany for over a decade. and the molecule that would improve your hair is in the cup you're drinking while you read this. the cup goes in your mouth. the shampoo goes on your head. same molecule. different destination. the follicles have been waiting for the coffee to arrive from the right direction.
prakhar retweeted
In 1991 eight people were sealed inside three acres of glass in the Arizona desert to prove that a carefully designed farm could feed humans without the outside world, and the design had almost no room in it for animals. Two years later the only thing inside that had reliably fed them was a handful of goats.
Biosphere 2 cost a hundred and fifty million dollars. A rainforest, an ocean, a savannah and a farm under one roof, with the door welded shut for two years and nothing allowed in or out. The farm was the heart of it, and the farm was built on the modern idea: crops first, grown intensively, with livestock as an afterthought at the edges. A few African pygmy goats for milk, a flock of chickens, and four small feral pigs chosen because they could live on scraps.
The pigs did not last the year. In a sealed box short of calories a pig is a competitor, and the crew killed and ate them. The chickens barely laid, because the glass cut the light and there was nothing to feed them that would make an egg. That left the goats, and for two years the goats were the only source of fat in a world designed around vegetables.
The accounts the crew wrote afterwards return to them again and again. The half glass of milk a day was the thing people lived for. When a kid was born it was eaten and the meal was written up like a feast. The men lost nearly a fifth of their body weight, the women a tenth, and the food they dreamed of was never the sweet potatoes they had in abundance. It was the animal they had been given too few of.
The plants were also taking the air. To make the crops grow the soil had been enriched with compost, and the microbes in that soil breathed oxygen faster than anyone had calculated. The level fell from twenty-one per cent to fourteen, the air of a high mountain, until the crew could not climb a staircase without resting and oxygen had to be trucked in from outside. The design that put plants first had removed the thing everyone needed most.
Nobody has ever run the experiment the other way, with a herd at the centre and the crops at the edge. It would not have needed a doctor to explain the results.
They were given three acres and told to feed themselves on plants. They ate the pigs, worshipped the goats, and suffocated.
prakhar retweeted
Also, don't feel some bs pressure to overconsume caffeine because it's linked to "longevity".
Roughly 95% of the caffeine you drink is broken down by a single liver enzyme made by the CYP1A2 gene.
Depending on the specific variant (specifically the single nucleotide polymorphism rs762551) you inherit, you fall into one of two main categories:
-Fast metabolizers (AA Genotype)
These people process caffeine up to four times faster than slow metabolizers.
Because caffeine leaves their system quickly, they avoid its negative cardiovascular side effects while still absorbing coffee’s beneficial antioxidants and polyphenols.
For this group, moderate coffee consumption actually lowers the risk of heart attacks and high blood pressure.
-Slow metabolizers (C-allele carriers)
These people possess a variant that causes caffeine to linger in the bloodstream for hours.
For them, heavy coffee consumption strains the heart, significantly increasing the risk of high blood pressure and nonfatal heart attacks.
The following study for example discovered that drinking 2 to 3 cups of coffee per day increased the risk of a nonfatal heart attack by 36% in slow metabolizers.
For those drinking 4 or more cups daily, the risk skyrocketed by 64%.
"I have ADHD. Why does caffeine make me sleepy sometimes?"
It's an allosteric interaction inside A₂A–D₂ receptor complexes.
Caffeine works primarily as a non-selective antagonist of adenosine receptors.
Adenosine is a neuromodulator that accumulates in the brain the longer you stay awake.
The two receptors most relevant to caffeine are:
-A₁ is widely distributed and its activation generally inhibits neurotransmitter release (including glutamate and dopamine in some areas).
A₂A is concentrated especially in the striatum (and other basal ganglia areas).
Activation of A₂A has opposing effects on dopamine signaling.
Caffeine is a non-selective antagonist, meaning it binds to both A₁ and A₂A receptors without activating them, simply occupying the site so adenosine cannot.
In the striatum, A₂A and D₂ receptors physically form heteromeric complexes.
This close physical association allows direct allosteric modulation between the two receptors.
When adenosine binds to the A₂A receptor in this complex:
-It decreases the affinity of the coupled D₂ receptor for dopamine (and for D₂ agonists).
-It reduces the intrinsic efficacy of dopamine signaling through D₂.
In practical terms, adenosine makes the D₂ receptor less sensitive and less effective.
Stimulating A₂A receptors increases the dissociation constant (Kd) of D₂ agonist binding, meaning dopamine binds less tightly and the receptor responds more weakly.
By occupying A₂A receptors, caffeine prevents adenosine from binding and exerting that negative allosteric modulation.
The brake is lifted, so existing dopamine can activate D₂ receptors more effectively (higher affinity and better signaling).
So it does not cause a large release of new dopamine the way amphetamines or cocaine do.
Instead, it improves the efficiency of the dopamine that is already present.
So caffeine can increase the apparent availability or function of D₂ receptors without flooding the system with extra dopamine.
Now your ADHD brain typically has lower baseline levels of dopamine and/or fewer available receptors.
Without enough dopamine, your brain constantly "hunts" for stimulation.
So when caffeine bumps your dopamine up into a "normal" range, it satisfies that hunger.
Then there are other possibilities, such as vasoconstriction.
Caffeine acts as a central nervous system vasoconstrictor, meaning it temporarily narrows the blood vessels in your brain and modifies blood flow.
In some individuals with ADHD, this reduction in cerebral blood flow actually decreases overactivity in certain regions of the brain, thus having a minor sedative-like effect.
fitandball.gumroad.com/l/bra…
prakhar retweeted
France’s non-whites have assimilated into rioting culture but take it to another level.
It’s like Indians and Asians succeeding in institutions white Americans built (imagine complaining about this).
But France has worse traditions and worse immigrants.
prakhar retweeted
I wonder how much the Clavicular phenomenon only exists because there’s less coupling up overall.
When people coupled up all the time, no one believed that women cared primarily about looks.
A generation can only believe that if they’ve become sexless.
prakhar retweeted
When can we expect the next galactic current sheet (GCS) intersection with the heliosphere? Turns out it's around 2040.
A Magnetic Reversal Around 2040? youtu.be/qhyThuwFPJs?si=MuQH… via @YouTube
prakhar retweeted
Long-form video on the development of the caste system: youtu.be/Xz8lwLOGECc
prakhar retweeted
The Hittites trained their chariot horses from a manual that counts the laps in Indic numbers, and its author was a Mitanni named Kikkuli.
The numbers are aika, tera, panza, satta and nava, meaning one, three, five, seven and nine, and the Mitanni kings bore Indian names such as Tushratta, “he whose chariot charges”.
Around 1380 BC (conventional chronology) one of them, Shattiwaza, swore a treaty with the Hittite king Suppiluliuma, calling Mitra, Varuna, Indra and the Nasatya twins as witnesses, the same gods the Rig Veda praises.
The rulers were descendents of migrants who left when the river dried up around 1900 BC.
For over a thousand years, the Sarasvati was the central river of the largest civilisation on earth. The Rig Veda names her seventy-two times. Of the well over 3,000 villages, towns and cities of the Indus-Sarasvati civilisation, most stood on or near the Sarasvati. Her estuary in the Rann of Kutch fed ports trading with Sumer, Arabia and East Africa.
Around 1900 BC she ran dry.
The conventional account says the cities declined, their people scattered into villages, and civilisation was later brought in from the steppe. That account leaves out the river, and it leaves out where several million people went next.
Northwest India sits where the Indian plate pushes into Asia. Earthquakes moved the rivers. The Yamuna turned east to the Ganges and the Sutlej west to the Indus, and with her tributaries gone the Sarasvati failed. At Harappa the drains were no longer cleared. At Mohenjo-daro families buried their gold under the floor and never came back for it.
Most of the people went east, to the Ganges plain, which inherited the Sarasvati’s sanctity. Others crossed to Sri Lanka. A third group went west via the trade route to the Gulf, and within a few generations rulers with Vedic names held thrones across the Near East. The Kassites ruled Babylon for over five hundred years, and their first known king was called Gandash. Around 1380 BC a Mitanni king in northern Syria swore a treaty by Mitra, Varuna and Indra.
Later Western scholars decided the river was a myth and named the civilisation after the Indus instead. Satellites have since traced her bed from the Himalayas to the sea.
Ancient texts that do not fit a biased, artificial model should be more readily believed.
Link to the full Substack essay with sources in the comments below.
prakhar retweeted
The only generation that knows how computers work is also the most relaxed about AI:
prakhar retweeted
Claude 5.5 Opus responding to “AI is a normal technology” is still the best AI-created video I have ever seen
prakhar retweeted
I like the community note, we’re getting scholarly debates over the authenticity of the various Hadiths of Charlie
CHARLIE KIRK: “If you are serious about actually protecting human rights, you should want to make Iran Western again.”
@charliekirk11
Readers added context they thought people might want to know
This clip predates Charlie Kirk's June 2025 statement calling regime change in Iran "pathologically insane." He opposed war.
newsweek.com/charlie-kirk-i…