🩸 Science cracks a 50-year-old blood mystery (and your canned peaches are officially vintage)

Ever waited 50 years for an answer? Well, blood researchers just did, finally cracking the code on a mystery blood type that's been haunting labs since disco was cool. This week, we're diving into medical mysteries solved, imaging studies that make Big Brother jealous, the death of canned peaches (RIP Del Monte), and why your period drink might be lying to you. Oh, and someone made a pill that coats your intestines like a mussel. Because, of course, they did. Science remains undefeated in the "that's weird but okay" department!

In 1972, a pregnant woman walked into a hospital and inadvertently kicked off a five-decade scientific manhunt. Her blood was so rare that it reacted against every other rare blood sample tested, making her essentially untransfusable. Her blood sample revealed she was missing the AnWj antigen found on virtually all other red blood cells. Her blood reacted against every rare blood sample tested, making compatible transfusions impossible.

Fast forward through bell-bottoms, the internet age, and several economic crises, and researchers finally cracked it. The culprit? Deletions in the MAL gene encoding a small membrane protein. Louise Tilley, who spent 20 years on this puzzle (talk about job dedication), led the team that solved it. "The genetic background of AnWj has been a mystery for more than 50 years, and one which I have been trying to resolve for almost 20 years of my career," Tilley explained.

The discovery means AnWj-negative patients who receive AnWj-positive blood can experience severe, potentially fatal transfusion reactions. Now, doctors can develop genetic tests to identify these ultra-rare individuals before they need emergency transfusions. Two types of AnWj-negative status exist: inherited (extremely rare, genetic) and acquired (more common, caused by certain cancers or blood disorders).

The best part? They proved their findings by literally fixing the broken cells – inserting functional MAL genes into AnWj-negative cells, successfully restoring antigen expression. It's like finding a software bug that's been crashing computers since the Nixon administration and finally pushing the patch. Better late than never?

You can check the research from Blood or read more from here and here

The UK just completed the world's most ambitious people-watching project, and surprisingly, it's not another reality TV show. After 11 years and £60 million, UK Biobank has completed the most ambitious medical imaging project in history, scanning 100,000 volunteers to create an unprecedented window into human health and aging. The study generated over one billion images - roughly 12,000 MRI scans per person during five-hour sessions.

The scale is mind-boggling. This imaging study is 10 times larger than any previous population-level project, involving brain MRI, cardiac MRI, abdominal organ imaging, bone density scans, and vascular assessments. Principal Investigator Sir Rory Collins had the best humble-brag: "Some experts even asked if we'd included an extra zero by mistake!"

Here's where it gets juicy: 1 in 10 showed signs of abdominal aortic calcification, strongly linked to cardiovascular death, despite appearing outwardly healthy. Even your weekend wine habit isn't safe: consuming just 1-2 units daily is linked to measurable brain volume reductions and structural changes potentially contributing to memory loss and dementia. Basically, everything fun is slowly killing you, but now we have the receipts.

The COVID findings are particularly spicy: Even mild COVID-19 infection resulted in measurable brain tissue damage and shrinkage in smell-related areas. So that's why everything still tastes weird. Phase 2 is already underway with 60,000 participants returning for second scans to track how organs change over time. Because apparently, one five-hour scanning session wasn't enough fun.

You can check the original 2020 Nature article for more information on the study, or read more here or here to see how this dataset is helping fuel discoveries

Pour one out for your childhood fruit cocktail! Del Monte Foods, the 139-year-old American food giant, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 2, 2025, marking a symbolic end to an era of processed convenience foods. The company that taught generations that pineapple comes in rings and peaches live in syrup is officially toast.

The numbers are uglier than canned meat: Del Monte secured $912.5 million in debtor-in-possession financing while carrying over $1.23 billion in secured debt and liabilities estimated between $1 billion and $10 billion. Their current valuation of $579 million is a spectacular face-plant from the $1.675 billion someone paid for them in 2014. Ouch.

Why the downfall? Turns out millennials and Gen Z prefer their fruit without a two-year shelf life. Post-COVID, 70% of Americans became more health-conscious, with 62% citing healthfulness as a key driver for food purchases. The stats are brutal: 77% buy fresh fruit versus only 31% buying canned fruit, while 72% purchase fresh vegetables compared to 38% buying canned versions.

The final nail in the can? Trump's steel tariffs doubled from 25% to 50%, devastating can production costs since 80% of steel for food cans is imported. Add in private label brands now capture 40-45% of the canned food market at significantly lower prices, and you've got a recipe for bankruptcy. RIP to the company that made "fruit cup" a food group.

You can read more from here and even check Del Monte’s financial statements

Ladies, that trendy period beverage claiming omega-7 sea buckthorn will fix your PMS? Yeah, about that... Despite extensive database searches, zero clinical trials exist testing sea buckthorn or omega-7 specifically for premenstrual syndrome. That's a big fat goose egg on the evidence scale.

What sea buckthorn actually does have evidence for is... postmenopausal vaginal health. A 2014 randomized, double-blind study of 116 women showed sea buckthorn oil improved vaginal epithelium integrity. Which is great if you're post-menopausal, less helpful if you're just trying to survive your monthly crime scene.

The citation shuffle is predictable: Companies typically reference the postmenopausal vaginal health studies as "evidence" for premenstrual symptoms, extrapolate from general anti-inflammatory properties without specific data, and cherry-pick preliminary research while ignoring limitations. A 2019 review put it bluntly: "Most results are from studies of isolated fatty acids instead of fatty acids extracted from sea buckthorn oil."

WebMD's take? There is "no good scientific evidence to support most uses" for sea buckthorn beyond burns and limited other applications. So maybe save your money for actual chocolate and ibuprofen. At least we know those work.

Boston's Syntis Bio just raised $38 million ($33M in funding and $5M in grants) to advance SYNT-101, an innovative oral obesity treatment that promises to deliver "gastric bypass in a pill" while preserving lean muscle mass. Their secret? Copying mussels, because apparently those shellfish have been holding out on us.

The tech is wild: SYNT-101 uses mussel-inspired polymer chemistry developed by MIT's Robert Langer and Giovanni Traverso to create a temporary polydopamine coating in the duodenum lasting up to 24 hours. It basically shrink-wraps your intestines to block nutrient absorption in the upper small intestine and redirects nutrients to trigger natural secretion of satiety hormones, including GLP-1, PYY, and leptin, while reducing ghrelin.

Early results look promising: Rodent studies showed consistent 1% weekly weight loss over six weeks with 100% preservation of lean muscle mass, compared to muscle loss commonly seen with GLP-1 drugs. The first human trial with 9 people showed no adverse events, which in pharma speak means "nobody died or grew a shell."

The market opportunity is massive: The GLP-1 market reached $53.5 billion in 2024, with projections ranging from $100-200 billion by 2030-2035. If this works, it could offer daily oral dosing instead of weekly injections, potentially without the muscle-wasting side effects. The company plans to submit an IND application to the FDA in H2 2025, with Phase 1 trials following approval. Time to see if mussel power can take on Big Ozempic.

Check Syntis Bio out or read more here

Another week, another reminder that science moves at two speeds: glacial (50-year blood mysteries) and warp drive (mussel pills for weight loss). Del Monte's bankruptcy reminds us that even 139-year-old companies aren't immune to changing times, while the UK Biobank proves that with enough funding, you can scan literally everyone and tell them they're slowly dying.

Did the blood type mystery blow your mind? Are you side-eyeing your period supplements? Ready to coat your intestines like a mussel? Hit reply and share your thoughts! We love hearing which stories made you go "wait, WHAT?"

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Until next week, may your blood type be common and your canned goods fresh, Prateek & Jere

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