Hello and welcome. Today we’re talking about former President Joe Biden’s recent metastatic prostate cancer diagnosis and what it tells us about illness, aging, and responsibility. As doctors remind us, metastatic prostate cancer is “treatable, but usually not curable,” and in an 82-year-old patient with frailty—an “accumulated loss of resilience”—both disease and treatment become harder to withstand.

What does this mean for prognosis? We simply don’t know yet how long this cancer has been growing or exactly how it will progress. We do know that older, frail patients often face tougher side effects, even from gentler therapies like testosterone blockers, which can worsen fatigue and cognitive decline. Yet many patients live for years—what physicians call dying “with cancer, not from cancer.”

In palliative care, we often say: “hope for the best, plan for the worst.” Hope is a conscious act, distinct from denial, which blocks planning. Planning for the worst isn’t about giving up—it’s about weighing risks, setting priorities and ensuring the people and causes we love are protected if time becomes short.

For leaders and all of us, confronting reality with compassion and clarity is an act of responsibility—and of hope.
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Hello and welcome to today’s Minute Mystery. I’m your host, and we’re unpacking TikTok’s latest sensation: a completely clear phone that racked up more than 52 million views. At first glance, it seemed like a futuristic device straight out of Black Mirror or Nickelodeon’s Henry Danger. Viewers guessed everything from secret prototypes to social art statements.

But here’s the twist: “This is a Methaphone,” explains TikTok creator CatGPT in a follow-up clip. It’s nothing more than a clear piece of acrylic shaped like an iPhone. Invented by her friend as an experiment, the Methaphone tests whether simply carrying a phone-shaped object can curb our screen addiction by replacing the “physical artifact that directly responds to this collective tension.”

A 2023 study found 57% of Americans feel addicted to their phones, checking them over 100 times a day on average. Despite skepticism—some fans even raised $1,100 on Indiegogo—the Methaphone remains “a totem, and an alibi… the first step on the road to freedom.”
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Welcome to the Mind Matters podcast. I’m your host. Do you ever feel restless or always chasing more? According to Michael Long in his book Taming the Molecule of More, dopamine is the culprit. It’s not the “happiness” molecule but our curiosity engine, pushing us toward every new possibility—even when we already have what we need. As Long warns, “Dopamine often promises more than reality can deliver,” leaving us addicted to scrolling or chasing perfect relationships that don’t exist. Yet dopamine is also a gift. “Dopamine really is the source of creativity and analytical power that allows us to create the future,” he writes. The trick is balancing anticipation with presence—learning to “enjoy every sandwich,” as Warren Zevon said—while finding meaning in work that helps others. Because when “you’re making life better for others … the days feel brighter and life acquires purpose,” and that, Long argues, is how we tame the molecule of more.
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