On this, our 331st Evolutionary Lens livestream, we discuss sunscreen and vegans. It’s Summer, and the sun is out! Should you slather yourself in sunscreen, stay indoors, or seek moderate exposure to the sun that grows in intensity that more your skin becomes acclimated to the season? The last, of course. Research has found that sunscreen use may be positively correlated with skin cancer, but a) “sunscreen” is not just one thing, and most but not all sunscreen is positively toxic, and b) all cause mortality is lower in people who get regular (non-sunscreened) sun exposure, so even if sunscreen does lower your risk of skin cancer—the sun is protecting your health in other ways. Also consider ditching the sunglasses, and donning a hat. Then: even the New York Times can’t figure out whose team they’re on, as a vegan in Portland tries to get Oregonians to outlaw hunting, fishing, animal research, conventional livestock production, and “lethal pest control.”
Our sponsors:
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Mentioned in this episode:
Hulscher’s substack: https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/study-finds-sunscreen-use-linked
Jeremian et al 2023. Gene–Environment analyses in a UK biobank skin Cancer cohort identifies important SNPs in DNA repair genes that may help prognosticate disease risk. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 32(11): 1599-1607: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10840669/pdf/nihms-1929398.pdf
Nicholson & Exley, C 2007. Aluminum: a potential pro-oxidant in sunscreens/sunblocks? Free Radical Biology and Medicine, 43(8): 1216-1217: https://www.ovid.com/journals/frbm/abstract/10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2007.07.010~aluminum-a-potential-pro-oxidant-in-sunscreenssunblocks
Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide: https://amzn.to/3AGANGg (commission earned)
NYT in Oregon: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/21/us/politics/animal-rights-cruelty-oregon.html
Timestamps:
00:00:00 Holding Screen
00:05:06 Finally, Summer!
00:07:55 Sponsor: MUD\WTR
00:10:30 Sponsor: Caraway
00:12:11 Sponsor: Puori
00:14:33 Should You Use Sunscreen?
00:15:55 The 470k-Person Skin Cancer Study
00:21:35 Dissecting the Research Paper
00:34:34 Aluminum in Sunscreen & Cancer Risk
00:46:32 Bret Weinstein’s Six Hypotheses
00:55:16 “Sunscreen” is NOT a Good Category
00:58:44 The Case for Simple Solutions
01:02:44 Ditch the Sunglasses?
01:04:19 Sun, Shade & Avoiding Burns
01:10:25 Oregon’s Vegan Ballot Measure
01:13:35 Who’s Behind IP28?
01:19:36 Meat, Ethics & Evolutionary Reality
01:26:27 Gather Your CSC & Parasol
We have "cartesian blinders being put on us so that we are trying to make sense out of scraps of information and hints." - @bretweinstein
WEINSTEIN: I mean, even if you have your villains who are engaged in the behavior that motivated this war in Iran, even if that's the story, presumably most of the people in the path of these ferocious bombings that he is describing are not deserving of going back to the Stone Age.
In fact, I distinctly remember him telling us that part of what we were up to was liberating the people of Iran from their tyrannical regime.
So if it's the tyrannical regime that justifies the ferocious bombing, then it's a tragedy that other people are going to be sent back to the Stone Ages with them. Right?
HEYING: It's it's not a narrative. It's an incoherent set of talking points.
WEINSTEIN: Yeah, it's a kind of cheerleading that is completely inappropriate from the perspective of the president.
Bret Weinstein discusses the Trump administrations "back to the stone age" recent remarks in the latest episode of The Evolutionary Lens, Episode 320 "Are we back in the stone age?" on DarkHorse.
Bret Weinstein explains, "If you stop businesses from starting here, and if you drive people so that they move elsewhere—even though it's difficult to do—then the point is the tax base dries up, which then forces you to become even more predatory for the people who stayed.
And that's really the thing, right? They're setting themselves up so that they have to go after more and more people, because the people who are starting new businesses are not going to do it here."
Bret speaks with John Cullen on the subject of the unanswered questions surrounding the assassination of Charlie Kirk and the 2017 Las Vegas shooting.
Youtube: https://youtu.be/7m31LcCTf10
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0LEGBkh2yXDTl3QqU38Qid?si=KtxnJF0IT3i4XGhE_Sm0cg
Locals: https://darkhorse.locals.com/post/8227721/the-drone-hypothesis-john-cullen-on-darkhorse
Rumble: https://rumble.com/v7g2ny2-the-drone-hypothesis-john-cullen-on-darkhorse.html
Bret and Heather discuss new cats, fat bears, and overwhelmed frogs. The tilcayo, a newly named species of cat from Bolivia, is part of a group of New World “tiger cats” that live on the outskirts of the Amazon basin. We discuss Carnivoran relationships, cats more specifically, and what is known about the history and ecology of the tilcayo in particular.
Then: it’s fat bear week at Katmai National Park in Alaska, where grizzlies are fattening themselves on salmon for the Winter ahead; we discuss hibernation, reproductive diapause, and general chonkiness in bears.
Finally: female Cope’s gray treefrogs have a harder time choosing good mates when there’s a lot of noise, and when there are too many suitors—kind of like how women often make bad choices when confronted with chaos and wingmen.
Rumble: ...
