Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026 · about a 5-minute read
Good morning. Yesterday brought the first U.S. building permit for a factory's own small nuclear reactors, a one-time sickle cell treatment that passed its big test, its maker says, and NASA opening applications for astronauts tied to its first Moon base. Today one weekly shot eased both weight and knee pain in two large trials.
The big one
One Weekly Shot, Less Weight and Half the Knee Pain for Most Patients Knee arthritis turns stairs and walks into a negotiation with pain, and extra body weight makes every step heavier on the joint. Full results of two large Lilly-funded trials, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, show Eli Lilly's weekly retatrutide helped adults with obesity and painful knee arthritis lose about 17.5 to 24.8 percent of their body weight, and 63 to 70 percent of treated patients cut their knee pain by at least half, against 38 percent on a placebo. At the top dose, up to about 18 percent of patients stopped because of side effects.
Why it matters: this is the first time one drug has lowered both the load on the knee and the pain in the same trial at this scale. Our odds on a U.S. approval for people with obesity and knee arthritis are below the line. Read it →
Yesterday on the site
The End of Aging
A Baldness Pill Kept Regrowing Hair for a Full Year, Its Maker Says: Veradermics says men on its twice-daily slow-release minoxidil tablet gained 43.9 hairs per square centimeter of scalp at one year, with no heart events of special interest (company data, not yet peer reviewed).
The End of Disease
One Treatment to End Sickle Cell Pain Crises Passed Its Big Test, Its Maker Says: Beam says its one-time base-editing treatment met its main goal, freedom from severe pain crises, in 31 patients at 12 months (secondary report).
Superhuman
Hearing in the Shower: A Hidden Ear Implant's Trial Clears Six Months, Its Maker Says: Envoy Medical says all 56 adults in its U.S. pivotal trial of a cochlear implant that sits entirely under the skin have passed their six-month visits.
To the Stars
Help Wanted on the Moon: NASA Is Hiring Astronauts for Its First Base: NASA opened applications for an astronaut class tied to its south-pole Moon base, with training set to start in early 2028 (secondary report).
Limitless Energy
Factories With Their Own Nuclear Power: First U.S. Building Permit Issued: regulators issued a construction permit for four small reactors at Dow's Seadrift, Texas, chemical plant, the first ever for a pebble-bed design, the companies say.
By the numbers
About 320 megawatts: the electricity Dow's four planned reactors would make together, roughly what a mid-sized city draws, plus steam for the plant.
43.9 hairs per square centimeter: the one-year gain on the twice-daily baldness pill, up from 36.4 at six months in the company's other trial.
56 of 56: adults in the hidden ear implant's pivotal trial now past their six-month visits, its maker says.
About 8,000: applications NASA's last astronaut call drew; it picked 10.
New on the odds board
Yesterday's posts put fresh odds on factories running on their own nuclear power, a one-time sickle cell treatment, a baldness pill, astronauts from NASA's new class reaching the Moon and an ear implant with nothing worn outside. Every milestone lives on the calculator.
On the calendar
Dec. 3: applications close for NASA's Moon-base astronaut class.
End of 2026: the earliest Beam plans to ask the FDA to approve its sickle cell treatment.
2027: Dow's expected preliminary investment decision on its Texas reactors.
Early second quarter of 2027: all 56 patients in the hidden ear implant trial finish their 12-month visits.
Early 2028: training starts for NASA's new astronaut class.
The story we're following
One-time gene fixes are stacking up. In two days we covered one infusion of a gene editor cutting sky-high blood fats 63%, its maker says, and a base-editing treatment passing its big test against sickle cell pain crises, with an FDA filing planned as soon as the end of 2026. Each one-time treatment that clears a major trial brings closer a world where a disease is handled once instead of managed for life.
Quote of the day
"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." — President John F. Kennedy, at Rice University in Houston, Sept. 12, 1962. Yesterday NASA opened applications for the astronauts who will train for its first Moon base.
Coming up
Already up this morning: one weekly shot that eased both weight and knee pain. Later today: at 9 AM, robot help without buying the robot, as Musk says Tesla will probably rent Optimus; at 10 AM, a plan for drone-zapping lasers to work safely near airliners; at 11 AM, Neuralink's next trial for running a computer by thought after a stroke; and at noon, Musk's tunnel machine starts digging a campus tunnel.
Until next time
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