Audit a URL →

Sign in Sign up free

Loading…

Weekly · Sunday Morning

Five longevity claims.
Worth your time.
Every Sunday.

Last Sunday

Rapamycin extends mouse lifespan 9–14%
NAD+ precursors reverse aging in humans
Blue-light glasses improve sleep quality
Walking 10 min after meals blunts glucose
Verdict change — caffeine half-life downgraded

5 audits·1 verdict change·0 affiliate links·Every Sunday

Joining 1,247 readers — founders, MDs, and longevity-obsessed people who fact-check their own health decisions.

Browse

Decisions Claims Content Creators

Product

Audit a URL Sunday roundup API (soon)Pricing

About

FAQ Methodology Editorial Standards Corrections Press & brand RSS feed

Legal

Terms of Service Privacy Policy DMCA

Finally, something serious in this space.
Because we actually read the papers.

© 2026 Whalespan. Independent, evidence-graded longevity.

Loading…

Content›Video›The Biology of Aggression, M…

The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal | Dr. David Anderson

Andrew Huberman1h 56m · 2022-09-12

Support Rate

75%

125 of 166 claims supported

Support rate

125 of 166 claims supported

125 supported41 partial / not

Claims from this content

84

✓Well SupportedAndrew Huberman drinks Athletic Greens twice a day, typically once in the morning and again in the afternoon or late afternoon, mixed with water and lemon or lime juice.✓Well SupportedAthletic Greens is a drink containing vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and adaptogens designed to meet foundational nutritional needs and aid recovery from stress.✓Well SupportedAG1 supports the gut microbiome, which in turn supports the immune system and the gut-brain axis, impacting mood, energy, focus, and overall mental and physical health.✓Well SupportedLevels, a program utilizing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), provides real-time feedback on how foods, activities, and sleep impact health and blood glucose levels.✓Well SupportedMattress characteristics like softness, firmness, and breathability significantly impact sleep quality and should be tailored to individual needs.

More from Andrew Huberman

Andrew Huberman on Creatine

Huberman X thread: creatine and aging

Andrew Huberman on Morning Sunlight

Discussion

Native comments, Twitter mentions, and Reddit threads about this content — surfaced together so the conversation isn't fragmented across platforms.

M

Share your read of this content…

Posting publicly as you · linked to your social profiles

Sort by:

AV

A. Volkovreader

4h

Bookmarking — the dossier-vs-overview split is the right call. Most of the time I want overview; sometimes I want receipts.

NP

N. Park

2d

Would love a "what would change this verdict" RSS feed. Sign me up if it exists.

✓Well SupportedSleep is the foundation of mental health, physical health, and performance, and optimizing sleep is crucial for happiness, productivity, and overall life quality.

✓Well SupportedMomentous supplements are recommended for their single-ingredient formulations, varied dosages, and high quality for personalized supplement protocols.

✓Well SupportedVitamin D3 and K2 are essential for mental health, physical health, and performance by impacting hormone regulation, calcium regulation, and cardiovascular health.

✓Well SupportedIn female mice, aggression neurons are activated by both male and female intruders equally, whereas in male mice, aggression neurons are only activated by males.

✓Well SupportedUsing a CGM and associated programs can help optimize food combinations, exercise, and sleep schedules for better blood glucose control and energy levels.

✓Well SupportedTestosterone amplifies an individual's existing traits, such as sexual arousal, libido, aggressiveness, spontaneous aggression, and reactive aggression.

✓Well SupportedIn maternal female mice, aggression neurons show increased activity compared to virgin females, while mating neurons remain at a consistent activity level.

✓Well SupportedThe female mouse VMH contains female-specific mating neurons not found in males, indicating a mechanism for sex-specific behavioral differences.

✓Well SupportedElectrolyte drinks with zero sugar and appropriate ratios of sodium, magnesium, and potassium can improve mental and physical functioning when well-hydrated.

✓Well SupportedMice socially isolated for two weeks show a massive upregulation of Tachykinin-II in their brain, which is responsible for increased aggressiveness, fear, and anxiety.

✓Well SupportedSocial isolation increases tachykinin in flies, and blocking this gene prevents isolation-induced aggression.

✓Well SupportedMice or humans lacking the aromatase enzyme show reduced aggression despite high testosterone levels, and blocking aromatase prevents testosterone-induced aggression.

✓Well SupportedThe vagus nerve aggregates information from the gut, heart, and breathing to control emotions and send it to the brain.

✓Well SupportedThe medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus acts as the body's thermostat and integrates thermal afferent information from the entire body.

✓Well SupportedStimulating fear neurons in the VMH can stop a fight between animals.

✓Well SupportedTestosterone can be converted to estrogen via aromatization, and this conversion plays a role in testosterone's effects.

✓Well SupportedOsanetant could potentially be tested on pets suffering from separation anxiety, as it has shown efficacy in mice.

✓Well SupportedLiquid intake should include a proper balance of electrolytes, specifically sodium, potassium, and magnesium.

✓Well SupportedBovine adrenal medullary peptide (BAMP-22) has endogenous analgesic activities and activates a receptor that inhibits pain.

✓Well SupportedContinuous glucose monitors (CGMs) allow individuals to see in real-time how specific foods affect their glucose levels, revealing personal variations.

✓Well SupportedIn male mice, specific cells recognize females, while in female mice, different cells are quiescent, indicating distinct neural circuits for sex recognition.

✓Well SupportedThe periaqueductal gray (PAG) is involved in pain, lordosis response, fear, panic-like behavior, and freezing behavior.

◐Partially SupportedAG1 sponsorship includes an offer of five free travel packs plus a year supply of vitamin D3K2.

◐Partially SupportedThere are dense, mutually inhibitory interconnections between the medial preoptic area (mating neurons) and VMH (aggression neurons) to prevent conflicting behaviors.

◐Partially SupportedStronger optogenetic stimulation of aggression-controlling brain regions in mice lowers the threshold for initiating a fight.

◐Partially SupportedActivating specific neurons can induce mounting behavior in male mice towards objects that resemble mice.

◐Partially SupportedEstrogen and progesterone play a significant role in controlling aggression in male mice and presumably male humans.

◐Partially SupportedIn male mice, mounting behavior towards other males is primarily dominance-related, not sexual, especially when they have limited fighting experience.

◐Partially SupportedDifferent neural circuits, rather than a single neurochemical like dopamine, are likely involved in arousal valence.

◐Partially SupportedThe specific hormones involved in generating aggression via the VMH are other than testosterone, and include estrogen and progesterone.

◐Partially SupportedOptogenetics allows more targeted neuronal stimulation than electrical stimulation by avoiding unintended circuit co-activation.

◐Partially SupportedA quiz can help match individuals to their ideal mattress based on sleep position and temperature preference.

◐Partially SupportedUnderstanding how emotion systems are controlled in a causal way is necessary for improving psychiatric treatments.

◐Partially SupportedThe ventromedial hypothalamus contains distinct neuronal populations that can either promote or inhibit feeding, leading to paradoxical effects on hunger and satiety.

◐Partially SupportedThe concept of 'hydraulic pressure' towards behavior suggests an accumulating drive or need for a particular state.

✕Not SupportedThe common myth that testosterone makes animals and humans aggressive and estrogen makes them placid is false.

◐Partially SupportedThe book co-authored by David Anderson and Ralph Adolphs is important for the general population and neuroscientists to read and understand regarding emotions and states.

◐Partially SupportedTachykinin-I in humans is also known as Substance P.

◐Partially SupportedFuture tools will enable the manipulation of specific vagal nerve fiber subsets to study their effects on emotional behaviors.

◐Partially SupportedTachykinin 1, also known as substance P, is implicated in pain and promotes inflammatory pain.

◐Partially SupportedPredatory aggression involves different neural circuits than those in the ventromedial hypothalamus.

◐Partially SupportedThe word 'aggression' describes a behavior rather than a singular internal state, as it can reflect anger, fear, or hunger.

◐Partially SupportedFear-induced analgesia can occur when an animal is in a high state of fear.

◐Partially SupportedMultiple small-scale clinical trials on repurposed drugs by various labs could increase pharmaceutical company interest.

◐Partially SupportedSpecific peptides can govern whether individuals feel anxious or aggressive.

◐Partially SupportedThe safety profiles of many discarded drugs make them viable candidates for new clinical trials.

◐Partially SupportedMetabolic and temperature control systems in the brain are intermingled with survival behavior centers.

◐Partially SupportedProgesterone plays a role in aggression, as aggression neurons express the progesterone receptor.

◐Partially SupportedFruit flies exhibit two distinct forms of arousal states: sleep-wake arousal and a startle response.

◐Partially SupportedArousal is not unitary and can be behavior-specific.

◐Partially SupportedNeuropeptides like Neuropeptide Y and oxytocin-like peptides show parallel evolutionary conservation across species.

◐Partially SupportedEmotion involves bidirectional communication between the brain and body, mediated by the peripheral nervous system, influencing heart rate and blood pressure.

◐Partially SupportedViewing emotions as neurobiological processes aids in their study.

◐Partially SupportedTachykinin-blocking drugs could be useful for treating human stress-induced anxiety or aggressiveness.

◐Partially SupportedThe somatic marker hypothesis proposes that subjective emotional feelings are partly associated with bodily sensations.

◐Partially SupportedSpecific vagal nerve fibers control responses in particular organs.

◐Partially SupportedIn humans with borderline personality disorder, there is a strong correlation between self-reported aggressiveness and serum levels of Tachykinin-I.

◐Partially SupportedEmotions are subcategories of nervous system states that dictate feelings, drive behavior, and influence interpretation of experiences.

◐Partially SupportedSubjective feeling is the conscious tip of the emotional iceberg, distinct from neurobiological processes.

◐Partially SupportedThere is no current physiological data to support the 'NoFap' community's claims regarding the benefits of abstaining from masturbation.

◐Partially SupportedIncreased blood flow to specific body structures may underlie the physiological basis for emotion-body part heat maps.

◐Partially SupportedThe state of hunger is subjectively experienced as increasingly uncomfortable.

◐Partially SupportedCurrent treatments for violent sexual offenders eliminate both violence and sexual desire, indicating a lack of targeted treatments.

◐Partially SupportedFear can inhibit offensive aggression, while it enhances defensive aggression in rats.

◐Partially SupportedFemale mice can attack intruder males or females even when pups are not present.

◐Partially SupportedThe periaqueductal gray (PAG) may have a topographic organization where different sectors determine the type of behavior emitted when neurons are stimulated.

◐Partially SupportedAromatase inhibitors reduce estrogen production by preventing testosterone conversion.

◐Partially SupportedEmotional states persist beyond the stimulus that evokes them, unlike simple reflexes.

◐Partially SupportedIn some individuals who engage in sexual violence, aggression and sexual arousal states may be reinforcing rather than mutually antagonistic.

◐Partially SupportedOsanetant can prevent aggressive behavior in socially isolated mice towards their cage mates.

◐Partially SupportedAggression requires a constant cost-benefit analysis by the brain.

◐Partially SupportedEmotions are distinct from feelings, with feelings being the subjective, conscious experience that requires self-reporting, while emotions are the underlying, less conscious components.

◐Partially SupportedNeural activity in the hypothalamus region controlling feeding increases as hunger increases and decreases after eating.

◐Partially SupportedThe substantia innominata, nucleus ambiguous, and zona incerta may be a final common pathway for aggression.

◐Partially SupportedIncreased temperature may be linked to increased violence.

◐Partially SupportedAggression is not a homeostatic behavior driven by an accumulating need.

✕Not SupportedAnimal experiments may predict human drug response, especially for evolutionarily conserved brain regions and molecules.

✕Not SupportedPharmaceutical companies may avoid asking about secondary drug effects in trials to prevent negative findings.

◐Partially SupportedIn male mice, inhibiting aromatase reduces fighting and sexual activity.

The Biology of Aggression, Mating, & Arousal | Dr. David Anderson — Whalespan