Meningitis + Science News Webinar from 3/25/26

Tom opens this week’s livestream with an announcement about a new community platform launching in early May 2026 through New Biology Clinic and DrTomCowan.com.
 -New Biology Clinic members at any level will be included at no extra charge.
 -Graduates of the New Biology curriculum will receive a trial membership.
 -Tom shares that the goal is to help like-minded people connect online first, then build real in-person friendships, local relationships, and practitioner support.
 -He also ties this initiative to the upcoming New Biology Experience at Polyface Farm in June, describing it as part of a broader effort to bring people together in community.
New Biology Experience link here.

Highlights from this session include:
 -Tom shares several pieces of “science news,” including a story about a python blood molecule being studied as a possible appetite suppressant, which he uses to mock the logic behind new obesity drug development.
 -He comments on a report claiming that a third of Americans believe in an impending apocalypse, pointing to what he sees as a contradiction between welcoming doomsday and wanting institutions to prevent it.
 -Tom reads and analyzes a comment from Australian microbiologist Christopher Peacock, focusing on Peacock’s claim that the “only difference” in viral plaque assays is the presence or absence of the virus. Tom argues that such a statement would require prior purification of the virus from the sample, which he says virologists themselves claim is not possible.
 -The main topic of the session is meningitis, especially the claim that Neisseria meningitidis causes meningitis and septicemia. Tom reviews a scientific paper on meningococcal pathogenesis and argues that the theory fails because the bacteria are commonly found in healthy people, while actual illness is rare.
 -He highlights what he sees as a major weakness in the mainstream explanation: the researchers themselves admit that the mechanisms by which the bacteria move from harmless colonization in the nose to life-threatening disease remain largely unexplained.
 -Tom argues that the theory becomes increasingly speculative, shifting from bacteria, to subtypes, to genetic differences, to signaling pathways, instead of proving direct causation.
 -He also notes that there is no convincing animal model for meningococcal sepsis or meningitis and says this undermines the claim that the bacteria are the true cause.
 -In discussing a recent teen meningitis case, Tom speculates that vaping-related toxins such as nicotine, propylene glycol, heavy metals, and carcinogens may be a more plausible contributor to brain and tissue damage than the bacteria themselves.
 -He closes by arguing that meningitis vaccine campaigns are built on flawed reasoning and by reaffirming his challenge to Christopher Peacock to produce proof that a virus was isolated before cell culture.