Why we should be wary of social media’s obsession with the vagus nerve

It was 25 years ago, but I clearly remember the lunch meeting when I drew a simple sketch of the vagus nerve on a napkin, showing the signals it carried from the brain to the body to turn off inflammation.

Sitting in a steakhouse with Ralph Nappi, the former chair of the board of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, I explained my lab’s discovery that stimulating electrical signals in the vagus nerve could prevent inflammation. My ballpoint stick figure predicted a scientific journey that is now likely to disrupt broad segments of the healthcare industry, and benefit millions of…