What I Read This Week (3/16/25)
Wisdom from Lao Tzu, We Can Turn Skin Cells into Eggs and Neurons, Tariffs Trigger More Market Uncertainty—My Chance to Buy Big, An Honest Conversation with My Mentor Teacher
Every week, I like to share what caught my attention. This is from 3/10/25 to 3/16/25.
Timeless Idea💡
Wisdom from Lao Tzu
“The softest thing in the world overcomes the hardest.”
Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching)
The Tao Te Ching is a book I love to return to whenever I feel overwhelmed or powerless.
Two of its primary guiding principles are minimal necessary force and effortless action, so it is a lovely book that reminds me that I can accomplish more with less struggle. Since I first read it in 2019, I have returned to it at least once or twice a year.
I love this idea because it reminds me that overcoming difficulty does not mean I must be harder, but softer.
Lao Tzu refers to water, although soft and yielding, wears down rock over time.
True power comes from flexibility, patience, and resilience rather than brute force.
New Idea 🌟
We Can Turn Skin Cells into Eggs and Neurons
Imagine a future where eggs for IVF aren’t harvested through invasive procedures but are created from a simple skin cell. That future is closer than we think.
Scientists have discovered that they can turn ordinary skin cells into egg cells by using Yamanaka factors—a set of four genes that can reprogram any cell into a stem cell. This process is being successfully tested in mice, but within the next five years, it could revolutionize human fertility treatments. This breakthrough could allow women who are past childbearing years or those who struggle with fertility to conceive using lab-created eggs made from their own skin cells.
Some argue that this is “playing God,” but I see it as an incredible leap forward that gives more people the chance to become parents in ways we never imagined possible.
But fertility isn’t the only frontier for this technology.
MIT researchers use a similar approach to turn skin cells into neurons, the brain's fundamental building blocks. In a groundbreaking study published in Cell Systems, scientists developed a method that is 100 times more efficient than previous techniques, producing over 10 neurons per skin cell in mice.
What does this mean for us?
This innovation could pave the way for treatments for spinal cord injuries, ALS, and motor neuron diseases. It could also fuel advances in brain-computer interfaces and regenerative neurotechnologies—offering hope for restoring lost function and even enhancing human cognition.
While the process is still slower in human cells (currently achieving 10-30% efficiency over five weeks), it is already far ahead of older methods. This research has vast potential applications, and we may soon see life-changing therapies emerge from its discoveries.
We live in an age when science blurs the lines between the possible and the impossible. Whether it’s fertility or neuroscience, the ability to reprogram human cells into entirely new forms will change medicine forever.
The future of healing may be written in our skin.
Sources: MIT & National Library of Medicine
What I See In Markets 📈
Trump’s Tariffs Triggers Market Uncertainty—My Chance to Buy Big
This week, markets went red (again), with the S&P 500 moving into correction territory—down over 10% from its February peak—thanks to Trump’s tariff bombshell, doubling tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50%.
The $4 trillion wipeout, tech stock carnage (Tesla -15%), and gold’s leap past $3,000/oz signal fear is dominating market sentiment.
But here’s the silver lining: I see market corrections and crashes as prime buying opportunities. While the herd panics, I’ll grab more of my favorite stocks at discount prices—because history shows these dips often set the stage for the next big rally.
Even if the tariffs stay, I am investing in companies with strong balance sheets that can endure this drama and possibly even thrive in this environment.
This week, I bought more ELF and HNST. Although ELF doesn’t have as strong a balance sheet, I think it can afford to pass off any tariffs to the consumer and protect its margins. HNST is a solid company with more cash than debt. I’ve also bought a bit of SHOP. I’ve wanted to develop a significant position in SHOP for years, but I missed the boat in 2022, so I’m grateful for this slight downturn.
Remember that I am a long-term investor seeking above-market returns over the next five years. I am okay with not making any meaningful gains for one to three years.
Source: Reuters, SHOP, ELF, HNST
Personal Update 💙
An Honest Conversation with My Mentor Teacher
Trigger Warning: mentions of suicide
This week, I spent some time with my mentor teacher discussing my experience as an educator. The conversation was honest and authentic, making me feel better about what I have been going through internally. However, it also showed me that what I am experiencing is challenging, even though I insist I am not affected.
While a lot of the day-to-day teaching involves putting fires out and making 1,000,000,000,000,000 decisions, the hardest part is handling the emotional load of the students with whom I interact.
I’ve recently learned that I have become the go-to guy for troubled students to talk to. When a young Black man is struggling, I am the guy they are referred to. Which is a fantastic privilege, but hearing why they act the way they do is intense. On top of that, I have many students who live in fear due to the current political climate, and it is heartbreaking to see the real-world impact of what these children go through.
One of the toughest challenges I went through this year was losing a student to suicide. Unfortunately, that student was one of the most active readers of my blog, and he passed away during a period when I wasn’t writing as much. Part of me wondered if he thought I could help him and the answers were in my blog posts. I wish I could have hired him to help me with my business or something, primarily since I dealt with suicidal ideations when I was younger, and I know how he felt.
I need to write an entire post on my thoughts on suicide so I can at least refer to people who have felt the same as me. While I don’t believe I found a perfect solution, I did find one that worked for me, and I should share it. If you know someone struggling with suicidal ideation or are struggling yourself, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. My email is chris@chrismukiibi.com
While I may take a while to respond, I promise to do so thoughtfully and in a way that I believe can help.
My mentor teacher told me that I needed to spend more time away from it to process it properly, and I agreed with her. Accepting that my students affect me emotionally and having an honest conversation about my experiences have helped a lot. However, I still need to spend some time away from all the chaos.