Jodi Ettenberg

Whoa

I wrote this just before British Columbia announced it would be adopting DST permanently. BAD IDEA. Bad for the immune system; bad for our health. If we stop shifting time, we should be adopt permanent STANDARD time, not DST. All about why it matters: www.patreon.com/posts/rant-a...

Thanks Subu, glad you found it useful! It may be seen as pedantic by some, but words really matter when it comes to public health.

For some reason Bsky limited this reply. Yes, it was sarcastic!

Thank you!

At least we think so!

Someone posted my deep dive about cross-contact vs. cross-contamination in food to reddit.

SORRY I LIKE TO WRITE ABOUT ETYMOLOGY SUE ME.
www.legalnomads.com/cross-contac...

(The piece does have citations, but I know you can't please everyone ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. At least I learned a lot writing it)

Another paper about how Covid affects sperm count, yet antivaxxers are still going on and on about the vaccines being what causes it. Nope, like much else, it's the virus itself: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

(More on how vaccines don't affect fertility: www.cidrap.umn.edu/covid-19/lar...)

Vice President JD Vance issues warning to U.S. Olympians over politics JD Vance would like American athletes competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics to kindly stop speaking out against the Trump administration: 'You're not there to pop off about politics.'

That first amendment is really coming in clutch these days

Trump threatens to block opening of US-Canada bridge The White House has reiterated its demands even after a 'positive' call between Trump and Mark Carney.

We paid for it, we even hired US workers to help build it, and we lose out because it’s jointly owned. But sure, we’re the bad guy.

The CDC says it's fine to resume normal activities 24 hrs after Covid symptoms are improving. A new, large prospective study with digital tracking shows recovery takes much longer than that www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

The talk was a conversation between myself and Dr. Andrew Callen about barriers to care from the patient and physician perspectives, from the recent Spinal CSF Leak: Bridging the Gap conference. The full conversation is here: spinalcsfleak.org/2025-callen-...

One of the most difficult aspects of having your life change overnight is how to reckon with the loss of identity. For a decade, I lived and breathed food and travel, & I loved the life I had built.

Suddenly, I could barely stand up.

About spinal CSF leak and loss of identity:

You are probably getting brain damage from all those COVID infections. A worrying look into the literature on COVID and brain health.

The idea that Covid could damage the brain appeared very early in the pandemic. Society can pretend all it wants that it's "not a big deal" to get infected, but the brain remembers (and not in a good way).

Thank you, and I hope the coming months are more peaceful for you. I’m including this post in my newsletter this month as well, I thought it was really relatable.

We try so hard to get better -
we try everything. To think it’s on us is so unfair, I’m sorry :(

Effort Without Improvement Chronic illness, meritocracy, and the pressure to do more

As someone living in that interstitial space, this hits: "We tend to understand illness as something you either die from, or recover from. Those of us who are chronically ill live in the awkward inbetween space. Not dying, but not getting better either. Not an emergency,not something fully resolved"

A hidden bat virus is infecting humans Researchers in Bangladesh have identified a bat-borne virus, Pteropine orthoreovirus, in patients who were initially suspected of having Nipah virus but tested negative. All had recently consumed raw ...

More about it: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...

NOT NOW, BATS

Caption from Figure 9 in paper: Appendages of Ordovician Phacopida. A, B Anacheirurus adserai from the Fezouata Shale (Pérez-Peris et al., 2021). A, Endopodite (YPM 226573). B, Exopodite in dorsal view (YPM 517074). C, Bavaillia zemmourensis with antennae (MCZ:IP:20105; Martin et al., 2016; Richards et al., 2024). D – F, Ceraurus pleurexanthemus from the Rust Formation (Losso and Ortega-Hernández, 2024). D, Biramous appendages (MCZ:IP:110933). E, Biramous appendage (MCZ:IP:112018). F, Exopodite (MCZ:IP:104973). G – I, Flexicalymene senaria from the Rust Formation (Losso and Ortega-Hernández, 2024). D, Protopodites in cross section (MCZ:IP:104956). E, Biramous appendages (USNM 68379). F, Endopodites (USNM 68381). J, Placoparia cambriensis from the Llanfallteg Formation (NMW 91.46G; Whittington, 1993). Abbreviations: ant, antennae; cla, claw; en, endopodite; end, endite; hyp, hypostome; lm, lamellae; pn, podomere number; pt, protopodite.

Do you ever wonder about trilobite appendages?

Literally everything ever known has now been reviewed by Sarah Losso @thomashegna.bsky.social @invertebratepal.bsky.social 🧪⚒️🦑

osf.io/preprints/pa...

My pleasure!

My featured artist this month is Rebecca Lee's lovely image of villi in mice, a part of the body I am quite familiar with as a celiac! Her photo was an honorable mention in the 2025 Photomicrography Competition from Nikon Small World (also feat. in CAE 58): jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty-eight

As well as @newhumanist.bsky.social on how Finland educates about misinformation
@wired.com on how contaminated water is a cause of Parkinson's disease
@knowablemag.bsky.social on how champagne gets its bubbles
@defector.com on Rob Reiner's legacy

& more: jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty-eight

CAE 58 is out, with the most interesting things I read in December, & some end of year lists: jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty-eight

Including:
@matthabusby.bsky.social's profile of psychonaut Bruce Damer
@occrp.org on a South Pacific Ponzi king
@jstor.bsky.social on the Tonka bean

So sorry to hear that. I’ve had my leak for 8 years and counting, and it’s an absolutely terrible condition. Wishing you all the best.

This a hard year, a compounded boulder of heath issues and other challenges. I haven't done a year-end recap in eons but it's a good reminder (to me, mostly!) that even in tiny increments, even if they're painful, you can still create something exciting. www.legalnomads.com/2025-year-end/

A nice break from the daily onslaught of horrors that otherwise persist.

Airborne transmission of respiratory viruses A Review discusses the scientific basis of and factors controlling airborne transmission of respiratory viruses including coronavirus.

Amazing that this review paper from 2021 just became my most cited paper of my 30+ yr career. I am honored to have been the lead first co-corresponding author with @ChiaWang8. COVID is indeed airborne--as are most other respiratory viruses. @ucsandiego.bsky.social

www.science.org/doi/full/10....

Ottawa man takes his Uber driver tobogganing for first time Dave Nguyen discovered his Uber driver, Chance Niryomugabo, had never been tobogganing. A few days later, the two new friends were ripping down the Charlie Rogers Place hill in Kanata

Meanwhile in Ottawa part deux: ottawacitizen.com/news/uber-to... a very cute story