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/

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....

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

Meanwhile, here in Ottawa… toronto.citynews.ca/2025/12/19/o...

"As a physician, I empathize with the lack of familiarity; doctors only know what they know, and headache, after all, is a common complaint. But as a patient, I can’t help feeling angry. It seems that many doctors simply do not believe spinal CSF leak patients."

This WSJ piece was so indelibly biased wow. I’m not estranged from my parents, but I know people who are (imo validly) & their parents constantly claim they are the victims. Why don’t we hear from the kids’ POV in this story? Smacks of missing missing reasons. archive.is/2025.12.16-1...

This is one of those times when all of the bad news just sucks the air out of your lungs.

The ages match Rob and his wife. 💔 Man, this year has been utterly exhausting in so many ways.

The anti-Semitic mass shooting in Australia will cause a national conversation and policy change. We know this because the 1996 Port Arthur massacre led to significant restrictions on guns. The shooting at Brown will do nothing. We know this because it occurred on the anniversary of Sandy Hook.

CAE 57 is now out, with the best things I read last month. This month's great pieces include: - @thelocal.to on a freelancer not being what she seemed - @rosalindadams.bsky.social on the godmother of weed in NY - @defaultfriend.bsky.social on how trad culture was never counterculture & more!

Obsessively good list of gift suggestions for the curious child courtesy of @tksst.bsky.social. Bookmarked many items in here! thekidshouldseethis.com/giftguide (via @kottke.org's gift guide roundup)

Some not terrible news for a change: “A wild beaver has been spotted in Norfolk for the first time since beavers were hunted to extinction in England at the beginning of the 16th century.”

This week, thanks to this @defector piece, I learned that saying something is a gong show to indicate it’s a chaotic mess is classic Canadiana. I thought this was an expression in the US too until I read it.

Depressing field study in Milan of 138 metro rides found that 67% of passengers offered their seat to a pregnant woman when a person dressed as Batman was on the train, vs 38% without Batman. It also says of the 67%, 44% of them “didn’t notice Batman” so it’s a subconscious conscience. ?!?!

1) a clear definition of UPFs, including infographics that are easy to share 2) making less processed foods more affordable, since often UPFs are what is cheapest 3) making healthier food available earlier - vending machines, school meals, etc www.cbc.ca/news/health/...

In the chaos of this month, I forgot to share CAE 56! Some incredible reads in here this month, about the venus fly trap (it's from North Carolina — I had no idea!), ethical collapse, the strangest letter of the alphabet (also had no idea!), the physics behind ocean waves, & much more.

On behalf of anteaters everywhere, I have written a short compilation of anteater facts. You're welcome. www.patreon.com/posts/on-ant...

This article is written like Canada is just randomly boycotting American goods because it misses its friend — “amid bruised feelings” about tariffs? How about amid a climate of increasingly authoritarian actions and with Canada being threatened with annexation. Why can’t the press get it right?

CAE 55 is out, with the best things I read in September: jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty-five This month's featured artist is Martin Wittfooth, whose evocative image below of a pelican feasting on the detritus of our consumerism fit well with this month’s reads:

What a COMPLETE mystery that people are more sick than average right now. It's not like their immune systems are affected by anything that would interfere with normal function, right? RIGHT?

Love this so much, and not because I’m a lefty myself. (TIL that left spiral snails can only mate with other left spiral snails, though!) If you’re in NZ, can you help find Ned a mate? If you’re elsewhere, pls read this piece anyhow because it’s profoundly adorable: www.nzgeo.com/stories/lets...

Curious About Everything 54 is out, with the best things I read in August: jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty-four This month's featured artist is Christian Ruiz-Berman, whose work draws from histories of adaptation & migration, addressing the surreal nature of being stuck between 2 worlds:

Too close to the world they want, I guess? Handmaid's Tale to be pulled from Edmonton schools, proving yet again that Canada is just as susceptible to fascism as anywhere else. And yet another example of the that group screeches about 'free speech' engaging in censorship.

Our immune systems are different than pre-2019 — and it’s not because of “immunity debt” during lockdowns years ago. It’s because of Covid itself. People have got more fungal & other infections, more inflammation, more comorbidities. And it’s only likely to worsen as reinfections stack up.

Curious About Everything # 53 is out, with the best things I read in July: jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty-three Feat. artist is Benjamin Barakat, with the stunning composite of dragon tree star trails in Yemen, below. The photo comprises 300 different exposures, all superimposed into one image.

My grandfather would have been 107 this week, and I miss him terribly. When he passed away, I wrote this piece — half eulogy, half a love story about how he & my grandmother got engaged the day they met. He was a remarkable man, with a remarkable story: www.legalnomads.com/grandpa/

SPACE HURRICANES EXIST?! Apparently so! They have similar spiral 'arms' & an eye like earth hurricanes, but the eye has aurora glowing within. A recent study confirmed they also are active electrodynamic storms: agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

This story is W I L D, truly wild. nymag.com/intelligence... (Archive link for those who need it: archive.is/77OpD )

Thanks for the shoutout, Jodi!

CAE 52 is out, with the best things I read in June including: - @rachelplotnick.bsky.social on electronics in the bathroom - @cestmoilanglois.bsky.social on wild animals within Rome's ruins - @meerasub.bsky.social on the beautiful adaptability of fungi jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty-two

Good overview of mast cells, cells that contributed to derailing my life as it did to those interviewed: “I would describe myself as a person who had tremendous potential in this world, [...] and that potential has been hijacked by the mental, physical, and psychological impacts of this condition.”

"Journavx is the product of 27 years, billions of dollars, millions of molecules screened, dozens of monkeys and rats and data from over 2,400 surgical patients, all distilled into a single 50-mg blue tablet." How we finally got a non-opioid painkiller, by @worksinprogress.bsky.social:

Danielle Smith had a whole conversation with a naturopath about the importance of prevention, but her govt is going to charge Albertans $100+ to prevent COVID. FYI - cost of a hospital admission is $1000/day. Anti-vax right wing govts are going to make everyone sick and bankrupt health care.

CAE 51 is out, with the best things I read in May including fantastic reads about AI in education, a perplexing James Patterson x MrBeast collab, Japanese Braille, floristry's pitfalls, the history of the tomato — and much more. jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty-one

Great article on fruit over history. Thanks to @legalnomads.com for posting archaeology.org/collection/a...

Higher than I expected! And only likely to grow. Bookmarking.

As someone allergic to bee stings, this is 😱😱😱

Can you imagine?! www.bbc.com/news/article...

Enjoyed this @edzitron.com piece, as depressing as it is: the Business Idiots don't know or care what the customer wants, & "generative AI feels magical, because it does an impression of somebody doing a job, which is an accurate way of describing how most executives & middle managers operate."

Curious About Everything # 50 is out with the best things I read last month, featuring long pieces about science, tech, fonts, tariffs, animals, and so much more — plus IT’S FISH DOORBELL SEASON! jodiettenberg.substack.com/p/fifty

Cartoonist @theomoudakis.bsky.social’s latest on the many fine lines PM Carney has to walk in trying to navigate negotiations with an administration that has no desire for allies anymore.

Measles in the US is slowing — but the TOTAL cases there is still lower than my province of Ontario. We have over 1200 cases. yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/the-dose-m... Contrary to rumour of immigrant involvement, per Ontario govt the outbreak started at a Mennonite gathering last fall.

Wow this piece is WILD

"Pure, uncut populism in the Year of Our Lord 2025 is based on the notion that all gatekeepers are bad, even the ones who could be ideological allies, & listening to anyone saying that perhaps this random influencer has a bad idea [...] would be a definitionally anti-populist move."

TIL that Australia has democracy sausage, served everywhere that Australians vote — even at overseas polling stations like embassies, and this year at a research station in Antarctica. Many polling stations also have cake. And there’s a website tracking them all: democracysausage.org

Ottawa has its first cases of measles. Ontario’s outbreak is larger than Texas — but we have 1/2 the population of Texas. Over 1000 cases so far. If you visited the following locations on the dates & times below, Ottawa Public health says you may have been exposed to measles:

Yet again @thebeaverton.com is pitch perfect. I am sure we’re all shocked that the Conservatives frothing at the mouth about Carney not being formally elected by the full country but still being elected party leader are silent right meow.

My apologies, that link was NOT ungated (thank you for the messages). The correct link to view this post is here: www.patreon.com/posts/canadi...