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Jodi Ettenberg

@legalnomads.com
4.9K followers 364 following 688 posts

Once a lawyer, then a celiac travel writer. Now disabled, writing about curiosity & health. Travel writing & gluten-free guides: legalnomads.com The best things I read each month: jodiettenberg.substack.com MCAS, meditation, & health: jodiettenberg.com

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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 24/08/2026
In today’s world, the ways that we speak of disability or what living looks like when you're sick still lean heavily on themes of recovery. I am not recovered and I may never recover. But that doesn't mean I'm not able to contribute, in my own way, to the world. www.legalnomads.com/living-grief/
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 24/08/2026
I wrote about something I've wanted to discuss for some time: living grief. In losing my stepmom earlier this year, the difference between bereavement grief and the "living grief" of chronic illness became more clear. They diverge not only in terms of how it feels, but in how society treats them.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 21/08/2026
Featured artist this month is Andrew Salgado, whose beautiful & evocative piece "Funeral" below reflected my feelings of this moment. Enjoy enjoy, and I hope you learn something new! 💛
jodiettenberg.substack.com
The Curious About Everything Newsletter #65
The many interesting things I read in July 2026
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 21/08/2026
Learn about a new colour not visible to the human eye, about the math rock fun behind Angine de Poitrine's music, about 3D-printed dentures, dementia, body-building, and much more.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 21/08/2026
Incredible, fascinating pieces in this month's CAE, including some mysteries of science like why pigeons always find their way home, & why some people (like me!) are born left-handed (we still don't know), & whether crows are actually friends or whether they're just training us to give them treats.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 24/07/2026
Thank you so much 🤍
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 23/07/2026
It’s sitting in my cupboard so every time I open it I’m like OH YEAH I WROTE A PAPER 😂😭
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 23/07/2026
Thank you so much! I was honoured to be asked, and we paid for open access so patients can read the whole thing when it's pub'd in print in a few months. The findings confirmed how tough it is - 78% misdiagnosis rate, 19.9% self harm ideation, and over 17% of patients waiting 4+ years for care 💔
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 23/07/2026
Isn't it?? I wish I'd thought of it. I have a friend finishing her phd and I know what I'm doing as soon as she successfully defends (like I know she will!)
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 23/07/2026
I was so very excited to be the lead author on a recent paper about barriers to care in spinal CSF leak, and my friend surprised me with with the best gift: she had the abstract printed on a mug and sent it my way. SO THOUGHTFUL 😭
This photo is a white mug with a printed abstract from the American Journal of Neuroradiology for the paper "Patient-reported barriers to spinal cerebrospinal fluid leak: a cross-sectional survey"
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 21/07/2026
NOPE.
gizmodo.com
Woman's Cornea Gets 'Eaten' by Parasite After Contact Lens Blunder
47-year-old Emma Marsden developed a rare corneal infection after washing her face with her contacts still on.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 20/07/2026
WHERE IS THE PIGEON EMOJI
jenniferdaniel.substack.com
Why do some new emoji look familiar?
You’re not going crazy
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 16/05/2026
Thank you for the kind words. I’m so sorry for all you’ve been through, and wish you all the best in your leak journey.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 12/05/2026
The new name is more accurate, as you don’t need pathological ovarian cysts to have PMOS, and it better reflects the condition’s endocrine and metabolic origins. Long overdue, and wonderful to see.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 12/05/2026
Very happy to read that Polycystic Ovary Syndrome has been officially renamed Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS) following a global consensus study published today in The Lancet. And it’s open access! www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 12/05/2026
Need this.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 11/05/2026
I sadly got the short form, so I barely made it through a song 😭
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 11/05/2026
A tale as old as time. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...
theguardian.com
French woman was told by doctors hantavirus symptoms were just anxiety
Spanish health minister says MV Hondius passenger, now in a ‘critical state’, had been suffering flu-like symptoms
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 06/05/2026
I’m ok with my tax dollars going toward whimsy haha
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 06/05/2026
I got my Canadian census this week, and it turns out that Stats Canada made a series of themed soundtracks we can play while filling it out. Love it. www.statcan.gc.ca/en/census/ce...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 10/03/2026
what.
dazeddigital.com
Could singles wrestling be an alternative to dating apps?
During a wrestling speed dating event in Brooklyn, hosted by community-focused group Grownkid, hundreds of 18 to 24-year-olds arrived for a chance to battle it out for love
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 06/03/2026
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 03/03/2026
Whoa
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 03/03/2026
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...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 22/02/2026
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.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 22/02/2026
For some reason Bsky limited this reply. Yes, it was sarcastic!
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 21/02/2026
Thank you!
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 21/02/2026
At least we think so!
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 20/02/2026
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)
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 15/02/2026
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...)
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 12/02/2026
That first amendment is really coming in clutch these days
ew.com
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.'
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 10/02/2026
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.
bbc.com
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.
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Reposted by Jodi Ettenberg
Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
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...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 05/02/2026
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-...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 05/02/2026
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:
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 05/02/2026
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).
synergies.substack.com
You are probably getting brain damage from all those COVID infections.
A worrying look into the literature on COVID and brain health.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 05/02/2026
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 :(
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 04/02/2026
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"
kristiedegaris.substack.com
Effort Without Improvement
Chronic illness, meritocracy, and the pressure to do more
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 03/02/2026
More about it: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/202...
sciencedaily.com
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 ...
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 03/02/2026
NOT NOW, BATS
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Reposted by Jodi Ettenberg
Jo Wolfe, PhD @jopabinia.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
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...
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.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 14/01/2026
My pleasure!
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 14/01/2026
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
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 14/01/2026
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
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 14/01/2026
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
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 08/01/2026
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.
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 01/01/2026
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 30/12/2025
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/
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Jodi Ettenberg @legalnomads.com · 28/12/2025
A nice break from the daily onslaught of horrors that otherwise persist.
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Reposted by Jodi Ettenberg
Kimberly Prather PhD @kprather.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
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....
science.org
Airborne transmission of respiratory viruses
A Review discusses the scientific basis of and factors controlling airborne transmission of respiratory viruses including coronavirus.
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