This week I got the flu. Or a cold. Or COVID. I'm not entirely sure what the differences in symptoms are at this point. All I know is I could barely move for 5 days.

Hence why I'm disrupting your Sunday (vs. Friday) with IQNEWS now that I can move.

Movement is key for newsletter creation.

I also want one more data point on whether folks like reading newsletters on Fridays or Sundays. If you have a preference, reply directly and let me know.

As always, please forward IQNEWS to a friend if you're a fan!

Everyone knows you're more likely to get sick during the winter. Yet, why that's the case has largely been a mystery...until now!

For the first time ever, scientists discovered a clear link between cold air and a weakened immune system.

More specifically, they found that just a nine degrees Fahrenheit drop in temperature kills ~50% of the cells in your nostrils that fight bacteria and viruses.

"Cold air is associated with increased viral infection because you’ve essentially lost half of your immunity just by that small drop in temperature," remarked Benhamin Bleier, the Harvard Medical School rhinologist whose team made the discovery.

But fret not - there's a simple way to sidestep cold air carnage in your schnoz and ward off sickness. Ready for it?...

Wear a face covering! By wrapping a scarf or other warming material over your nose, you keep your nostrils at a nice balmy temp and maintain proper nasal immunity.

Everyone loves receiving a handwritten note. And yet, most of us don't churn them out all that often. Why?

It's a lot of work! Or at least a lot more work than typing up your sentiments in, say, an email. There's good news, though - you can now start typing your handwritten notes.

If you go to Calligraphr.com, print out the template they provide, fill in each letter with your unique handwriting, and upload it back onto the site, you'll be able to download and use your own handwriting as a font.

I can't vouch for whether or note a typed up note looks exactly like its truly handwritten counterpart, but I've been told on good authority it's quite close.

This hack could come in handy for the holidays, of course.

1. One of the main uses of folders is to avoid things from folding.
2. One of the only things we wash with cold water instead of hot water is our teeth.
3. Sweaters and sweatpants describe precisely when you don't need to wear them.
4. It is actively against a barber's interests to cut hair too short.
5. People peel the stickers off of bananas despite banana peels not being eaten.

George Eliot: “It's never too late to be what you might have been."

Today I learned that only two companies have a higher credit rating than the United States Government, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson. (more here)

lachrymose [ lak-ruh-mohss ] - adjective
tearful or given to weeping
She was pink-eyed and lachrymose.

Q: Who was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize (in 1903)?
A: (see below next section)