Is 5G safe for humans? Who owns science? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Nov 4 - Nov 10, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's best and brightest from the world of science news, find out how you can watch Mercury's transit across the Sun, and explore the link between Indonesian wildfires and your favorite sweet treats. ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts within their respective areas of interest and expertise also cover many other important and exciting topics. Why not have a read, inform yourself, and indulge your scientific curiosity?

• Berlin Debate – Who owns science? by Stephen Curry at Reciprocal Space.
• The planets and you by Caleb Scharf at Scientific American.

Today (Monday the 11th of November), you can see Mercury's transit across the Sun!
Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, SwRI, MSSS Image processing by Kevin M. Gill (CC BY 3.0)

• Accessible astronomy: The transit of Mercury by Mullard Space Science Laboratory.
• Neural network reconstructs human thoughts from brain waves in real time by Ibezim Chukwuemerie for Human Bioscience.
• A bonanza of data from the second Voyager to reach the Solar System’s edge by John Timmer for Ars Technica.
• The science of why 5G is (almost) certainly safe for humans by Ethan Siegel at Starts with a Bang.
• Colombian woman’s genes offer new clues to staving off Alzheimer’s by Kelly Servick for Science magazine.
• Knowing when to hold and fold ’em: the explore/exploit dilemma by Drew Schreiner for NeuWrite San Diego.
• Why (some) sleepy brains get grumpy by Rosa García-Verdugo for Mapping Ignorance.
• Your guide to behavior and the gut microbiome by Ana Zdravic at Maze Engineers.
• Autumnal ombre: Colour chemistry by Lauren Nelson at A Short Scientist.
• The money in mangroves: how our coastal forests save us billions by Harry Baker for Marine Madness.
• Rumors of Dory’s demise were greatly exaggerated by Emily Sohn for Hakai magazine.
• What does climate change sound like? by Brandon Keim for Anthropocene magazine.
• Is clean meat possible? by Gege Li for The Biochemist Blog.
• Makers of Oreos, KitKats among brands linked to Indonesia forest fires by Hans Nicholas Jong for Mongabay.
• Scientists Say new research tracing the origin of modern humans to Botswana is deeply flawed  by George Dvorsky at Gizmodo.

Check back next week for more great picks!

How many people could be threatened by rising seas by 2100? What happens if you stuff marijuana up your nose and leave it for 18 years? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Oct 28 - Nov 3, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this weeks' best and brightest from the world of science news, find out how human interference is affecting forests' ability to retain water, and why you should be careful about what you put in your plastic water bottle. ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts within their respective areas of interest and expertise also cover many other important and exciting topics. Why not have a read, inform yourself, and indulge your scientific curiosity?

• Up to 630 million people could be threatened by rising seas by Adam Vaughan for New Scientist.

  

  If climate change continues unabated, we will see a huge rise in the number of climate change refugees.
  Credit: F Delventhal via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Human disturbance is drying out forests by Rebecca Dzombak at Massive Science.
• Shot through the Head, and You’re to Blame by Jasspreet Sahib at Hakai magazine.
• Explorers Who Are Turning Bat Perceptions Upside Down by National Geographic.
• Greta Thunberg, Chastising Leaders, Turns Down Major Environmental Award and $52,000 by Merrit Kennedy for KQED.
• Is conservation too focused on rarity? by Brandon Keim for Anthropocene magazine.
• What is “dark diversity” and how can we use it to guide conservation and restoration?  by Aleksandra Dolezal for Envirobites.
• Refilling bottles: why it may not be as simple as you thought by Kat Day at The Chronicle Flask.
• Here’s what happens when you leave marijuana up your nose for 18 years by Beth Mole for Ars Technica.
• Reimagining research culture by Elizabeth Adams and Tanita Casci at F1000 blogs.
• PhD Bamboo by Fiona Robards for The Thesis Whisperer.
• Was the Havana Syndrome just an old cold lingering? by Nick Carne for Cosmos magazine.
• How measles infections can wipe away immunity to other diseases by Helen Branswell for STATnews.
• Too sweet to dream - on sugar, diabetes and sleep by Joanna Filipowska for Life Apps.
• Busy Brains build resilience to ageing by Sarah McKay at YourBrainHealth. 
• I scream, you scream… by Susan Lubejko at Neuwrite. 
• Biomarker for schizophrenia can be detected in human hair by Adam Phillips at It Ain't Magic.
• Greasy Fingerprints Issue Solved with Nanocoating by Tribonet - About Tribology
• Ask Ethan: How Many Generations Of Stars Formed Before Our Sun? by Ethan Siegel at Starts with a Bang.
• Can You Overdose on Happiness? by Lone Frank for Nautilus magazine.
• Supernovae and chemical explosions have a lot in common, video reveals by Edd Gent for Science magazine.
• Astronomers Find Thousands of Young Globular Clusters around Perseus Cluster’s Central Galaxy by Sci-News.com.

Check back next week for more great picks.

Why are Biogen submitting a failed Alzheimer's drug for FDA approval? Does a new CRISPR system hold the key to correcting all genetic disease? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Oct 21 - Oct 27, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's exciting edition of the best from the world of science news, explore the surprising connection between traumatic brain injury and criminality, and find out what's happening in the Amazonian rainforest now that media coverage of the fires has died down. ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts within their respective areas of interest and expertise also cover many other important and exciting topics. Why not have a read, inform yourself, and indulge your scientific curiosity?

• New CRISPR tool could fix almost all disease-causing DNA glitches by Sharon Begley for STAT News.

  

  A new CRISPR system shows gene replacement efficiency at up to 78%, much higher than other systems.
  However, gene editing technologies have shown disappointing results in humans in the past. Only time will tell.
  Credit: Ernesto del Aguila III, National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH (Public Domain)

• The return of Aducanumab by Derek Lowe at Science Translational Medicine.
• The surprising connection between brain injuries and crime by Kim Gorgen, transcript taken from a talk at TEDXMileHigh, published on ScienceBeta.
• Study finds massive reorganization of life across Earth’s ecosystems by John C. Cannon for Mongabay.
• As 2019 Amazon fires die down, Brazilian deforestation roars ahead by Sue Branford and Maurício Torres for Mongabay.com.
• A grizzly situation: saving bears by mitigating conflict by Jessica Espinosa for Envirobites.
• A parasitic bacterium saps energy from corals by Matt Miles at Hakai magazine.
• Should we judge a scientific field by its classic papers, its typical current papers, or its best current papers? by Jeremy Fox at Dynamic Ecology.
• The need for an African lightsource by Dr. Prosper Ngabonziza at Elephant in the Lab.
• What made dinos sore? by Riley Black at Scientific American.
• For the last time, no, a NASA engineer has not broken physics with an impossible engine by Ethan Siegel at Starts With A Bang.
• Messy Births by Damond Benningfield at Stardate.
• Meet The Blob, a creature that has almost 720 sexes — but no brain by GrrlScientist for Forbes.

Check back next week for more great picks.

What does the formation of a binary star look like? Why do some people need less sleep? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Oct 14 - Oct 20, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's best and brightest from the world of science news, see the picture that solves a fifty-year-old chemistry question, and find out how indigenous people are breaking the law in California to preserve their ancestral way of life. ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts within their respective areas of interest and expertise also cover many other important and exciting topics. Why not have a read, inform yourself, and indulge your scientific curiosity?

• ALMA captures a binary star in the act of formation by Tim Kendall at Extreme Astrophysics.

Astronomers using ALMA have obtained an extremely high-resolution image showing two disks in which young stars are growing, fed by a complex pretzel-shaped network of filaments of gas and dust.
Credit: Image - ESO via ESO.org Caption: Tim Kendall at Extreme Astrophysics (CC-BY 4.0)

• Two women completed a seven-hour spacewalk on Friday by Eric Berger for Ars Technica.
• Tomatoes, peas and several other crops grow well in simulated martian and lunar dirt by Sci-News.com.
• wowt explains: what is a cyborg? by Greg Fish at World of Weird Things.
• A fifty-year-old question about molecular structure answered with a picture by Kristopher Benke for Chembites.
• Know your brain: tourette syndrome by Neuroscientifically Challenged.
• Looking directly in the eyes engages region of the social brain by Sarah DeWeerdt at Spectrum.
• Why do some people need less sleep? It’s in their DNA by Karen Weintraub for Scientific American.
• Using oncolytic viruses to fight cancers by Payal Yokota for Oncobites.
• How many ‘Firsts’ does it take to change a system? by Athene Donald at Occam's Typewriter.
• Me, myself and I by Michael Healy at The Thesis Whisperer.
• Sultana: The girl who refused to stop learning by Sultana for Quantum Frontiers.
• Vacation’s changing tides by Fred Singer at fredsingerecology.
• These rare pigs can dig it. With a tool, that is. And moonwalk too by Mongabay.com.
• Guerrilla Gatherers by Debra Utacia Krol for Roads and Kingdoms and High Country News.

Check back next week for more great picks.

Who won this years' Nobel prizes in Chemistry and Physics? Could blocking out the sun be a way to halt global warming? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Oct 7 - Oct 13, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm

In this week's best and brightest from the world of science news, explore how speculative conclusions and media hype have led to some very wrong articles about mosquito transgenics, and how the gene-editing technique CRISPR may help tackle loss of biodiversity. ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts within their respective areas of interest and expertise also cover many other important and exciting topics. Why not have a read, inform yourself, and indulge your scientific curiosity?

• The 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: The batteries that power our phones and laptops by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.



Though Lithium-ion batteries are so common we don't even notice them, the science behind them has won this year's Nobel prize for Chemistry.
Credit: Andy Brunning via CompundChem (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

• Nobel prize in physics for discovery of exoplanet orbiting a star by Donna Lu for New Scientist.
• The Milky Way’s supermassive black hole reached record brightness this year by Emily Conover for Science News magazine.
• Podcast: How did water get on earth? by Sabrina Stierwalt for Everyday Einstein.
• Collider Physics – The art of smashing particles by Sam Henry at Particle Physics Gadgeteering. 
• Can we stave off global warming by blocking out the sun? by Greg Fish for World of Weird Things.
• How fast will seas rise? A dying Greenland glacier holds clues by Paul Voosen for Science magazine.
• Can the gene editing technology known as CRISPR help reduce biodiversity loss worldwide? by Becky Mackelprang at Ensia.
• A catastrophic power outage darkens California while horny spiders invade by Cassie Freund at Massive Science.
• This microbe is spreading antibiotic resistance to other bacteria by Sali Morris and James S. Horton for The Conversation UK.
• Size does not matter: 21 sick from Salmonella linked to pet turtles by Doug Powell at Barfblog.
• GM mosquitoes for insect population control: when speculative conclusions meet hyped journalism by Kostas Vavitsas for PLOS Synbio Community blog.
• Could Immunotherapy Treat Diseases Besides Cancer? by Karen Weintraub at Scientific American.
• In rats, treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning comes from bright light by Megan Thielking for STATnews.
• Xenophobic one minute, tolerant the next: humans are strange primates  by Christian Jarrett for Aeon Ideas.
• Sleep deprivation shuts down production of essential brain proteins by Emily Willingham for Scientific American.
• The neuroscience of psychopathy by Robert Walsh at The Neuroscience Blog.
• Why do neuroscientists study weird animals?: A primer on neuroethology by Jess Haley at Neuwrite.
• Book review: two new guides to academic life by Inger Mewburn at The Thesis Whisperer.

Check back next week for more great picks!