Why should your kids play D&D? Where did all the plutonium come from? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of May 13 - May 19, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's best from the world of science news, find out why quantum physics is wrong (but still useful) and browse the many excellent articles this week covering the latest on climate change. 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 yourselves, and indulge your scientific curiosity?

• How Dungeons & Dragons can help kids develop social-emotional learning skills by Paul Darvasis for KQED News.

  

  It's also the best game there is!
  Credit: James Bowe via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Where have all the playtimes gone? by Lucy Maddox at Psychology magpie.
• Great Barrier grief by Gemma Conroy for Hakai magazine.
• Climate change may make hurricanes and cyclones deadlier, study finds by Gianluca Cerullo for Mongabay.com.
• How to turn a persecuted pest into an ecosystem engineer by Brandon Keim for Anthropocene magazine.
• Fish below your feet and other solutions for a living harbor by Tyee Bridge for Hakai magazine.
• Penguin poop helps biodiversity bloom in Antarctica by Christopher Intagliata for Scientific American.
• Extreme weather puts traditional livelihoods in peril in Sri Lanka, studies warn by Dilrukshi Handunnetti for Mongabay.com.
• Bedbugs arose 115 Million years ago, roamed earth alongside dinosaurs by Sci-News.com.
• Five percent of live-born human offspring will have a genetic disorder by Don Martinez at Transmembrane Wnt Inhibitors and Activators.
• Extracellular Electron Transfer (EET) goes mainstream by Kevin Blake for Small Things Considered.
• We have now Reached the limits of the Hubble Space Telescope by Ethan Siegel at Starts With A Bang.
• Single neutron star merger supplied half the Solar System’s plutonium by Chris Lee for Ars Technica.
• What’s artificial life, anyway? by Derek Lowe at Science Translational Medicine.
• Quantum Mechanics is wrong. There, I’ve said it. by Sabine Hossenfelder at Backreaction.
• Thesis Diaries: My thesis writing journey by Fresh Science.
• Why do I care so damn much about Game of Thrones? by Caroline Sferrazza via NeuWrite San Diego.

Check back next week for more great picks!

Where does gold come from? Why are researchers teaching computers to fear? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of May 6 - May 12, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's ScienceSeeker picks, discover how Swiss cheese can be used to solve maths problems and why you should avoid giving people bad news if you want to be popular.  ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts of the week within their respective areas of interest and expertise also cover many other important and exciting topics. Why not have a read, inform yourselves, and indulge your scientific curiosity?

• Scientists teach computers fear—to make them better drivers by Matthew Hutson for Science magazine.

  

  If it worked in Star Wars...
  Credit: Michel Curi via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• “Shooting the messenger” is a psychological reality – share bad news and people will like you less by Matthew Warren via BPS Research Digest.
• LATE is a newly defined brain disorder that mimics the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease by Monica Javidnia for Massive Science.
• A scientist tries to read a book, and is confused by the lack of subheadings by María Elisa Terrón for Massive Science.
• Astronomers spot extremely rare hydrogen-cloaked type Ia supernova by Sci-News.com.
• Much of the universe’s gold may come from spinning stars collapsing into black holes by Emily Conover for Science News.
• Cosmology’s biggest conundrum is a clue, not a controversy by Ethan Siegel at Starts with a bang.
• Switching out of fossil fuel feedstocks by Derek Lowe at Science Translational Medicine.
• The serendipity of Swiss cheese by Evelyn Lamb for Roots of Unity at Scientific American blogs.

Check back next week for more great picks!

How many megabytes of memory do you need to learn a new language? What is the environmental impact of laundry? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of April 29 - May 5, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's ScienceSeeker picks, discover the strange history of the uranium cube from the Nazi nuclear program and find out the chances that LIGO saw a black hole and a neutron star collide. ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts of the week within their respective areas of interest and expertise also cover many other important and exciting topics. Why not have a read, inform yourselves, and indulge your scientific curiosity? 

• What’s the environmental impact of doing laundry? by The Microfibre Pollution Project.

What is our obession with cleanliness costing the earth?
Credit: The Microfiber Pollution Project via microfiberpollutionproject.tumblr.com.

• Forest restoration, not plantations, will curb warming by Neha Jain for Science Connected magazine.
• As global shipping grows, prepare for a surge of invasive species by Charles Q. Choi for Hakai magazine.
• When biodegradable plastic is not biodegradable by Isabel Thomlinson for The Conversation UK.
• Lab-created nano aerosols could improve climate models by Kendra Redmond for Physics Central.
• Mobile app encourages Indian fishers to free entangled whale sharks by Vasudevan Sridharan for Mongabay.
• How mindfulness can help teachers and students manage challenging situations by Patricia Broderick for KQED News.
• Researchers calculate acquiring a language requires learning 1.5 Megabytes of data, with implications for psychological theory by Emma Young for BPS Research Digest.
• LIGO may have spotted a black hole-neutron star merger by John Timmer for Ars Technica.
• Why the idea of alien life now seems inevitable and possibly imminent. An edited extract from the essay 'The search for ET', first published in the Griffith Review by Cathal O’Connell, via The Conversation UK.
• How scientists traced a uranium cube to Nazi Germany’s nuclear reactor program by Emily Conover for Science News magazine.
• Cancer cells use an exosome “message in a bottle” to turn off the immune system by Morgan McSweeney for Oncobites.
• How to break the wheel of weight loss and regain by Dr. Don Brown for LifeApps.
• Eczema-associated bacteria may be kept in check by a different microbe by Chelsea Whyte for New Scientist.
• This injectable gel could one day rebuild muscle, skin, and fat by Robert Service for Science magazine.

Check back next week for more great picks!

What's shaking on the Red Planet? Who would win a fight between a shark and a killer whale? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of April 22 - April 28, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

This week's best and brightest from the world of science news includes several stories surrounding climate change and the Extinction Rebellion movement that has been heavily featured in the media. Also uncover the science behind the sound of knitting and find out how AI could improve mental health. Many other important topics are covered in the ScienceSeeker editors' round up of their favourite posts of the week within their respective areas of interest and expertise:

• First Marsquake detected by NASA’s InSight mission by Paul Voosen for Science Magazine.

  

  The week gets off to a shaky start for our closest planetary neighbour.
  Credit: Kevin Gill via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• First "Marsquake" detected on Red Planet by Alex Witze for Scientific American.
• Dark-matter detector measures half-life of Xenon-124 that’s longer than the Universe’s age by Sci-News.com.
• Protected areas need to be more than just location leftovers of the world by Aleksandra Dolezal for Envirobites.
• I see climate change by Chandra Clarke for Citizen Science Center.
• #ExtinctionRebellion’s pink herring by The Manticore.
• Killer whale vs. great white? No contest — the shark always flees by Shreya Dasgupta for Mongabay.
• How will AI improve microgrid energy efficiency? by Megan Nichols via Schooled By Science.
• AI and mental health: big data and feelings by Anna Andrusaite for The Gist.
• Out of bounds: Why basketball players believe they weren’t last to touch ball by Jennifer Ouellette for Ars Technica.
• The emotional mind by Tom Cochrane via Imperfect Cognitions.
• This is your brain on cholesterol by Monica Reinagel for Scientific American.
• The case of intradialytic hypotension by Katie Wang for the Renal Fellow Network.
• How deep are your health roots? by Paige Jarreau for LifeApps.
• Who cares about making ammonia? You do by Derek Lowe for Science Translational Medicine.
• The science of knitting by Eleanor Hook at Physics Central.
• A big list of academic job interview questions (and how to answer them) by The Thesis Whisperer. 

Check back next week for more great picks!

What was the first molecule in the universe? How long do neutrons live? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of April 15 - April 21, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

An 'Ecology in the cities' theme has emerged this week, with many excellent posts exploring what effects our most inhabited areas have on the wildlife that live there. Find this and many other important topics covered in the ScienceSeeker editors' round up of their favourite posts of the week within their respective areas of interest and expertise:

• Astronomers have spotted the universe’s first molecule by Daniel Clery for Science magazine.

  

  It sounds like this molecule has a devious plan.
  Credit: Andy Extance via Imgflip.

• 10 deep lessons from our first image of a black hole’s event horizon by Ethan Siegel at Starts With A Bang.
• How long do neutrons live? Physicists close in on decades-old puzzle by Alexandra Witze for Scientific American.
• Smiling can make us feel little bit happier, review says by Sci-News.com.
• A good action plan protects your goals from the negative impacts of anger, study finds by Eric W. Dolan via PsyPost.
• #AskFlipScience: Why are some people 'night owls'? by Kyle Edralin on FlipScience.
• The internet of thoughts is coming by Andrew Masterson for Cosmos Magazine.
• New paper proposes a science-based ‘Global Deal for Nature’ by Mongabay
• Appearance of new species after mass extinction obeys evolutionary ‘Speed limit’ by GrrlScientist via Medium.
• Science for cities: Overcoming borders by Michele Acuto for Elephant in the Lab.
• Cities may save some species from extinction, but they don’t save species’ ecological functions by Mike Gaworecki for Mongabay.
• Urban “wastelands” are a paradise for bees by Brandon Keim for Anthropocene magazine.
• Scientists uncover California's hidden earthquakes by Shannon Hall for Scientific American.
• Let’s paint the town green! by Cassidy Hanson for Envirobites.
• The science of colors and the colors of science by Allan Lasser for Massive Science.
• How much fat can you lose? by Monica Reinagel for Scientific American.
• The dark side of the immune response: how antibodies can facilitate the spread of Zika virus by Zani Ashley for ImmunoBites.
• A molecular octopus for capturing cancer cells by Marina Philip for Chembites.
• Rachel Houten’s journal round-up for 22nd April 2019 by Rachel Houten on AHEblog.
• Partially reviving dead pig brains by Steven Novella for NeurologicaBlog.

Check back next week for more great picks!