How can having a male twin affect your salary? Is matter conscious? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of March 18 - March 24, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this weeks' picks, discover the connection between the 'love chemical' oxytocin and language, and uncover why grapes make fireballs when you microwave them (do not try this at home!). Find these 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:

• Girls who share a womb with boys tend to make less money than those with twin sisters by Michael Price for Science Magazine. 

  

  Little does she know, her brother may have
  already affected her earning power. Inequality begins in the womb!
  Credit: Jeremy Miles via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

• Oxytocin and the L word… Language that is by PsychNeuro at On Psychology and Neuroscience.
• The call of the void by Rowena Fletcher-Wood for Things We Don't Know.
• Recent research shows how to get people to cut back on meat by Hal Herzog via Psychology Today.
• Eat healthy and sustainably, don’t leave yourself behind by Barbara Willaarts for IIASA.
• Is matter conscious? by Hedda Hassel Mørch for Nautilus Magazine.
• Astronomers find pulsar hurtling through space by Sci-News.com.
• Microwaved grapes make fireballs, and scientists now know why by Emily Conover for Science News Magazine.
• Making a rainbow with water drops! by Charlie Crowe for Chembites.
• Photographers walking backwards and falling over by Martin Gardiner for Improbable Research. 
• Science has a problem. Here is how you can help by Sabine Hossenfelder at Backreaction. 
• Popular science books on my reading list by Heidi R. Gardner.
• Trying To Do Good (Podcast) by Shankar Vedantam, Maggie Penman, Rhaina Cohen, Jennifer Schmidt, Thomas Lu and Tara Boyle for NPR.
• Why “chickenpox parties” are a terrible idea—in case it’s not obvious by Beth Mole for Ars Technica.
• Inside out? Ediacaran fossils might represent internal structures, researchers say by Elizabeth Finkel for Cosmos Magazine.
• Deaf moths use ultrasound to warn hungry bats they’re poisonous by GrrlScientist via Medium.
• Glacier lessons as a glacier lessens by Eva Amsen for Hakai Magazine.
• Climate change claims its first mammal extinction by John R. Platt for Scientific American.

Check back next week for more great picks!

Have physicists cracked time travel? Who is Brian the Bat? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of March 11 - March 17, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

Could solar geoengineering be the answer to the climate crisis? Are any emotions uniquely human?  Find the answers to these and many other important questions covered in the ScienceSeeker editors' round up of their favourite posts of the week within their respective areas of interest and expertise:

'Don't speak to me or my son ever again!'
This orangutan shows that disapproval at least is not uniquely human.
Credit: Tony Hisgett via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Researchers send qubit back in time by Samantha Page for Cosmos Magazine.
• ‘I cannot name any emotion that is uniquely human by Hope Reese for Longreads.
• Ten years later: the cosmos remembers Brian the bat by Ian O'Neill for Astroengine.
• At a smaller dose, solar geoengineering could be safe by Prachi Patel for Anthropocene Magazine. 
• The aquaculture boom hasn’t taken the pressure off wild fisheries by Emma Bryce for Anthropocene Magazine.
• It’s Generation Climate by Jeremy Hance for Mongabay.
• Going with the flow: Waterfalls can form spontaneously by Annie Sneed for Scientific American.
• ‘Epic Yellowstone’ captures the thriving ecosystem of the world-famous park by Jeremy Rehm for Science News Magazine.
• Decreasing the harmful work outcomes of maternity leave by Jacqueline Marhefka for IOatwork.
• Why does this smell bad? Chemistry's answer. by Trina Espinoza for Ms. Beautyphile.

Check back next week for more great picks!

How much does the Milky Way weigh? Do you know how smart your romantic interest is? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of March 4 - March 10, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

Why has the black hole Messier 51 got scientists stumped? How can your grandma's hobby help scientists to invent new supermaterials? Find the answers to these and many other important questions covered in the ScienceSeeker editors' round up of their favourite posts of the week within their respective areas of interest and expertise:

Knitting: not only one of the best hobbies,
but scientifically valuable too!
Credit: Dennis van Zuijlekom via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

• Physicists are decoding math-y secrets of knitting to make bespoke materials by Jennifer Ouelette for Ars Technica. 
• New mass estimate for Milky Way galaxy: 1.54 trillion suns by Sci-News.com.
• This massive black hole is mysteriously quiet, and astronomers don’t know why by Ethan Siegel for Starts With A Bang.
• Researchers reveal a novel and unexpected function of sleep by Ibezim Chukwuemerie for Ibezims post. 
• Exercise can help you counter effects of shift work, jet lag, other disruptions to circadian clock by Chelsea Harvey for Sci-News.com.
• Your romantic partner is probably less intelligent than you think, suggests new study by David Robson for BPS Research Digest.
• Our brains can lead us astray when making ‘eco-friendly’ decisions by John Cannon for Mongabay.com.
• Parents’ brain activity 'echoes' their infant’s brain activity when they play together by Megan Whitehorn and Sam Wass for Science Trends.
• Tiny subterranean Texas salamanders could be extinct in 100 years by Morgan Erickson-Davis for Mongabay.com.
• Remarkable creatures by Twilight Beasts.
• Aquaculture doesn’t reduce Pressure on Wild Fish by Brian Owens for Hakai Magazine. 
• Sloths in the water by Brian Switek for Hakai Magazine.
• Community and home gardens are hotspots for pollinators in cities by Lindsay Green-Gavrielidis for Envirobites.
• Newly found Aussie dinosaur confirms diversity in ancient rift valley by Andrew Masterson for Cosmos Magazine.
• Genetically engineered immune cells wipe out lupus in mice by Jennifer Couzin-Frankel for Science.
• A new FDA commissioner, suddenly by Derek Lowe for Science Translational Medicine.

Check back next week for more great picks!

How can you help to name one of Jupiter's moons? Why do we crave sweets when we're stressed? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of February 25 - March 3, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

Meet Big Bertha on the interplanetary highway and find out what slimy geological find could shake the world of evolutionary biology. Find these 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:

Personally, I'm rooting for Moony McMoonface.
Credit: FolsomNatural via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Astronomers invite public to help name Jupiter’s new moons by Sci-News.com.
• Life is a highway (of flying space rocks) out there by Corey S. Powell for Discover Magazine.
• Physicists solve a 35-year-old mystery hidden inside atomic cores by Rafi Letzer for Live Science.
• Hermit crabs are drawn to the smell of their own dead by Yao-Hua Law for Science News.
• Did crawling critters leave these cracks? The answer could rewrite evolutionary history by Jim Daley for Scientific American.
• How many wild animals do people kill? by Brandon Keim for Anthropocene Magazine.
• Why do we crave sweets when we're stressed? by Achim Peters for Scientific American.
• Insomnia tied to depression, cardiovascular disease by Michael B. Price for Science Magazine.
• Radical Parkinson's treatment tested by Alex Therrien for BBC Health.
• Study provides new insights into the relationship between childhood poverty and inflammation  by Eric W. Dolan via PsyPost.
• Study finds people apt to shrug off extreme weather as normal by Mongabay.com.
• In the future, jellyfish slime may be the solution to microplastic pollution by Braden Phillips for Hakai Magazine.
• Concrete: the most destructive material on Earth by Johnathan Watts for Guardian Cities.
• Is yeast a potential cannabinoid powerhouse? by Samantha Page for Cosmos Magazine.
• Chemistry is not harder than other sciences...just different by Wavefunction.
• Falling through the gaps: Do nanoparticles enable cancer cells to escape through leaky vessels? by Manisit Das for OncoBites.
• Trials underway testing CRISPR for blood disorders by Alan Kotok for Science & Enterprise.

Check back next week for more great picks!

What's the difference between dark matter and dark energy? What does consciousness look like in the brain? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of February 18 - February 24, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

This week's cream of the crop from science blogs around the world uncovers how the dinosaurs really died and unveils a new male contraceptive that has just entered phase 2b trials. There are many other important topics touched on in the ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts of the week within their respective areas of interest and expertise. Here is the full round-up of the ScienceSeeker Editors’ selections:

Barnard 68 is a molecular cloud that adsorbs light.
It is dark and made of matter, but not made of dark matter.
Credit: ESO via Wikipedia (CC BY 4.0).
Caption by Sabine Hossenfelder.

• Never again confuse dark matter with dark energy by Sabine Hossenfelder for Backreaction.
• Japan’s Hayabusa 2 bags its first sample from the asteroid Ryugu by Sam Wong for New Scientist.
• Zombie stars shine on after mystery detonations by Shannon Hall for Scientific American.
• The real dino killer: A one–two punch by Howard Lee for Scientific American.
• Exercise can help you counter effects of shift work, jet lag, other disruptions to circadian clock  by Sci-News.com.
• Brain-zapping implants that fight depression are inching closer to reality by Laura Sanders for Science News.
• Scientists come closer to finding out what consciousness looks like in the brain by Ed Cara for Gizmodo.
• A machine gets high marks for diagnosing sick children by Emily Willingham for Scientific American.
• Scientific duo gets back to basics to make childbirth safer by Alison Kodjak for NPR.
• Interview: First-of-its-kind male contraceptive gel in phase 2b clinical trial by Chelsea Weidman Burke for Biospace.
• Researchers develop a test that objectively measures pain biomarkers in blood by Ibezim Chukwuemerie for HumanBioscience.org.
• Broccoli (Brassica oleracea) by Lucy Bird, Natalie Fey and Chris Arthur at Picture it! Chemistry
• Illegal corn farming menaces a Madagascar protected area by Emilie Filou for Mongabay.
• Research into chimp health benefits human, ecosystem well-being too by Giovanni Ortolani for Mongabay.
• Pathogenic bacteria found on microplastics retrieved from tropical beaches by GrrlScientist via Medium.
• Tribes use western and indigenous science to prepare for climate change by Erica Gies for Hakai Magazine.
• The issue with tissue: How the U.S. is flushing forests away by Jennifer Skene and Shelley Vinyard for NRDC.
• Cardiac psychiatry: Exploring connections between the head and the heart by Mass General Research Institute Blog.

Check back next week for more great picks!