What shape is the Universe? How are the Australian bushfires affecting predator-prey dynamics? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Jan 6 - 12 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In the week's best and brightest from the world of science news, discover the new two-person MRIs that are pushing the bounds of neuroimaging, and delve deeper into the Australian bushfires with scientists' takes on the crisis. 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?

• Trippy maths program could help figure out the shape of the universe by Donna Lu for New Scientist.

New math program explores the potentially fractal nature of the Universe.
Credit: Henry Segerman via New Scientist (CC-BY-ND)

• Identifying stellar chemistry through Infrared astronomy by Brian Koberlein for Forbes.
• This Is How The Universe Changes With Every New Year That Passes by Ethan Siegel at Starts With A Bang.
• Bushfires and climate change communication: Between amplification and attenuation by Brigitte Nerlich for Making Science Public.
• Hunter, hunted: when the world catches on fire, how do predators respond? by Euan Ritchie, Ayesha Tulloch, Dale Nimmo, Tim Doherty, William Geary at The Conversation UK.
• Killing gods: The last hope for the world’s rarest reptile by Jeremy Hance for Mongabay.com.
• Trump Administration Moves to Axe Consideration of Climate Change for Federal Projects by Marianne Lavelle for KQED Science.
• The story of magma near Mayotte by NickCarne at CosmosMagazine.
• Can GM trees please? by Ian Connellan for Cosmos Magazine.
• Grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) by Emily Wilson, Chris Adams and Natalie Fey at Picture It Chemistry.
• Lack of snow is, ironically, helping snow geese by Elizabeth Preston for Hakai magazine.
• The future of supplementation goes viral by YongGuang Jiang for Immunobites.
• MRI scanners built for two push limits of neuroimaging by Kelly Servick for Science magazine.
• Preparing for an especially busy term by Amy Dalal at This is what a computer scientist looks like.

Check back next week for more great picks.

How are colds unlocking secrets about life on other planets? How are the Australian bushfires affecting biodiversity? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Dec 30 2019 - Jan 5 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In the first edition of ScienceSeeker picks of the decade, explore how the predictions surrounding climate change are beginning to be proved right, and how your biodegradable coffee cup may not be as good for the environment as you thought. 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?

• How colds are unlocking secrets about life on other planets by Justin Dingman for Sciworthy.

  

  Modern day viruses could hold the key to a viroid-first panspermia theory about the origins of life on Earth.
  Credit: William Brawley via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Ask Ethan: Did God create the Universe? by Ethan Siegel for Starts with a Bang.
• Are novae producing the Milky Way’s lithium? by Graham Doskoch for Medium.
• How acoustics might help prevent car accidents by Kendra Redmond at Physics Central.
• This was the decade we knew we were right by Kate Marvel for Scientific American.
• How are the Australian bushfires affecting biodiversity? Australia reflections part 4 by Jeff Ollerton.
• The first animal cloned into de-extinction (that promptly went extinct again) by Mikael Angelo Francisco for Flip Science.
• The problem with PFAS: How your biodegradable coffee cup might be wreaking havok in the compost bin  by Laine Farber for Envirobites.
• What do birds do in a hurricane?  by Jenny Howard for Hakai Magazine.
• Anxiety: Brain evolution changes potentially make us more prone by Science Beta.
• Scientists spot addiction-associated circuit in rats by Simon Makin for Scientific American.
• Oganesson: The periodic table’s final element(?) by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.
• Doctors find hundreds of tapeworms in Chinese man's head by Romeo Vitelli.
• Health care providers are unrecognized victims of mass killings by Elizabeth Métraux for STAT news.
• How liquid biopsies could help monitor cancer treatment by Alejandra Canales for Oncobites.
• Inside a Game: Using games as a metaphor for deconstructing the oppressive nature of reality by Sindi Breshani for SERRC.
• Chinese scientist who produced genetically altered babies sentenced to 3 years in jail by Dennis Normile for Science.

Check back next week for more great picks!

What are the chemistry stories from 2019? What are 2020's biggest conservation issues going to be? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Dec 16 - Dec 28 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's best from the world of science news, back from a brief Christmas break, find out how you can create your own real-life Death Star, and read about the scientific events that defined the decade. 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 year in chemistry: 2019’s biggest chemistry stories by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.

2019 was a great year, for discoveries in chemistry, at least. Let's hope for a better 2020!
Credit: Andy Brunning/Compound Interest  (CC-BY-ND-NC)

• Keep an eye on these 2020 conservation issues by Mary Hoff and Ensia for Scientific American.
• Electrolysis made easy(ish) by Kat Day at The Chronicle Flask.
• This is how you can create your own real-life Death Star by Ethan Siegel at Starts with a Bang.
• Using LED lights to reduce bycatch in gillnet fisheries by Harry Baker for Marine Madness.
• The scientific events that shaped the decade by Nature magazine.
• Consuming CO2 by by Sam Illingworth at The Poetry of Science.
• Is Betelgeuse about to blow? Maybe… Maybe Not by Ian O'Neill at Astroengine.

Check back next week for more great picks!

Do birds shout at aeroplanes? How can scientists avoid cognitive bias? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Dec 9 - Dec 15 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's pre-christmas edition of the best science news from around the world, delve into the toxic world of a Mexican cave-dwelling fish, and explore one of the biggest issues in the science communication world, hype. 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?

• Do birds try to shout down airplanes? The evidence suggests they do by Malavika Vyawahare for Mongabay.com.

A sweeping analysis of nearly a million recordings from 48 national parks in the U.S. shows that birds vocalize more in the presence of airplane noise.
Credit: Caption: Malavika Vyawahare, Image: hedera.baltica via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

• The incredible fish living in a toxic Mexican cave system by Charlie Gregory for Marine Madness.
• How would biodiversity look if we counted non-native animals by Brandon Keim for Anthropocene magazine.
• How scientists can avoid cognitive bias by Sabine Hossenfelder at Backreaction.
• The hype problem by Derek Lowe at Science Translational Medicine.
• Keep on stepping up to the plate by The Thesis Whisperer.
• Cardiac glycosides are a novel family of senolytic compounds by Manuel Collado and Pilar Picallos-Rabina for Mapping Ignorance.
• Artificial neurons developed to fight disease by Helen Briggs at BBC News.

Check back next week for more great picks!

What are the psychological impacts of poverty? What's the neurological basis behind seasonal affective disorder? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Dec 2 - Dec 8 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's best and brightest from the world of science journalism, read about how certain people can read cats' facial expressions, and explore the physics of fire ant 'rafts'. 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 psychological impacts of poverty, digested by Emma Young for BPS Research Digest.

“Kids from lower socioeconomic levels show brain physiology patterns similar to someone who actually had had damage in the frontal lobe as an adult.”
Credit: Alexandra Stevenson via Flickr (CC-BY-ND)

• When it gets dark, people get SAD (seasonal affective disorder) by Emily Baltz at Neuwrite.
• Cats have facial expressions and some people can read them, scientists say by Sci-News.
• On a bad argument for grant lotteries by Jeremy Fox at Dynamic Ecology.
• Transforming the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into graphene by Michael Berger at Nanowerk.
• Is the Anthropic Principle scientific? by Sabine Hossenfelder at Backreaction.
• 5 big trends that increased Earth’s carbon pollution by Robinson Meyer for The Atlantic.
• Population decline has all Hawaii’s songbirds singing the same tune by GrrlScientist for Forbes.
• Catching fish to feed fish: Report details ‘unsustainable’ fishmeal and oil industry by Monica Evans for Mongabay.com.
• AI-based discovery seeks non-opioid pain drugs by Alan Kotok for Science and Enterprise.
• Hard as a Rock: the neutrophil’s role in gallstone generation by Zaynah Dewan for ImmunoBites.
• We’ve discovered a planet orbiting an exploded star for the first time by Layal Liverpool for New Scientist.
• The physics behind how fire ants band together into robust floating “rafts” by Jennifer Ouellette for Ars Technica.

Check back next week for more great picks!