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!

What does a black hole look like? Why is Russia releasing 100 whales? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of April 8 - April 14, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's best from the world of science communication, find out more about Ariana Grande's recent PTSD brain scan, and discover how likely flying taxis are in the future. 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:

The first ever pictures of a black hole, taken by a network of telescopes known as the Event Horizon Telescope.
Credit: Event Horizon Telescope via BBC News.

• [Podcast] Black Holes: The heart of darkness by BBC News Science Hour. 
• At last, a black hole's image revealed by Lee Billings for Scientific American.
• Slavery from space: Citizen science in the antislavery movement by Jessica Wardlaw for Science Connected magazine.
• The future contains flying taxis by Neil Dowling for Cosmos magazine.
• Watching inside a battery during the charge/discharge cycle by Gonzalo Santoro for Science Trend.

Watching a battery discharge through employing synchrotron X-ray scattering.
Credit: Operando monitoring the nanometric morphological evolution of TiO2 nanoparticles in a Na-ion battery by Santoro et al., 2018. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtener.2018.08.005

• Russia plans to release nearly 100 belugas, orcas from icy ‘whale jail’ by Shreya Dasgupta for Mongabay.
• A silent battle is about to commence in New Zealand's forests by Vikki Smith at My Science Game.
• Ice-free Alps? It could be a reality by 2100 by Malavika Vyawahare for Mongabay.
• Island life: community-led conservation in a biodiversity crisis by Monica Peters at Monicalogues.
• The complex and mysterious Red Queen by Jamie Henzy at Small Things Considered.
• Electrospun nanofibers could help wounds heal without scars by Ibezim Chukwuemerie at Ibezims post.
• NIH Launches Universal Flu Vaccine Trial by Alan Kotok for Science and Enterprise.
• Salmonella can hijack immune cells to spread around the body by Yvaine Ye for New Scientist.
• How acidic is a cell’s digestive system? A new fluorescent protein pair can tell you by Michelle Ehrenberger for Chembites.
• The nutrition study the $30B supplement industry doesn’t want you to see by Beth Mole for Ars Technica.
• This physicist is trying to make sense of the brain’s tangled networks by Kelly Servick for Science magazine.
• Gender gap in spatial reasoning starts in elementary school, meta-analysis finds by Carol Clark for Emory University Research News.
• Graduate school productivity: Ideal morning routine and 12 must-buy products for PhDs by Julio Peironcely for Next Scientist.
• Study suggests depressed people experience a negative bias in the processing of pain by Eric W. Dolan via PsyPost.
• Ariana Grande's PTSD brain scan by Neuroskeptic for Discover magazine.
• Rats feel one another’s pain by Mary Bates for Psychology Today.
• Are you an early bird or a night owl? Study finds early birds have lower rates of depression by the Mass General Research Institute.

Check back next week for more great picks!

Which animals talk with their pee? Which new electronic device has been approved to beat depression? Which of our articles this week is an April Fools'? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of April 1 - April 7, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this weeks' picks, a break from the norm as one of our articles is entirely nonsense in honour of April Fools'. See if you can guess which it is - answer provided below! On top of that discover new research supporting the well-known fact that cats are a**holes and why trying to forget something is so hard. 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:

• Like Dogs, Gulf Toadfish talk with their pee by Meredith Swett Walker for Hakai magazine.
• Killer whales are insufferable gossips by Amorina Kingdon for Hakai magazine.

  

  "Whale you'll never guess what I saw Susan doing..."
  Credit: Christopher Michel via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Cats recognize their own names-even if they choose to ignore them by Jim Daley for Scientific American.
• Research expedition: what ever happened to the world’s first certified sustainable shark fishery? by David Shiffman for Southern Fried Science.
• Brain stimulator device cleared for depression, insomnia by Alan Kotok for Science & Enterprise.
• Choosing to forget something might take more mental effort than remembering it by Ibezim Chukwuemerie for Ibezim's Post.
• Sooooo satisfying by Dr. Melissa J. Glenn via On Psychology and Neuroscience.
• The Pyrenoid – Not your average cookie-cutter organelle by Janie Kim for Small Things Considered.
• Some cancers become contagious by Katarina Zimmer for The Scientist.
• Astronomers spy an iron planet stripped of its crust around a burned-out star by Daniel Clery for Science magazine.
• Physicists create ‘Featherweight’ oxygen by Sci-News.com.
• Dear Dr B: Does the LHC collide protons at twice the speed of light? by Sabine Hossenfelder for Backreaction.
• With half-measures against climate change, millions of people could feel the bite by Sarah DeWeerdt for Anthropocene magazine.
• On not being a PhD student anymore by Heidi Gardner.
• Baking cake without eggs - Finding the best alternative by Food Crumbles.

Check back next week for more great picks!

The April Fools article is the Hakai Magazine article about Gossiping Whales!

Announcing the Winners of the Science Seeker Awards 2019!

Without further ado, here are the winners of the ScienceSeeker Awards 2019! Thanks go out to everyone who entered.

As a reminder, there were nine categories, from each of which we selected winners We then picked the overall winner from among the winners from each category. The winners in each category were:

• General science posts and graphics: Including posts from sites that correspond to our art, photography, general science and science communication bundles. Winner: Niranjana Krishnan at EnTox Simplified for Rachel Carson's Legacy
• Cells and molecules: Including posts from sites that correspond to our biotechnology, cell biology, chemistry, and microbiology bundles. No overall winner.
• Humanities: Including posts from sites that correspond to our development, economics, ethics, gender, history, language, law, philosophy, policy, political science, religion and atheism, social science and sociology bundles. No overall winner.
• The environment and our place in it: Including posts from sites that correspond to our anthropology, archaeology, climate science, conservation, evolution, geography, geosciences, oceanography, palaeontology and oceanography bundles. Winner: Christie Wilcox at Science Sushi for When Snails Attack: The Epic Discovery Of An Ecological Phenomenon
• Health, medicine and brain science: Including posts from sites that correspond to our clinical research, clinical psychology, health, medicine, neuroscience, nutrition, psychiatry, psychology, public health and veterinary medicine bundles. Winner: Arwen Nugteren at Scientia Potentia Est for Coffee or not? A discussion of the science
• Academia: Including posts from sites that correspond to our academic life, student life, grants, career, education, publishing and library science bundles. No overall winner.   
• Podcast: Including posts from sites that correspond to our podcast bundle. Winner: David Latchman at The Science Bloggers Podcast for Answering, "Why do we have favorite tunes?" with Hunter Farris (Song Appeal)
• Physical sciences and technology: Including posts from sites that correspond to our artificial intelligence, astronomy, computer science, energy, engineering, mathematics and physics bundles. Winner: Graham Doskoch at Look Upwards for Was the Milky Way once an active galaxy?
• Big biology: Including posts from sites that correspond to our behavioural biology, biology, ecology, marine biology and plant science bundles. Winner: Clara Cooper-Mullin at Animals Living With Change for It's fall, so its time to chat about songbird migration in New England! 

And the overall winner is: Christie Wilcox at Science Sushi for When Snails Attack: The Epic Discovery Of An Ecological Phenomenon Congratulations to all the winners! We'll be in touch shortly with badges to show that you won.

Thanks also to the judges, our editors: Jesse Zondervan, Thanassis Psaltis, Antanas Spokas and Mitalki Adlakha

How heavy is heavy water and what does it taste like? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of March 25 - March 31, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this weeks' picks, ponder the existence of free will and find out how hallucinating mice can help us to better understand our brains. 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:

Sabine Hossenfelder's video on her take on superfluid dark matter.
Well worth a watch. Credit: Sabine Hossenfelder via Youtube.

• Superfluid dark matter [Video] by Sabine Hossenfelder at Backreaction.
• Is this why time speeds up as we age? by Robby Berman for BigThink.
• Where is the mass inside a black hole? by Francisco R. Villatoro for Mapping Ignorance.
• No, quantum tunneling didn’t break the speed of light; Nothing does by Ethan Siegel at Starts With A Bang.

Watch Michelle Francl's video on the weight and taste of heavy water!

Credit: Michelle Francl via Youtube.

• The weight of water [Video] by Michelle Francl at The Culture of Chemistry.
• Tsunami preparedness week 2019 by Michael Coston at Avian Flu Diary.
• Meet Scotty, world’s largest specimen of Tyrannosaurus Rex by Sci-News.com.
• A Pleistocene GPS tracker by Cosmos Magazine.
• Hallucinating mice bring us one step closer to what’s going on in the brain by Jennifer Ouelette for Ars Technica.
• Does free will exist or is it an illusion? by NeuroPsych at On Psychology and Neuroscience.
• Weekend Links: Rats can't puke, why cats always land on their feet, people who can actually smell parkinson's and more by the Mass General Research Institute.

Check back next week for more great picks!