What would Earth look like to alien astronomers? How will coronavirus vaccines cope with the new strains? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Jan 04 - Jan 10 2021 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

Welcome to this week's cream-of the-crop from the world of science news! In our picks for this week, learn all about the giant fanged birds that once ruled the sky, and learn how 2020 was the hottest year on record, but a great year for progress in green energy in cities. 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?

• What would Earth look like to alien astronomers? by Nathaniel Scharping for Discover magazine.

“What if there were intelligent beings on another planet? And if they were looking at the Earth, which of those star systems could they be living in that would enable them to see Earth?”
Image Credit: Kevin Gill via Flickr. 

• Say goodbye to 2020 with the year’s top 10 Hubble photos by Ethan Siegel at Starts with a Bang.
• Designing an airplane that can fly on Mars! by Giulia Carla Bassani for Sciworthy.
• How fast can scientists find the new coronavirus strains? by Megan Molteni for Wired.
• COVID-19 is setting back the lives and careers of young scientists by Francesco Zangari for Massive Science.
• Viral mutations may cause another ‘very, very bad’ COVID-19 wave, scientists warn by Kai Kupferschmidt for Science.
• Variants and vaccines by Derek Lowe at Science Translational Medicine.
• A crash course on RNA vaccines by Gertrude. U. Ray for the Virology Blog.
• Cat-agorizing cat owners to reduce environmental harm caused by domestic house cats by Brianne Palmer for Envirobites.
• Smoke pollution disrupts the flight of painted lady butterflies by Adithi Ramakrishnan for Massive Science.
• Researchers discover new state of matter: Liquid glass by Sci-News.com.
• Climate change: 2020 was the joint hottest year on record by Adam Vaughan for New Scientist.
• States and cities are driving climate and clean energy progress by Kit Kennedy for NRDC.
• Podcast: The double standard by Shankar Vedantam and Emily Pronin for The Hidden Brain.
• Podcast: Giant, toothed birds once ruled the skies by Christie Taylor and Peter Kloess for Science Friday.
• New psychology research suggests “deep acting” can reduce fatigue and improve your work life by Eric W. Dolan for Psypost.
• Neuroimaging study sheds light on how to clear thoughts from your brain’s working memory system by Eric W. Dolan for Psypost.
• Un-consciousness by Donovan Cronkhite for NeuWrite San Diego.
• Succinate is the key to muscle communication during exercise by Sree Rama Chaitanya for Massive Science.
• Scientists Observe Cells Responding To Magnetic Fields For First Time by David Bressan for Forbes.
• Body clocks and light levels: some plants just aren’t morning people by Katie Pickup for EuSci.

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What are vaccine developers' takes on the new coronavirus strain? How do the Oxford and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines work? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Dec 28 2020 - Jan 03 2021 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

We're ringing in the new year with the first picks from the new (and hopefully less cartoonishly dreadful) 2021. Read a rundown of the good news about the environment from 2020 and explore the weird world of slime moulds, and how they're helping to map the cosmic web. 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 does the Oxford and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine work? by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.

It’s not a “get out of jail free” card for the current wave of COVID-19 cases, and the weeks and months ahead will still be incredibly challenging, but it will hopefully help blunt COVID’s threat later in 2021.
Image and text credit: Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.

• COVID-19 vaccine developers respond to new strain by Lucy Parsons for PMLive.
• Some Covid survivors haunted by loss of smell and taste by Roni Caryn Rabin for The New York Times.
• Sir Isaac Newton: The scientist born on Christmas day (or was he?) by Mikael Angelo Francisco for Flip Science.
• Can two snowflakes be exactly the same? by Mikael Angelo Francisco for Flip Science.
• This frog was once named after Dr. Jose Rizal by Mikael Angelo Francisco for Flip Science.
• Ozone in the air is bad for birds by Carla Germani for Massive Science.
• Top positive environmental stories from 2020 by Liz Kimbrough for Mongabay.
• Surviving a PhD defence at the end of the world (aka at the end of 2020) by Alex Fitzpatrick at Animal Archaeology.
• How to fortify your (and your kids’) screen time with a dose of physics by Rebecca and Chrystian Vieyra at Physics Central.
• Astronomers detect large-scale X-ray bubbles in Milky Way’s halo by Sci-News.com.
• How the humble slime mold helped physicists map the cosmic web by Jennifer Ouelette for Ars Technica.
• How to make artificial intelligence more democratic by Ryan Khurana for Scientific American.
• What's going on with nanomedicine? by Michael Berger for Nanowerk.
• Flexible hybrid sensor systems with feedback functions by Mika Kontiainen for Edinburgh University Science Magazine.
• Has 2020 ended as the warmest year on record? by Tom Yulsman for Discover magazine.
• Stem cells seed a new thymus, clinical hope? by Dr. Ricki Lewis and Dr. Paul Knoepfler for The Niche.

To indulge your curiosity even more, follow us on Facebook or Twitter for honourable mentions of great posts that didn't quite make our #SciSeekPicks list this week. Want #SciSeekPicks to help satisfy your scientific curiosity every week? Sign up here for regular notification emails.

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Scientists and engineers in UK and Ireland can enter a £600 writing prize for free

If you are a scientist or engineer who writes regularly about your subject, how can you know if you’re doing well? If you’re located in the UK and Ireland, or write for people based there, you can now enter your work for recognition by the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW).

As well as validation, The Dr Katharine Giles Award for best popular article written by a scientist or engineer comes with a £600 prize and media skills training. Dr Katharine Giles was a Lecturer at University College London who carried out ground-breaking research on sea ice, ocean circulation and wind patterns. She was also a passionate science communicator. Dr Giles was tragically killed in a cycling accident in 2013. The award is funded by the Dr Katharine Giles Fund, overseen by her mother, Dorrie.

This award is organised in association with stempra, the membership network for science PR and communications professionals, and is for a specific article aimed at a general audience. Entry for this award opens on January 4 2021, closes at 23:59 on February 1, and is free to all. Full guidelines are available at this page.

However this is just one of many awards the ABSW runs – see the full list here. You can enter up to three categories – however entry in the other awards either costs £55, or is free if you are an ABSW member. If you are any form of student who does science writing you may be able to join the ABSW for just £20 – click here for more details. 

Good luck to all who enter!

What does a lonely brain look like? What's the deal with the new British coronavirus strain? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Dec 14 - Dec 21 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In the last weekly roundup of the eventful year that has been 2020, find out how DMT is being used to fight depression, and explore how part of the coronavirus could become incorporated into our DNA. Happy holidays, stay safe and join us again on January the 4th for more from the world of science news. 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?

Scientists show what loneliness looks like in the brain by Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology news.

“The findings fit with the possibility that the up-regulation of these neural circuits supports mentalizing, reminiscence, and imagination to fill the social void,”
Credit: Leszek Pietrzak via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Psychedelic drug DMT given all clear for depression treatment trials by Ben Nealon at Science Prism.

Hearing aids could use some help by Paula Span for The New York Times.

How temperature dictates whether sea turtles become male or female by Mikael Angelo Francisco for Flip Science.
The coronavirus may sometimes slip its genetic material into human chromosomes—but what does that mean? by Jon Cohen for Science.

The first COVID-19 vaccines: What’s mRNA got to do with it? by Dr. Ricki Lewis for DNA Science at PLOS blogs.

Just how worrying is the new Covid-19 strain for Britain – and the rest of us? by Siouxsie Wiles for SciBlogs.

Holiday Instability by Physics Central.
Gravitational waves probe exotic matter inside neutron stars by Clara Moskowitz for Scientific American.
We may have seen a huge explosion in the oldest galaxy in the universe by Jonathan O’Callaghan for New Scientist.
Finding love in a hopeless place: How deep-sea anglerfish evolved to fuse with their mates by Alia Sajani for ImmunoBites.
Dust from receding glaciers may have major atmospheric impacts by Emily Harwitz at the American Geophysical Union blog Eos.

Where do stem cells come from? Expert answers by Dr. Paul Knoepfler for The Niche.

To indulge your curiosity even more, follow us on Facebook or Twitter for honourable mentions of great posts that didn't quite make our #SciSeekPicks list this week. Want #SciSeekPicks to help satisfy your scientific curiosity every week? Sign up here for regular notification emails.

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How is a re-engineered psychedelic helping to treat depression in rodents? What have we learned about the Coronavirus, one year on? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Dec 7 - Dec 13 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's best in the business from the world of science news, explore the surprisingly complex physics behind sandcastles, and discover how traditional remedies put many endangered species further at risk. 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?

• Chemists re-engineer a psychedelic to treat depression and addiction in rodents by Robert F. Service for Science magazine.

A drug called Ibogaine is a pretty knarly hallucinogen and can cause heart-attacks. But re-engineered, it's showing promise in treating rodent models of depression.
Credit: Nick Harris via Flickr (CC-BY-ND 2.0)

• What Science has learned about the Coronavirus one year on by Jeffery DelViscio and Britt Glaunsinger for Scientific American.
• Physicists solve 150-year-old mystery of equation governing sandcastle physics by Jennifer Ouellette for Ars Technica.
• Astronomers spot ancient supernova remnants in large Magellanic cloud by Sci-News.com
• Does quantum mechanics rescue free will? by Philip Ball at Homunculus.
• Are singularities real? by Sabine Hossenfelder at Backreaction.
• Exploitation of mammals for traditional remedies by Steven Novella for Science-based Medicine.
• Electric rays to help us map the ocean floor  by Adam Phillips for It Ain't Magic.
• Hi, robot: Why robotics and language need each other by Matthew Hutson for Knowable magazine.
• Wind farm noise may subtly impact sleep, scientists say by Miklos Bolza for Lab Down Under.
• Science, people, and surviving in the time of a global pandemic by Alex Bond for The Lab and Field.
• It's time to track city sewage for emerging diseases, not just COVID-19 by Lauren Sara McKee for Massive Science.
• How a new SARS-CoV-2 wastewater testing kit is helping campuses reopen by Johanna Lee for Promega Connections.
• Coronavirus: More scared or less scared? by Rose Rimbler and Wendy Zukerman for Gimlet at Science Vs.

To indulge your curiosity even more, follow us on Facebook or Twitter for honourable mentions of great posts that didn't quite make our #SciSeekPicks list this week. Want #SciSeekPicks to help satisfy your scientific curiosity every week? Sign up here for regular notification emails.

Check back next week for more great picks