Who are the women of the periodic table? Can plants help us to explore Mars? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Feb 10 - Feb 16 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm

In this week's digest of the best science news from around the world, explore the physics of tossing rice and find out who the most accomplished scientist-politicians in history are. 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?

• International day of women & girls in science: The women of the periodic table by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.

Many women scientists are responsible for the discovery of the elements that our modern world is based upon.
Credit: Andy Brunning via Compound Chemistry (CC-BY-ND)

• A study linking 'girls' and cats draws jeers, then disappears by Michael Schulson for Undark.
• Who are the most accomplished scientist-politicians in history? (UPDATED) by Jeremy Fox at Dynamic Ecology.
• Do you smell your romantic partner's clothes? You're not alone by Marlise Hoffer and Frances Chen for Discover magazine.
• Ground level ozone linked to increased death risk by Cosmos magazine.
• The physics of tossing fried rice by Marc Abrahams at Improbable Research.
• Meet Thanatotheristes degrootorum, new Tyrannosaur from Canada by Sci-News.com.
• France’s Deadly Seaweed by Lorraine Boissoneault for Hakai magazine.
• New image shows Betelgeuse isn’t dimming evenly by John Timmer for Ars Technica.
• Can plants help us explore Mars?  by Giulia Manigrasso for The Gist.
• Quantum SETI by Caleb Scharf for Scientific American.
• How geology can ease your mind by Marcia Bjornerud by Lorraine Boissoneault for Hakai magazine.

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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Why is SpaceX's Starlink damaging to astronomy? Why does sugar taste so good? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Feb 3 - Feb 9 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm

In this week's best and brightest science news from around the world, say goodbye to the Spitzer space telescope, and find out how firestorms in the Amazon could kick CO2 emission into overdrive. 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?

• NASA retires Spitzer space telescope by Sci-News.

Artist's impression of the Spitzer space telescope.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech (Public Domain)

• Dangers to astronomy intensify with SpaceX’s latest starlink launch by Ethan Siegel at Starts With A Bang.
• NSF Inouye solar telescope first light image animated (Small Field of View) by Bookofjoe.

• FlipFact (February 5, 2020): The cave salamander that can live without food for a decade by Mikael Angelo Francisco for FlipScience.
• Are dust mites getting on your nerves? by Gabriela Khoury for ImmunoBites.
• The cows and the bees by Abigail Bezrutczyk for Envirobites.
• What should you do when Reviewer #2 says “Cite my papers”? by Stephen Heard at Scientist Sees Squirrel.
• The physics-hacking lizards that can drink water simply by touching it by Abackpackingbiologist.
• Escalating firestorms could turn Amazon from carbon sink to source: Study by Taran Volckhausen for Mongabay.
• Expedition reveals the violent birth of Zealandia by for Cosmos magazine.
• Why does sugar taste so good? by Sabrina Stierwalt for Scientific American.
• How much of Trump’s rising approval numbers can be attributed to differential nonresponse? by Andrew Gelman for Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science.
• JAMA: Clinical characteristics of 138 hospitalized coronavirus patients by Michael P. Coston at Avian Flu Diary.
• Update on 2019-nCoV: part 11 – where will it end? by Jon Otter for Reflections on Infection, Prevention and Control.
• To maximize progress in global health, invest more in community health workers by Marian W. Wentworth at STAT news.

Check back next week for more great picks.

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.

What will we see when Betelgeuse goes supernova? What clues to the origin of the coronavirus could be hidden in its genome? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Jan 27 - Feb 2 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm

In this week's cream-of-the-crop of science news fresh from the net, find out why Harvard's chemistry head is in FBI custody, and how albatrosses are being employed to keep a bird's eye out for illegal fishing. 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?

• This is what we’ll see when Betelgeuse really does go supernova by Ethan Siegel at Starts with a Bang.

An artist's impression, based on the ESO’s Very Large Telescope imaging of the current state of Betelgeuse.
Credit: ESO/L. Calçada via Starts with a Bang (CC-ND-BY)

• A white dwarf swirling space-time around it allows astronomers brand new insights by Sci-News.com.
• This tiny glass bead has been quantum chilled to near absolute zero by Leah Crane for New Scientist.
• Harvard's Chemistry Dept. Chairman in FBI custody by Derek Lowe at Science Translational Medicine.
• Historical mercury pollution: Tree rings have the receipts! by Jeannie Wilkening for Envirobites.
• How we recruited albatrosses to patrol the high seas for illegal fishers by Samantha Patrick for  The Conversation UK.
• Mining coronavirus genomes for clues to the outbreak’s origins by Jon Cohen for Science magazine.
• Doing laundry in the future could mean almost never washing clothes by Greg Fish at World of Weird Things.
• An Entanglement of Whales by The Poetry of Science.
• Wise use and wetlands: Why we need to nurture nature (commentary) by Matthew McCartney and Chris Dickens for Mongabay.com.
• Bringing effective altruism to conservation by Brandon Keim for Anthropocene magazine.
• Is "critical thinking" a generalized skill? by Terry McGlynn at Small Pond Science.

Check back next week for more great picks.

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.

What's new with the coronavirus? Why is planting trees sometimes not a good thing? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Jan 20 - 26 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's picks of the best news from science newsmakers, explore the science and projections around the latest zoonotic pandemic, and find out whether there could be life on the newest Earth-like planet discovered by the TESS telescope. 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 viruses behind colds and flu by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.



While coronavirus is not responsible for the yearly misery of colds and flu, it's transmitted in a similar way.
Credit: Andy Brunning via Compound Interest (CC-BY-ND)

• Scientists predict Wuhan's outbreak will get much worse by Megan Molteni for WIRED Science.
• Novel coronavirus outbreak: an update by Jon Otter for Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control.
• Novel Coronavirus outbreak, update part 2 by Jon Otter for Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control.
• What are the symptoms of the new coronavirus and how deadly is it? by Jessica Hamzelou for New Scientist.
• Technology has made it easier to fake scientific results. Is a cultural shift required to fix the problem?  by Bhavya Singh for Massive Science.
• The full-service paper mill and its Chinese customers by Leonid Scheider at For Better Science.
• What my PhD taught me by Amy Csizmar Dalal at This is what a computer scientist looks like.
• Planting trees can have its downside by Nick Carne for Cosmos magazine.
• Mass tree planting along India’s Cauvery River has scientists worried by Nanditha Chandraprakash for Mongabay.
• Living near major roads linked to risk of dementia, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and MS by Science Beta.
• Astronomers find huge amount of oxygen in ancient dwarf star by Sci-News.com.
• Could there be life on the first Earth-sized, habitable zone planet found by NASA’s TESS? by Ethan Siegel at Starts with a Bang.
• Killer whales show us the meaning of menopause  by Vikki Smith for My Science Game.
• The dead speak! Scientists re-create voice of 3000-year-old mummy by Erin Malsbury for Science.
• What is Chernobyl like today? by Sabrina Stierwalt for Scientific American.
• Is Celery Really A ‘Negative-Calorie’ Food? by Mikael Angelo Francisco for FlipScience. 

Check back next week for more great picks.

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What's the lowdown about Goop, the company behind Gwyneth Paltrow's new 'intimate' candle? What do meat eaters really think about veganism? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Jan 13 - 19 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this weeks cream-of-the-crop of science news from around the world, discover whether certain personality traits predispose people towards politics, and explore the chemistry of disposable nappies - exactly how bad for the environment are they? 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?

• Goop's pseudoscience ministry comes to Netflix by Jennifer Gunter for STAT news.

Not the offending article.
Credit: Maria Keays via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Can personality traits predict political success? by Romeo Vitelli at Providentia.
• Diversity matters by Lior Pachter at Bits of DNA.
• You should get Twitter…for science! by Briley Lewis at Astrobites 
• What meat eaters really think about veganism – new research by Chris Bryant at the Conversation UK.
• Astronomers trace journey of phosphorus from stellar nurseries to solar system comets by Sci-News.com.
• On Earth: Stardust from 7.5 billion years ago by Caleb Scharf for Scientific American.
• Leonardo da Vinci, Biological Physicist  by Brad Roth at Intermediate physics for medicine and biology.
• Quantum Computers: Flipping Coins and Killing Cats by Campbell at Universe à la Carte.
• Antibiotic resistance: How misusing antibiotics kills thousands of people yearly by Cesar Ilao III for FlipScience.
• Microglia: A New Target In The Brain For Depression, Alzheimer’s, And More? By Donna Jackson Nakazawa at STAT
• Researchers flouting clinical reporting rules, and linking gut microbes to heart disease and diabetes by Sarah Crespi and Charles Piller for Science News.
• The chemistry of disposable nappies: absorbency, wetness indicators and waste by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.

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• A new dawn: The story of deforestation in the next decade must be different to the last (commentary) by Bastien Sachet for Mongabay.
• Mending Coastal Marshes by Kerry Rose Graning for Hakai magazine.
• Colombia's hippo population is a fascinating ecological conundrum by Brandon Keim for Anthropocene magazine.
• Indigenous lands hold 36% or more of remaining intact forest landscapes by John C. Cannon for Mongabay.

Check back next week for more great picks.