What conclusions can we draw from the J&J vaccine pause? What side-effects can you expect when you're vaccinated against Covid-19? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of April 12 - April 18 2021 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's bitesize edition of the best science news from around the world, learn about how HIV activists put policies in place that have saved lives in the current pandemic, and explore the weird new type of uranium scientists have just discovered. 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?

• Podcast: Yes, J&J’s vaccine pause is confusing. here’s why by Ira Flatow and Umair Irfan for Science Friday.

This week, the FDA and CDC both recommended a temporary pause in distribution of Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot COVID-19 vaccine, after the emergence of a very rare, very unusual blood clotting side effect. 
Text credit: Article; Image credit: El Alvi via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Vaccine side effects Q and A by Derek Lowe at Science Translational Medicine.
• 99.992% of fully vaccinated people have dodged COVID, CDC data shows by Beth Mole for Ars Technica.
• Four ways HIV activists have saved lives during Covid by Monica Gandhi in Knowable magazine.
• Some lucid dreamers can answer questions and math problems in their sleep by Marina Olle Hurtado for Massive Science.
• Telescopes unite in unprecedented observations of famous black hole by Chandra X-ray Observatory.
• Physicists have created a new and extremely rare kind of uranium by Leah Crane for New Scientist 
• Black dwarf supernovae by John Baez at Azimuth.
• What is a comet? Your answer may depend on the language you learn in by Ludving Adolfo Cano Fernandez for Massive Science.
• How many Tyrannosaurus rex individuals ever roamed earth? by Sci-News.com.
• Scientists find the first known nursery for the munk's devil ray by María Rodríguez-Salinas for Massive Science.
• 10 of the Best Student Blogs for Millennial Life by Mathilde Frot for Top Universities Blog.
• Sleep and Eating – There’s a Time for Both by Raj Trikha for Nutribites.
• Dialogues in music therapy and social neuroscience by Filippo Pasqualitto for Knowing Neurons.
• Food for thought: The neuroprotective effects of xanthophylls by Jonathan Cerna for Nutribites.
• The re-emergence of psychedelics in society: a shift from counterculture to cancer treatment by psychneuro for On Psychology and Neuroscience. 

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What can monkeys teach us about recovering from disaster? Why is daydreaming good, actually? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of April 5 - April 11 2021 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

Roll up, roll up, for the best science news from around the world, picked out for you by scientists. This week, find out how Covid-19 has been detrimental to bats, and how scientists are hoping that studying bacterial genetics can help to stop another pandemic. 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 monkeys can teach humans about resilience after disaster by Lydia Denworth for Scientific American.

Broader and more tolerant social networks helped Macaques recover from disasters,according to a new study.
Credit: Ravi Jandhyala via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Don’t take your head out of the clouds! by Rebecca Renner for The New York Times.
• Fermilab’s latest muon measurements hint at cracks in the Standard Model by Jennifer Ouelette for Ars Technica.
• Nature’s most magnetic objects, ripped apart in starquakes, can unleash powerful flashes of light by Joshua Sokol for Science magazine.
• Does the universe have higher dimensions? Part 1 by Sabine Hossenfelder at Backreaction.
• People of the Tiahuanaco civilization engineered their own rocks to build temples and monuments by Maria Teresa Cardozo Robles for Massive Science.
• The thrusters behind NASA's mission to the asteroid Psyche by Eric Berger for WIRED.
• Researchers identify a bacterium that enables its host to breathe nitrate instead of oxygen by Irene Zhang for Massive Science.
• COVID-19 tests encased on coffee machine capsules by Mark Lorch for Chemistry Blog.
• Scientists urge focus on bacterial genetics to prevent outbreaks and other public health threats by Miklos Bolza for Lab Down Under.
• Bats: COVID-19’s unexpected victim by Science Borealis.
• Global warming 101 by Amanda MacMillan and Jeff Turrentine for NRDC.
• Having your desalination and eating it, too by Pip Knight for Hakai magazine.
• Seaspiracy harms more than it educates by Josh Silberg for Hakai magazine.
• When your palace crumbles overnight: Being rejected from PhD Programs (A Personal Experience) by Sabina Sagynbayeva for Astrobites.

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How could cocoa protect against stress-related heart attacks? What's the low-down on Alzheimer drug hopeful Prevagen? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of March 29 - April 4 2021 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's Easter edition of the best of science news, find out how chocolate bunnies are protected so that they don't crumble (It's physics!) and find out why chemical names are so similar and confusing. 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?

• Cocoa flavanols could protect against mental stress-induced cardiovascular events by Sci-News.com.

Blood vessel function was less impaired when the participants drank high-flavanol cocoa. They also found that flavanols improve blood flow during stress.
Credit: lolay via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Alzheimer’s treatments in the pipeline and the false promise of Prevagen: Distinguishing hope from hype by Ricki Lewis for DNA Science.
• Protecting large hollow chocolate bunnies by Marc Abrahams for Improbable Research.
• Drinking wine leads to lesser risk of cataract surgery, British study says by Gerry Roberts for The Science Times.
• Drone incinerated by volcano as it takes a shot by Isabella Beltran for Science Times.
• Are #Diamonds Really Forever? Quantum Mechanics says yes by Allison Kubo Hutchison at Physics Central.
• Confusing #chemical ⚗️ names: why do some sound so similiar? by Kat Day at The Chronicle Flask.
• The deep freeze by AShortScientist.
• Interstellar comet Borisov is the most pristine space object ever seen  by Leah Crane for New Scientist.
• Physicists give antimatter the chills by John Timmer for Ars Technica.
• ‘I’m empty.’ Pandemic scientists are burning out—and don’t see an end in sight by Meredith Wadman for Science.
• New travel guidelines, real-world vaccine efficacy, and more Coronavirus news by Eve Sneider for Wired.
• Podcast: Seaweed might help cows go green by Ira Flatow, Albert Straus and Ermias Kebreab for Science Friday.
• Making a movie  by Rose Galbraith for Durham University Student Blog.

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How could stem cells help people with epilepsy? What's the environmental impact of disposable masks? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of March 22 - 28 2021 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's best and brightest from the world of science news, find out what happened when people got tired of restrictions in the 1918 flu epidemic (a cautionary tale), and explore the unlikely stars that could really exist, including a star within a star. 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?

• Better disposal for disposable masks by Esme Symons for Science Borealis.

Masks are necessary and life-saving, but what should we do with them once they've outlived their usefulness?
Image credit: Marco Verch via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Right Turn: How stem cells may help people with epilepsy by Stacey Johnson for Signals Blog.
• T cells will save us from COVID-19 by Vincent Racaniello in Virology Blog.
• A decoy may be the key to developing a vaccine against a deadly bioweapon by Amanda Rossillo for Massive Science.
• A brief history of why we disinfect #Water by Gemma Ellison at Chromsolutions.
• People gave up on flu pandemic measures a century ago when they tired of them – and paid a price by J. Alexander Navarro for The Conversation UK.
• Processed meat leads to increased risks of dementia, new study suggests by Mark Bustos for Science Times.
• Podcast: BBC World Service - More or Less, In praise of Covid Data by Tim Harford and Clare Griffiths for More or Less: Behind the Stats.
• (Not) a world of pure imagination: seeing dreams with neuroimaging by psychneuro for On Psychology and Neuroscience.
• Should we prescribe sleep after a traumatic event? by psychneuro for On Psychology and Neuroscience.
• Orangutans and bonobos at the San Diego Zoo have been vaccinated for COVID-19 by Brittany Kenyon-Flatt for Massive Science.
• Researchers discover secret behind whiteflies’ invincibility: A stolen plant gene by Gerry Roberts for The Science Times.
• Ancient rocks reveal when Earth's plate tectonics began by Howard Lee for Wired.
• Life among the experimentalists by Nicole Yunger Halpern for Quantum Frontiers.
• Four crazy stars astronomers think might really exist by Eric Betz for Discover Magazine.
• CERN physicists discover four new tetraquarks by Sci-News.com.
• The joy of condensed matter by John Baez for Azimuth.
• Podcast: Mar 24th: Aquatic planets like Earth could abound in the Milky Way by Pamela Gay and Beth Johnson for The Daily Space.
• Robotic touch: Artificial skin brings robots closer to ‘touching’ human lives by Eva Guinane for Edinburgh University Science Magazine.
• Growing a more resilient global food system by Bob Holmes for Knowable magazine.
• Five student productivity tips by the LSE student blog.

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What happened to there being 'life' on Venus? Can doing less exercise help you become fitter? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of March 15 - 21 2021 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

Welcome to an exciting space-themed edition of your weekly roundup of science news from around the world. This week, discover the explosive secret hiding at the heart of dead stars, and explore how extreme microbes help us learn about outer space. 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?

• Video: Whatever happened to life on Venus? by Sabine Hossenfelder at Backreaction.

A measurement error in the original paper meant that the authors overstated the amount of phosphine in Venus' atmosphere.
Credit: Kevin Gill via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Japanese space firm to launch satellite that will use magnets to clean space junk by Mark Bustos for Science Times.
• Some dead stars may harbor enough uranium to set off a thermonuclear bomb by Adam Mann for Science.
• Building a better spacesuit for a trip to Mars by Subhajit Hazra for Sciworthy.
• Microbes from extreme environments help us study space by Anisha Shastri for Sciworthy.
• The mysterious cause of sea star wasting syndrome is a mystery no more by Amanda Rossillo for Massive Science.
• A protein necessary for neurotransmitter transport in our brains is implicated in Parkinson's disease by Simon Spichak for Massive Science.
• Why less exercise can bring better results by Molly Glick for Discover magazine.
• Why you should nominate people for awards by Small Pond Science.
• Why does DNA spontaneously mutate? Quantum physics might explain by Nicoletta Lanese for Scientific American.
• Obtaining DNA profiles from rootless hairs by ISHI news.
• #ChemVsCOVID: How did past research help COVID-19 vaccine efforts? by Andy Brunning for Compound Interest.
• Five year persistence of Ebolavirus in humans by Vincent Racaniello in Virology Blog.
• Miniature human tear glands grown in a lab cry real tears just like us by Karina Shah for New Scientist.
• AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against South Africa variant by Skeptical Raptor.
• 10 years after the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi, I’m still worried by Ken Buesseler for Knowable magazine.

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