What's the difference between dark matter and dark energy? What does consciousness look like in the brain? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of February 18 - February 24, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

This week's cream of the crop from science blogs around the world uncovers how the dinosaurs really died and unveils a new male contraceptive that has just entered phase 2b trials. There are many other important topics touched on in the ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts of the week within their respective areas of interest and expertise. Here is the full round-up of the ScienceSeeker Editors’ selections:

Barnard 68 is a molecular cloud that adsorbs light.
It is dark and made of matter, but not made of dark matter.
Credit: ESO via Wikipedia (CC BY 4.0).
Caption by Sabine Hossenfelder.

• Never again confuse dark matter with dark energy by Sabine Hossenfelder for Backreaction.
• Japan’s Hayabusa 2 bags its first sample from the asteroid Ryugu by Sam Wong for New Scientist.
• Zombie stars shine on after mystery detonations by Shannon Hall for Scientific American.
• The real dino killer: A one–two punch by Howard Lee for Scientific American.
• Exercise can help you counter effects of shift work, jet lag, other disruptions to circadian clock  by Sci-News.com.
• Brain-zapping implants that fight depression are inching closer to reality by Laura Sanders for Science News.
• Scientists come closer to finding out what consciousness looks like in the brain by Ed Cara for Gizmodo.
• A machine gets high marks for diagnosing sick children by Emily Willingham for Scientific American.
• Scientific duo gets back to basics to make childbirth safer by Alison Kodjak for NPR.
• Interview: First-of-its-kind male contraceptive gel in phase 2b clinical trial by Chelsea Weidman Burke for Biospace.
• Researchers develop a test that objectively measures pain biomarkers in blood by Ibezim Chukwuemerie for HumanBioscience.org.
• Broccoli (Brassica oleracea) by Lucy Bird, Natalie Fey and Chris Arthur at Picture it! Chemistry
• Illegal corn farming menaces a Madagascar protected area by Emilie Filou for Mongabay.
• Research into chimp health benefits human, ecosystem well-being too by Giovanni Ortolani for Mongabay.
• Pathogenic bacteria found on microplastics retrieved from tropical beaches by GrrlScientist via Medium.
• Tribes use western and indigenous science to prepare for climate change by Erica Gies for Hakai Magazine.
• The issue with tissue: How the U.S. is flushing forests away by Jennifer Skene and Shelley Vinyard for NRDC.
• Cardiac psychiatry: Exploring connections between the head and the heart by Mass General Research Institute Blog.

Check back next week for more great picks!

ScienceSeeker's new design keeps posts from the sites we aggregate flowing - bookmark us now!

by Andy Extance, ScienceSeeker Editor-in-Chief

If you look to the left of this post, you'll see that ScienceSeeker has now integrated a feed of links to posts from the sites that we aggregate. By now we bring together over 2,400 sites, so the chances are that every time you refresh our site the feed will have new content. So if you're getting bored of social media sites and want new (mostly) science-based material to entertain you, we hope we will always be able to give you what you're after. If you haven't already, bookmark this page and come here when you're wondering what's new in the world. Does this layout work for you? Any thoughts on how we could make it better? Then please comment below.

I think this step offers a better service to the sites we aggregate, bringing all their latest posts to you as soon as they're published. It's a service that we and other science blog aggregator sites used to provide, but which we lost when we moved to this design a few years ago. Overall this is part of an effort to build up ScienceSeeker's impact some more. Having been editor for three years now, I think the processes and team we have are doing well. Time for the next steps!

Oh, and one more thing: If you write a science blog, don't forget that our awards are now open! Enter here for the chance to earn bragging rights and a shiny badge for your website!

What dictates how imaginative we are? What music should you listen to while studying? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of February 11 - February 17, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's best from the science blogosphere, discover the brain chemicals behind altruism and find out what happens when AI is allowed to dream. There are many other important topics touched on in the ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts of the week within their respective areas of interest and expertise. Here is the full round-up of the ScienceSeeker Editors’ selections:

• New study finds strength of imagination not associated with creative ability or achievement by Emma Young via BPS Research Digest.
• Should you listen to music while doing intellectual work? It depends on the music, the task, and your personality by Christian Jarrett for BPS Research Digest.

  

  The best music to listen to for maximum productivity
  depends on a number of factors.
  Credit: Tinh tế Photo via Flickr. CC0 1.0 Universal.

• Altruism, reward and the neuropeptide of brotherly love by Aixin for On Psychology and Neuroscience.
• How teachers are changing grading practices with an eye on equity by Katrina Schwartz for KQED News.
• This AI can tell your age by analyzing your gut microbiome by Marc Prosser for Singularity Hub.
• If neural networks are allowed to sleep and dream, their performance sensibly increases by Adriano Barra for Science Trends.
• The good luck black cat, revealed by camera traps by Sue Palminteri for Mongabay.
• Humans are eating most of earth's largest animals to extinction by Brandon Specktor for Live Science.
• An ant colony has memories that its individual members don’t have by Deborah M Gordon for Aeon, reblogged by Coffee Table Science.
• [Podcast] Zoo&A: Why can't dogs eat chocolate? by The Naked Scientists Podcast.
• Ask Ethan: What will our first direct image of an earth-like exoplanet look like? by Ethan Siegel for Starts With A Bang.
• Where is the universe hiding its missing mass? by The Chandra X-Ray Observatory.
• Scientists create new type of self-healing material by Jens Wilkinson for It Ain't Magic. 
• Offspring from older sperm are fitter and age more slowly by Michael Le Page for New Scientist.
• Here's the real culprit behind the Dengvaxia scare (Part 1) (Part 2) by Carina Laroza at FlipScience.
• A review of the emerging Influenza D virus by Michael Coston for Avian Flu Diary.
• ‘Netflix’ pricing model eases australians’ access to expensive Hepatitis C drugs by Elaine Fletcher for Health Policy Watch.
• FDA approves 25 Precision Meds in 2018 by Alan Kotok for Technology, News and Literature.
• The link between cleanliness and childhood cancer by Taylor B. Poston for OncoBites.

Check back next week for more great picks!

What shape is the Milky Way? What Dark Energy discovery is shaking up the physics world? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of February 5 - February 11, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

You can get inside the brain of an introvert and find out how you can deal with eco-anxiety in this week's selection of the best and brightest posts from the science blogosphere. But there are many other important topics touched on in the ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts of the week within their respective areas of interest and expertise. Here is the full round-up of the ScienceSeeker Editors’ selections:

• The brain of an introvert by Viatcheslav Wlassoff for Brain Blogger.

We all need time alone, but for introverts it's when they're
most creative.
Credit: Katia Romanova, used via Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0

• Helping mothers recover when the psychological trauma of giving birth lingers by‎ the Mass General Research Institute Blog.
• Attachment anxiety heightens aversion toward pattern deviancy, according to new psychology research by Eric Dolan for Psypost.
• Eco-anxiety isn’t new, and it’s time to deal with it by Glynis Ratcliffe for Asparagus Magazine.
• New 3D map of milky way reveals true shape of its stellar disc | Astronomy by Sci-News.com.
• Dark energy may not be a constant, which would lead to a revolution in physics by Ethan Siegel for Starts With A Bang.
• Is Sweat Up To Batt? Sweat as a Power Source for Screening by Elizabeth Joseph at Chembites  
• Heat-sensitive fabric cools you on hot days and warms you in the cold by Donna Lu for New Scientist.
• This is why global warming is responsible for freezing temperatures across the U.S. (and elsewhere) by Ethan Siegel for Starts With A Bang.
• 2018 ranks as fourth-warmest year for globe by Scott Johnson for Ars Technica.
• Cutting through the doom and gloom – how psychology can be used to promote climate action  by Pernilla Borg for Envirobites.
• Fancy some salt & vinegar with your shark?  by Harry Baker for Marine Madness.
• To grow or not to grow? Bacteria make seeds think! by Radhika Desikan for GotScience.
• [Commentary] Rewilding is an exciting, new narrative of recovery and hope by Prerna Singh Bindra for Mongabay-India.
• The Cancer Genome Atlas: A Roadmap for Cancer Research  by Rachel Cherney for OncoBites.

Check back next week for more great picks!

How does your brain look on acid? What do Minke whales talk about? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of January 28 - February 4, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

This week's best posts from the science blogosphere include a commitment from Germany to cleaner energy, the science behind the star-nosed mole's eyes and the effect of 'screen time' on children's brains. But there are other important topics touched on in the ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts within their respective areas of interest and expertise for the past seven days. Here is the full round-up of the ScienceSeeker Editors’ selections:

• Stars for Eyes – The Neurological Wonder of the Star-Nosed Mole by Seraphina Solders for NeuWrite San Diego.
• Watching brains on acid using an MRI by John Timmer for Ars Technica.
• The science of screen time by Jena Doom for Science with Dr. Doom.

Are they talking, or just wailing?
Credit: Majestic Whale Encounters, used via Flickr, CC BY-ND 2.0

• Enemy Infiltration of the Blood-Brain Barrier by Sarah Price for ImmunoBites
• When two forces join to make imaging brains more amazing than ever! by Rosa García-Verdugo for Mapping Ignorance.

Synaptic proteins and their associations to neuronal processes in layers IV-V of mouse primary somatosensory cortex from HHMI NEWS on Vimeo 

• AI has predicted a new subspecies of archaic human ancestors that have not been discovered yet by Kristine Moore for The Inquisitr.
• Wiretapping Minke whales by Larry Pynn for Hakai Magazine.
• A faster way to find illicit fins by Alistair Bland for Hakai Magazine.
• Germany to phase out coal by 2038 by Martin Keiner for Unearthed.
• Sustainable bricks made from sewage by Prachi Patel for Anthropocene Magazine.
• Ten of the best books about climate change, conservation and the environment of 2018 by GrrlScientist for Medium.
• New device can desalinate seawater  by Megan Nichols for Schooled By Science.
• ‘Metallic wood' throws down a challenge to titanium by Nick Carne for Cosmos Magazine.
• Take a virtual tour through the history of the periodic table by Jake Yeston, Nirja Desai, and Elbert Wang for Science Magazine.
• Today is the bittersweet 15th anniversary of NASA’s Opportunity Rover landing on Mars by Ethan Siegel for Starts with a Bang.
• NASA’s Parker solar probe completes its first orbit of sun by SciNews.
• NASA’s Curiosity Rover weighs a mountain on Mars by Michael Wall for Space.com.
• Does intermittent fasting work? by Monica Reinagel for Scientific American.
• Obesity tied to higher cancer rates in younger people by Nicholas Bakalar for The New York Times.
• Precision medicine real soon now by Derek Lowe for Science Translational Medicine.
• From bad air to mosquito-borne disease: How folks found out malaria was transmitted by mosquitoes by Gibbs Nasir for Public Health United.
• Policies reducing prescription opioids have limited effect on overdose deaths. Interview with Dr. Qiushi Chen and Jagpreet Chhatwal for Medical Research.
• "Rectenna" Converts Wi-Fi to Electricity by Christopher Intagliata for Scientific American.
• Hydroponics? by Frans Mäyra.
• The beautiful magic of bioluminescence in A Backpacking Biologist.

Check back next week for more great picks!