How many megabytes of memory do you need to learn a new language? What is the environmental impact of laundry? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of April 29 - May 5, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's ScienceSeeker picks, discover the strange history of the uranium cube from the Nazi nuclear program and find out the chances that LIGO saw a black hole and a neutron star collide. ScienceSeeker editors' favourite posts of the week within their respective areas of interest and expertise also cover many other important and exciting topics. Why not have a read, inform yourselves, and indulge your scientific curiosity? 

• What’s the environmental impact of doing laundry? by The Microfibre Pollution Project.

What is our obession with cleanliness costing the earth?
Credit: The Microfiber Pollution Project via microfiberpollutionproject.tumblr.com.

• Forest restoration, not plantations, will curb warming by Neha Jain for Science Connected magazine.
• As global shipping grows, prepare for a surge of invasive species by Charles Q. Choi for Hakai magazine.
• When biodegradable plastic is not biodegradable by Isabel Thomlinson for The Conversation UK.
• Lab-created nano aerosols could improve climate models by Kendra Redmond for Physics Central.
• Mobile app encourages Indian fishers to free entangled whale sharks by Vasudevan Sridharan for Mongabay.
• How mindfulness can help teachers and students manage challenging situations by Patricia Broderick for KQED News.
• Researchers calculate acquiring a language requires learning 1.5 Megabytes of data, with implications for psychological theory by Emma Young for BPS Research Digest.
• LIGO may have spotted a black hole-neutron star merger by John Timmer for Ars Technica.
• Why the idea of alien life now seems inevitable and possibly imminent. An edited extract from the essay 'The search for ET', first published in the Griffith Review by Cathal O’Connell, via The Conversation UK.
• How scientists traced a uranium cube to Nazi Germany’s nuclear reactor program by Emily Conover for Science News magazine.
• Cancer cells use an exosome “message in a bottle” to turn off the immune system by Morgan McSweeney for Oncobites.
• How to break the wheel of weight loss and regain by Dr. Don Brown for LifeApps.
• Eczema-associated bacteria may be kept in check by a different microbe by Chelsea Whyte for New Scientist.
• This injectable gel could one day rebuild muscle, skin, and fat by Robert Service for Science magazine.

Check back next week for more great picks!