Has AI really developed a drug by itself? How is the Indian salt industry damaging wildlife? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Sept 2 - Sept 8, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this weeks' edition of the best from the world of science news, find out how unbroken forest may be the key to a sustainable palm oil industry, and how failure to accurately assess the baseline population size of a species may mean that we also fail to identify when they are becoming endangered. 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?

Despite the hype, AI has not developed a new drug without human input.
Credit: Mike MacKenzie via www.vpnsrus.com (CC BY 2.0)

• Has AI discovered a drug now? Guess. by Derek Lowe at Science Translational Medicine.
• Connected forests key to more sustainable palm oil industry: report by Lauren Crothers for Mongabay.com.
• Life’s too salty for these shorebirds by Colin Daileda for Hakai magazine.
• Sometimes we don’t even know what we’ve lost by Brandon Keim for Anthropocene magazine.
• Raw is risky: Two more deaths from brucellosis in Africa by Doug Powell at barfblog.
• Failure to condemn: A global health crisis targeting women affects us here by Qanta A. Ahmed for Scientific American.
• Happy 230th birthday, Enceladus, our solar system’s greatest hope for life beyond Earth by Ethan Siegel at Starts With A Bang.

Check back next week for more great picks!