Why are Biogen submitting a failed Alzheimer's drug for FDA approval? Does a new CRISPR system hold the key to correcting all genetic disease? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Oct 21 - Oct 27, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's exciting edition of the best from the world of science news, explore the surprising connection between traumatic brain injury and criminality, and find out what's happening in the Amazonian rainforest now that media coverage of the fires has died down. 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?

• New CRISPR tool could fix almost all disease-causing DNA glitches by Sharon Begley for STAT News.

  

  A new CRISPR system shows gene replacement efficiency at up to 78%, much higher than other systems.
  However, gene editing technologies have shown disappointing results in humans in the past. Only time will tell.
  Credit: Ernesto del Aguila III, National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH (Public Domain)

• The return of Aducanumab by Derek Lowe at Science Translational Medicine.
• The surprising connection between brain injuries and crime by Kim Gorgen, transcript taken from a talk at TEDXMileHigh, published on ScienceBeta.
• Study finds massive reorganization of life across Earth’s ecosystems by John C. Cannon for Mongabay.
• As 2019 Amazon fires die down, Brazilian deforestation roars ahead by Sue Branford and Maurício Torres for Mongabay.com.
• A grizzly situation: saving bears by mitigating conflict by Jessica Espinosa for Envirobites.
• A parasitic bacterium saps energy from corals by Matt Miles at Hakai magazine.
• Should we judge a scientific field by its classic papers, its typical current papers, or its best current papers? by Jeremy Fox at Dynamic Ecology.
• The need for an African lightsource by Dr. Prosper Ngabonziza at Elephant in the Lab.
• What made dinos sore? by Riley Black at Scientific American.
• For the last time, no, a NASA engineer has not broken physics with an impossible engine by Ethan Siegel at Starts With A Bang.
• Messy Births by Damond Benningfield at Stardate.
• Meet The Blob, a creature that has almost 720 sexes — but no brain by GrrlScientist for Forbes.

Check back next week for more great picks.

What does the formation of a binary star look like? Why do some people need less sleep? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Oct 14 - Oct 20, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's best and brightest from the world of science news, see the picture that solves a fifty-year-old chemistry question, and find out how indigenous people are breaking the law in California to preserve their ancestral way of life. 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?

• ALMA captures a binary star in the act of formation by Tim Kendall at Extreme Astrophysics.

Astronomers using ALMA have obtained an extremely high-resolution image showing two disks in which young stars are growing, fed by a complex pretzel-shaped network of filaments of gas and dust.
Credit: Image - ESO via ESO.org Caption: Tim Kendall at Extreme Astrophysics (CC-BY 4.0)

• Two women completed a seven-hour spacewalk on Friday by Eric Berger for Ars Technica.
• Tomatoes, peas and several other crops grow well in simulated martian and lunar dirt by Sci-News.com.
• wowt explains: what is a cyborg? by Greg Fish at World of Weird Things.
• A fifty-year-old question about molecular structure answered with a picture by Kristopher Benke for Chembites.
• Know your brain: tourette syndrome by Neuroscientifically Challenged.
• Looking directly in the eyes engages region of the social brain by Sarah DeWeerdt at Spectrum.
• Why do some people need less sleep? It’s in their DNA by Karen Weintraub for Scientific American.
• Using oncolytic viruses to fight cancers by Payal Yokota for Oncobites.
• How many ‘Firsts’ does it take to change a system? by Athene Donald at Occam's Typewriter.
• Me, myself and I by Michael Healy at The Thesis Whisperer.
• Sultana: The girl who refused to stop learning by Sultana for Quantum Frontiers.
• Vacation’s changing tides by Fred Singer at fredsingerecology.
• These rare pigs can dig it. With a tool, that is. And moonwalk too by Mongabay.com.
• Guerrilla Gatherers by Debra Utacia Krol for Roads and Kingdoms and High Country News.

Check back next week for more great picks.

Who won this years' Nobel prizes in Chemistry and Physics? Could blocking out the sun be a way to halt global warming? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Oct 7 - Oct 13, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm

In this week's best and brightest from the world of science news, explore how speculative conclusions and media hype have led to some very wrong articles about mosquito transgenics, and how the gene-editing technique CRISPR may help tackle loss of biodiversity. 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 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: The batteries that power our phones and laptops by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.



Though Lithium-ion batteries are so common we don't even notice them, the science behind them has won this year's Nobel prize for Chemistry.
Credit: Andy Brunning via CompundChem (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

• Nobel prize in physics for discovery of exoplanet orbiting a star by Donna Lu for New Scientist.
• The Milky Way’s supermassive black hole reached record brightness this year by Emily Conover for Science News magazine.
• Podcast: How did water get on earth? by Sabrina Stierwalt for Everyday Einstein.
• Collider Physics – The art of smashing particles by Sam Henry at Particle Physics Gadgeteering. 
• Can we stave off global warming by blocking out the sun? by Greg Fish for World of Weird Things.
• How fast will seas rise? A dying Greenland glacier holds clues by Paul Voosen for Science magazine.
• Can the gene editing technology known as CRISPR help reduce biodiversity loss worldwide? by Becky Mackelprang at Ensia.
• A catastrophic power outage darkens California while horny spiders invade by Cassie Freund at Massive Science.
• This microbe is spreading antibiotic resistance to other bacteria by Sali Morris and James S. Horton for The Conversation UK.
• Size does not matter: 21 sick from Salmonella linked to pet turtles by Doug Powell at Barfblog.
• GM mosquitoes for insect population control: when speculative conclusions meet hyped journalism by Kostas Vavitsas for PLOS Synbio Community blog.
• Could Immunotherapy Treat Diseases Besides Cancer? by Karen Weintraub at Scientific American.
• In rats, treatment for carbon monoxide poisoning comes from bright light by Megan Thielking for STATnews.
• Xenophobic one minute, tolerant the next: humans are strange primates  by Christian Jarrett for Aeon Ideas.
• Sleep deprivation shuts down production of essential brain proteins by Emily Willingham for Scientific American.
• The neuroscience of psychopathy by Robert Walsh at The Neuroscience Blog.
• Why do neuroscientists study weird animals?: A primer on neuroethology by Jess Haley at Neuwrite.
• Book review: two new guides to academic life by Inger Mewburn at The Thesis Whisperer.

Check back next week for more great picks!

How may have the female orgasm evolved? Why shouldn't you be too upset to have parasites? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Sept 30 - Oct 6, 2019 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm

In this week's most important and topical posts from the world of science news, explore the neurological reward mechanisms that make mourning a part of the healing process, and read about how Brexit may be bad for minorities' mental health. 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?

• Some people with anxiety may actively resist relaxation in favor of worrying, according to new research by Science Beta.

When you're worried, taking action may make you feel like you'll be less worried in future, which can lead to those who need rest most avoiding it.
Credit: jeet_sen via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)

• Let’s talk about climate grief and anxiety by Juanita Constible for NRDC.
• Is mourning rewarding? (revisited) by The Neurocritic.
• When people close to us behave immorally, we are inclined to protect them — even if their crimes are particularly heinous by Matt Warren for BPS Research Digest. 
• “Concerns have been expressed about the potential negative impact of Brexit on the mental health of Black and Minority Ethnic people.” by Paul Biegler for Cosmos magazine.
• Starting a PhD… at 58 years old? by Dr Catherine Racine at The Thesis Whisperer.
• 3 ways to shape math into a positive experience by Kara Newhouse for KQED News.
• What will win the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics? by  Chad Orzel at Forbes.
• Six reasons why you should give parasites a break by My Science Game.
• Rare zebra foal with polka dots spotted in Kenya by GrrlScientist.
• How are amber teething necklaces supposed to work? by Kat Day at The Chronicle Flask.
• How mothers help build the immune systems of their children during pregnancy by Mass General Research Institute.
• Female orgasm may have evolved from a trigger for ovulation  by Clare Wilson for New Scientist.
• Double protostar caught in process of forming by Sci-News.com.
• Has Google actually achieved ‘Quantum Supremacy’ with its new Quantum Computer? by Ethan Siegel at Starts With A Bang.

Check back next week for more great picks!