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!