What's new with the coronavirus? Why is planting trees sometimes not a good thing? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Jan 20 - 26 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's picks of the best news from science newsmakers, explore the science and projections around the latest zoonotic pandemic, and find out whether there could be life on the newest Earth-like planet discovered by the TESS telescope. 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 viruses behind colds and flu by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.



While coronavirus is not responsible for the yearly misery of colds and flu, it's transmitted in a similar way.
Credit: Andy Brunning via Compound Interest (CC-BY-ND)

• Scientists predict Wuhan's outbreak will get much worse by Megan Molteni for WIRED Science.
• Novel coronavirus outbreak: an update by Jon Otter for Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control.
• Novel Coronavirus outbreak, update part 2 by Jon Otter for Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control.
• What are the symptoms of the new coronavirus and how deadly is it? by Jessica Hamzelou for New Scientist.
• Technology has made it easier to fake scientific results. Is a cultural shift required to fix the problem?  by Bhavya Singh for Massive Science.
• The full-service paper mill and its Chinese customers by Leonid Scheider at For Better Science.
• What my PhD taught me by Amy Csizmar Dalal at This is what a computer scientist looks like.
• Planting trees can have its downside by Nick Carne for Cosmos magazine.
• Mass tree planting along India’s Cauvery River has scientists worried by Nanditha Chandraprakash for Mongabay.
• Living near major roads linked to risk of dementia, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and MS by Science Beta.
• Astronomers find huge amount of oxygen in ancient dwarf star by Sci-News.com.
• Could there be life on the first Earth-sized, habitable zone planet found by NASA’s TESS? by Ethan Siegel at Starts with a Bang.
• Killer whales show us the meaning of menopause  by Vikki Smith for My Science Game.
• The dead speak! Scientists re-create voice of 3000-year-old mummy by Erin Malsbury for Science.
• What is Chernobyl like today? by Sabrina Stierwalt for Scientific American.
• Is Celery Really A ‘Negative-Calorie’ Food? by Mikael Angelo Francisco for FlipScience. 

Check back next week for more great picks.

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What's the lowdown about Goop, the company behind Gwyneth Paltrow's new 'intimate' candle? What do meat eaters really think about veganism? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Jan 13 - 19 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this weeks cream-of-the-crop of science news from around the world, discover whether certain personality traits predispose people towards politics, and explore the chemistry of disposable nappies - exactly how bad for the environment are they? 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?

• Goop's pseudoscience ministry comes to Netflix by Jennifer Gunter for STAT news.

Not the offending article.
Credit: Maria Keays via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Can personality traits predict political success? by Romeo Vitelli at Providentia.
• Diversity matters by Lior Pachter at Bits of DNA.
• You should get Twitter…for science! by Briley Lewis at Astrobites 
• What meat eaters really think about veganism – new research by Chris Bryant at the Conversation UK.
• Astronomers trace journey of phosphorus from stellar nurseries to solar system comets by Sci-News.com.
• On Earth: Stardust from 7.5 billion years ago by Caleb Scharf for Scientific American.
• Leonardo da Vinci, Biological Physicist  by Brad Roth at Intermediate physics for medicine and biology.
• Quantum Computers: Flipping Coins and Killing Cats by Campbell at Universe à la Carte.
• Antibiotic resistance: How misusing antibiotics kills thousands of people yearly by Cesar Ilao III for FlipScience.
• Microglia: A New Target In The Brain For Depression, Alzheimer’s, And More? By Donna Jackson Nakazawa at STAT
• Researchers flouting clinical reporting rules, and linking gut microbes to heart disease and diabetes by Sarah Crespi and Charles Piller for Science News.
• The chemistry of disposable nappies: absorbency, wetness indicators and waste by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.

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• A new dawn: The story of deforestation in the next decade must be different to the last (commentary) by Bastien Sachet for Mongabay.
• Mending Coastal Marshes by Kerry Rose Graning for Hakai magazine.
• Colombia's hippo population is a fascinating ecological conundrum by Brandon Keim for Anthropocene magazine.
• Indigenous lands hold 36% or more of remaining intact forest landscapes by John C. Cannon for Mongabay.

Check back next week for more great picks.

What shape is the Universe? How are the Australian bushfires affecting predator-prey dynamics? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Jan 6 - 12 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In the week's best and brightest from the world of science news, discover the new two-person MRIs that are pushing the bounds of neuroimaging, and delve deeper into the Australian bushfires with scientists' takes on the crisis. 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?

• Trippy maths program could help figure out the shape of the universe by Donna Lu for New Scientist.

New math program explores the potentially fractal nature of the Universe.
Credit: Henry Segerman via New Scientist (CC-BY-ND)

• Identifying stellar chemistry through Infrared astronomy by Brian Koberlein for Forbes.
• This Is How The Universe Changes With Every New Year That Passes by Ethan Siegel at Starts With A Bang.
• Bushfires and climate change communication: Between amplification and attenuation by Brigitte Nerlich for Making Science Public.
• Hunter, hunted: when the world catches on fire, how do predators respond? by Euan Ritchie, Ayesha Tulloch, Dale Nimmo, Tim Doherty, William Geary at The Conversation UK.
• Killing gods: The last hope for the world’s rarest reptile by Jeremy Hance for Mongabay.com.
• Trump Administration Moves to Axe Consideration of Climate Change for Federal Projects by Marianne Lavelle for KQED Science.
• The story of magma near Mayotte by NickCarne at CosmosMagazine.
• Can GM trees please? by Ian Connellan for Cosmos Magazine.
• Grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) by Emily Wilson, Chris Adams and Natalie Fey at Picture It Chemistry.
• Lack of snow is, ironically, helping snow geese by Elizabeth Preston for Hakai magazine.
• The future of supplementation goes viral by YongGuang Jiang for Immunobites.
• MRI scanners built for two push limits of neuroimaging by Kelly Servick for Science magazine.
• Preparing for an especially busy term by Amy Dalal at This is what a computer scientist looks like.

Check back next week for more great picks.

How are colds unlocking secrets about life on other planets? How are the Australian bushfires affecting biodiversity? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Dec 30 2019 - Jan 5 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In the first edition of ScienceSeeker picks of the decade, explore how the predictions surrounding climate change are beginning to be proved right, and how your biodegradable coffee cup may not be as good for the environment as you thought. 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?

• How colds are unlocking secrets about life on other planets by Justin Dingman for Sciworthy.

  

  Modern day viruses could hold the key to a viroid-first panspermia theory about the origins of life on Earth.
  Credit: William Brawley via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Ask Ethan: Did God create the Universe? by Ethan Siegel for Starts with a Bang.
• Are novae producing the Milky Way’s lithium? by Graham Doskoch for Medium.
• How acoustics might help prevent car accidents by Kendra Redmond at Physics Central.
• This was the decade we knew we were right by Kate Marvel for Scientific American.
• How are the Australian bushfires affecting biodiversity? Australia reflections part 4 by Jeff Ollerton.
• The first animal cloned into de-extinction (that promptly went extinct again) by Mikael Angelo Francisco for Flip Science.
• The problem with PFAS: How your biodegradable coffee cup might be wreaking havok in the compost bin  by Laine Farber for Envirobites.
• What do birds do in a hurricane?  by Jenny Howard for Hakai Magazine.
• Anxiety: Brain evolution changes potentially make us more prone by Science Beta.
• Scientists spot addiction-associated circuit in rats by Simon Makin for Scientific American.
• Oganesson: The periodic table’s final element(?) by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.
• Doctors find hundreds of tapeworms in Chinese man's head by Romeo Vitelli.
• Health care providers are unrecognized victims of mass killings by Elizabeth Métraux for STAT news.
• How liquid biopsies could help monitor cancer treatment by Alejandra Canales for Oncobites.
• Inside a Game: Using games as a metaphor for deconstructing the oppressive nature of reality by Sindi Breshani for SERRC.
• Chinese scientist who produced genetically altered babies sentenced to 3 years in jail by Dennis Normile for Science.

Check back next week for more great picks!