Is herd immunity a viable strategy for COVID-19? What is 'Disaster Fatigue' and how does it affect how we behave? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Nov 23 - Nov 29 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's very best from science news around the world, find out what's it's like to have coronavirus and the flu at the same time, and find out exactly why Canada is allowing BP to explore in a designated marine reserve. 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?

• Herd immunity and is it a viable strategy for the COVID-19 pandemic? by Megha Machhar for Biodrivers.

Without clear information that having had the virus confers immunity, the herd immunity strategy is uncertain and potentially dangerous.
Credit: Davide Gabino via Flickr (CC BY-ND)

• Dueling infections: I had the flu and Covid-19 at the same time by Lauren Hines for STAT news.
• Zinc and COVID by Scott Gavura for Science-Based Medicine.
• mRNA Vaccines for COVID-19: The promise and pitfalls by Ken Doyle for Promega.
• For scientists studying ‘disaster fatigue,’ this has been a year like no other by Rasha Aridi for Science.
• The neuroscience behind gratitude by Mariam Melkumyan at Lions Talk Science Graduate Student Blog.
  
• People drawn to conspiracy theories share a cluster of psychological features by Melinda Wenner Moyer for Scientific American.
• The simple lab technique that changed everything by Justin Dingman for Sciworthy.
• Earth’s early atmosphere may have been toxic like the one on Venus by Leah Crane for New Scientist.
• Physicists detect solar CNO neutrinos for first time by Sci-News.com.
• The Falling Chimney paradox by Prober at Probing the Universe.
• Laser tractor beam developed to control lightning strikes by Miklos Bolza for Lab Down Under.
• Princeton scientists solve the mystery behind an enigmatic organelle, the pyrenoid by Ominy Science.
• Rethinking Black Friday to include end-of-life conversations by L.S. Dugdale for STAT news.
• The case for 'Universal Property' by James K. Boyce for Scientific American.
• Canada gives BP okay to explore in marine conservation area by Brian Owens for Hakai magazine.
• How do we protect the urban poor from food insecurity? by Urban Food Futures.
• Celebrating disabled scientists: Dorothy Hodgkin by Susanna Riley for Edinburgh University Science magazine.
• Hawai’i has a hidden reservoir by Ian Connellan for Cosmos Magazine.

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Check back next week for more great picks