How does belief in conspiracy theories lead to accepting pseudoscientific medicine? How can being happy prevent cognitive decline? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Nov 30 - Dec 6 2020 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this week's best and brightest from the world of science news, meet Kurt, the first cloned Przewalski’s horse, and get the latest on the coronavirus vaccine that's starting to be administered to the public. Is an end in sight? 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 study identifies cognitive factors linked to the use of pseudoscientific practices to fight COVID-19 by Eric W. Dolan for PsyPost.

“Typically viewed as harmless, pseudoscientific practices can range from extremely dangerous (drinking methanol or injecting disinfectants) to deceptive ones, leading people astray from evidence-based practices,” 
Credit: Giancarlo Foto4U via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Adults who experienced more positive emotions had less memory decline over the next decade by Emily Reynolds for BPS Research Digest.
• Antidepressant drugs suppress important gut bacteria by Simon Spichak for Massive Science.
• Suicide awareness materials: do they help people with suicidal ideation? by Hanzla Amir and Derek Tracy for the National Elf Service.
• In the future, a simple blood test could identify who will develop pre-eclampsia by Emily LaPlante for Massive Science.
• Are mRNA vaccines our way out of the COVID-19 pandemic? by Seán Dunphy for Edinburgh University Science Magazine.
• What are the COVID-19 RNA vaccines and how do they work? by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.
• Dr. Paul Offit talks COVID vaccines, with JAMA’S Howard Bauchner by Dr. Ricki Lewis for DNA Science.
• Patients with blood cancers especially vulnerable to COVID-19 infections by MedicalResearch.
• Checklisting by Dr. Rob Long at Safety Risk
• While you scream inside your heart, please keep working by The Thesis Whisperer.
• Examining why the pebble mine died by Ashley Braun for Hakai magazine.
• How to watch Hayabusa2 return an asteroid sample to Earth by Daniel Oberhaus for WIRED.
• Arecibo telescope collapses, ending 57-year run by Eric Hand for Science.
• Data sonification: A new cosmic triad of sound by Chandra X-Ray Observatory.
• Light-based quantum computer exceeds fastest classical supercomputers by Daniel Garisto for Scientific American.
• DeepMind AI handles protein folding, which humbled previous software by John Timmer for Ars Technica.
• Monkeys and apes in Africa and Asia are also susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 by Brittany Kenyon -Flatt for Massive Science.
• Galloping to greatness: Meet Kurt the first cloned Przewalski's Horse by Natalie Larsen for Promega Corporation.
• .Thousands of pollutants detected in turtles on the Great Barrier Reef  by Miklos Bolza for Lab Down Under.
• From “I” to “We” – Addressing Gender Imbalances in the Natural Sciences - An interview with Haibo Ruan from the Lise Meitner Gesellschaft by Rebecca Kahn at Elephant in the Lab.

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Check back next week for more great picks