What happened to there being 'life' on Venus? Can doing less exercise help you become fitter? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of March 15 - 21 2021 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

Welcome to an exciting space-themed edition of your weekly roundup of science news from around the world. This week, discover the explosive secret hiding at the heart of dead stars, and explore how extreme microbes help us learn about outer space. 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?

• Video: Whatever happened to life on Venus? by Sabine Hossenfelder at Backreaction.

A measurement error in the original paper meant that the authors overstated the amount of phosphine in Venus' atmosphere.
Credit: Kevin Gill via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Japanese space firm to launch satellite that will use magnets to clean space junk by Mark Bustos for Science Times.
• Some dead stars may harbor enough uranium to set off a thermonuclear bomb by Adam Mann for Science.
• Building a better spacesuit for a trip to Mars by Subhajit Hazra for Sciworthy.
• Microbes from extreme environments help us study space by Anisha Shastri for Sciworthy.
• The mysterious cause of sea star wasting syndrome is a mystery no more by Amanda Rossillo for Massive Science.
• A protein necessary for neurotransmitter transport in our brains is implicated in Parkinson's disease by Simon Spichak for Massive Science.
• Why less exercise can bring better results by Molly Glick for Discover magazine.
• Why you should nominate people for awards by Small Pond Science.
• Why does DNA spontaneously mutate? Quantum physics might explain by Nicoletta Lanese for Scientific American.
• Obtaining DNA profiles from rootless hairs by ISHI news.
• #ChemVsCOVID: How did past research help COVID-19 vaccine efforts? by Andy Brunning for Compound Interest.
• Five year persistence of Ebolavirus in humans by Vincent Racaniello in Virology Blog.
• Miniature human tear glands grown in a lab cry real tears just like us by Karina Shah for New Scientist.
• AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness against South Africa variant by Skeptical Raptor.
• 10 years after the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi, I’m still worried by Ken Buesseler for Knowable magazine.

To indulge your curiosity even more, follow us on Facebook or Twitter for honourable mentions of great posts that didn't quite make our #SciSeekPicks list this week. Want #SciSeekPicks to help satisfy your scientific curiosity every week? Sign up here for regular notification emails.

Check back next week for more great picks!