Could an intranasal COVID-19 vaccine be on the cards? Why are horseshoe crabs vital to the biotech industry? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Jan 18 - Jan 24 2021 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

In this weeks edition of the best from the world of science news, meet the ornery octopi who sometimes punch fish just for the hell of it, and discover the huge young black hole that has astronomers shocked. 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?

• Intranasal COVID-19 vaccines: What the Nose Knows by Ken Doyle for Promega Connections.

Intranasal vaccines offer an attractive option in the multifaceted vaccine response to COVID-19.
Credit: Marco Verch Professional Photographer via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

• Octopus sometimes punch fish out of spite by Simon Spichak for Massive Science.
• Horseshoe crabs are critical to the biotech industry by Cathryn Sephus for Sciworthy.
• Microscopic animals glow in the dark to survive radiation by Anrup Mohanty for Sciworthy.
• Fungi create genes to 'win over' their plant friends and neighbors by Attabey Rodriguez Benitez for Massive Science.
• Sloppy science or groundbreaking idea? Theory for how cells organize contents divides biologists by Mitch Leslie for Science.
• Bacillus bacteria can keep fruits and vegetables free of Listeria by Madeline Barron for Massive Science.
• Diet and exercise can shape how your mind ages by Juliana DiGiacomo for Sciworthy.
• A new way of looking at concussions by Helen Santoro for Knowable Magazine.
• The rhythm of detachment: how a brain oscillation dissociates people from themselves and the world by Joel Frohlich for Knowing Neurons.
• The cure for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s may be hiding in the gut by Burcin Ikiz for NutriBites.
• How to help Covid-19 long-haulers by Syra Madad and Theodore Long for Knowable magazine.
• Fatigue is an understudied consequence of hearing loss by Adriel John Orena for Massive Science.
• Why we love sweet foods but hate vegetables by Chen Ruilin at The Skeptical Chemist.
• Waste-to-energy or wasted energy? by Mary Davis for Envirobites.
• Self-powered electronics get boost from nano-material that can be made in the kitchen by Miklos Bolza for Lab Down Under.
• December’s total solar eclipse as seen from space by Leslie Nemo for Scientific American.
• Supercomputer simulations reveal the power inside a supernova by Thomas Lewton for Quanta magazine.
• Showing up by Biochembelle at Ever on and on.
• Biggest, youngest black hole ever shocks astronomers by Ethan Siegel at Starts With A Bang.
• Transdisciplinary research: Pain or Gain? by Philip Nebe for Elephant in the Lab.

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How has chemistry helped to fight the coronavirus? What damage can even moderate alcohol consumption do to your brain? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Jan 11 - Jan 17 2021 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

Roll up, roll up, for another edition of the week's best from the world of science news. In this installment, read about those cute little mastodon babies and why being the biggest shark in the ocean doesn't mean you don't need a nursery. Also this week, read about the world's first artificial beating heart, and what it could mean for transplant patients of the future.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?

• #ChemVsCOVID: Highlighting how science has helped fight COVID-19 by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.

Scientists have been instrumental in genotyping COVID-19 and developing a vaccine.
Credit: Andy Brunning via Compound Interest (CC BY ND)

• Even if you don’t drink daily, alcohol can mess with your brain by Emma Yasinski for Discover Magazine.
• Mass General and MIT researchers collaborate to create the first “beating” biorobotic hybrid heart by Bench Press, a Mass General Research Institute blog.
• Podcast: The heart of invention by Adam Levy for Knowable magazine.
• Researchers visualize quadruple-helix DNA in living human cells by Sci-News.com.
• Scientists discover a gene for scarless skin regeneration by Sree Rama Chaitanya for Massive Science.
• 2020 was one of the hottest years on record by Eric Niiler for Wired.
• Even megalodon babies needed nurseries to survive by Sara Zlotnik for Massive Science.
• Three reasons for the red pen by Stephen Heard at Scientist Sees Squirrel.
• Kepler finds a forgotten planet in a triple-Star system by Raisy Newbiga at The Nerd Stuff.
• The mind-expanding power of complementarity by Frank Wilczek for Scientific American.
• Three's a Crowd: Triple galaxy collisions and their impact on black hole accretion by Adi Foord for Chandra X-ray Observatory.
• The ISHI Report August 2020 - Framework for testing unidentified remains by Dr. David Mittelman and Michael Vogen for The ISHI Report.
• Camelids for COVID by Vincent Racaniello at Virology Blog.
• Could the overview effect calm political polarization? by Aditi Sharma for Sciworthy.

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Check back next week for more great picks!

What would Earth look like to alien astronomers? How will coronavirus vaccines cope with the new strains? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Jan 04 - Jan 10 2021 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

Welcome to this week's cream-of the-crop from the world of science news! In our picks for this week, learn all about the giant fanged birds that once ruled the sky, and learn how 2020 was the hottest year on record, but a great year for progress in green energy in cities. 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?

• What would Earth look like to alien astronomers? by Nathaniel Scharping for Discover magazine.

“What if there were intelligent beings on another planet? And if they were looking at the Earth, which of those star systems could they be living in that would enable them to see Earth?”
Image Credit: Kevin Gill via Flickr. 

• Say goodbye to 2020 with the year’s top 10 Hubble photos by Ethan Siegel at Starts with a Bang.
• Designing an airplane that can fly on Mars! by Giulia Carla Bassani for Sciworthy.
• How fast can scientists find the new coronavirus strains? by Megan Molteni for Wired.
• COVID-19 is setting back the lives and careers of young scientists by Francesco Zangari for Massive Science.
• Viral mutations may cause another ‘very, very bad’ COVID-19 wave, scientists warn by Kai Kupferschmidt for Science.
• Variants and vaccines by Derek Lowe at Science Translational Medicine.
• A crash course on RNA vaccines by Gertrude. U. Ray for the Virology Blog.
• Cat-agorizing cat owners to reduce environmental harm caused by domestic house cats by Brianne Palmer for Envirobites.
• Smoke pollution disrupts the flight of painted lady butterflies by Adithi Ramakrishnan for Massive Science.
• Researchers discover new state of matter: Liquid glass by Sci-News.com.
• Climate change: 2020 was the joint hottest year on record by Adam Vaughan for New Scientist.
• States and cities are driving climate and clean energy progress by Kit Kennedy for NRDC.
• Podcast: The double standard by Shankar Vedantam and Emily Pronin for The Hidden Brain.
• Podcast: Giant, toothed birds once ruled the skies by Christie Taylor and Peter Kloess for Science Friday.
• New psychology research suggests “deep acting” can reduce fatigue and improve your work life by Eric W. Dolan for Psypost.
• Neuroimaging study sheds light on how to clear thoughts from your brain’s working memory system by Eric W. Dolan for Psypost.
• Un-consciousness by Donovan Cronkhite for NeuWrite San Diego.
• Succinate is the key to muscle communication during exercise by Sree Rama Chaitanya for Massive Science.
• Scientists Observe Cells Responding To Magnetic Fields For First Time by David Bressan for Forbes.
• Body clocks and light levels: some plants just aren’t morning people by Katie Pickup for EuSci.

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What are vaccine developers' takes on the new coronavirus strain? How do the Oxford and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines work? Find out in ScienceSeeker's picks of the best posts for the week of Dec 28 2020 - Jan 03 2021 #SciSeekPicks #SciComm.

We're ringing in the new year with the first picks from the new (and hopefully less cartoonishly dreadful) 2021. Read a rundown of the good news about the environment from 2020 and explore the weird world of slime moulds, and how they're helping to map the cosmic web. 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 does the Oxford and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine work? by Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.

It’s not a “get out of jail free” card for the current wave of COVID-19 cases, and the weeks and months ahead will still be incredibly challenging, but it will hopefully help blunt COVID’s threat later in 2021.
Image and text credit: Andy Brunning at Compound Interest.

• COVID-19 vaccine developers respond to new strain by Lucy Parsons for PMLive.
• Some Covid survivors haunted by loss of smell and taste by Roni Caryn Rabin for The New York Times.
• Sir Isaac Newton: The scientist born on Christmas day (or was he?) by Mikael Angelo Francisco for Flip Science.
• Can two snowflakes be exactly the same? by Mikael Angelo Francisco for Flip Science.
• This frog was once named after Dr. Jose Rizal by Mikael Angelo Francisco for Flip Science.
• Ozone in the air is bad for birds by Carla Germani for Massive Science.
• Top positive environmental stories from 2020 by Liz Kimbrough for Mongabay.
• Surviving a PhD defence at the end of the world (aka at the end of 2020) by Alex Fitzpatrick at Animal Archaeology.
• How to fortify your (and your kids’) screen time with a dose of physics by Rebecca and Chrystian Vieyra at Physics Central.
• Astronomers detect large-scale X-ray bubbles in Milky Way’s halo by Sci-News.com.
• How the humble slime mold helped physicists map the cosmic web by Jennifer Ouelette for Ars Technica.
• How to make artificial intelligence more democratic by Ryan Khurana for Scientific American.
• What's going on with nanomedicine? by Michael Berger for Nanowerk.
• Flexible hybrid sensor systems with feedback functions by Mika Kontiainen for Edinburgh University Science Magazine.
• Has 2020 ended as the warmest year on record? by Tom Yulsman for Discover magazine.
• Stem cells seed a new thymus, clinical hope? by Dr. Ricki Lewis and Dr. Paul Knoepfler for The Niche.

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.

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Scientists and engineers in UK and Ireland can enter a £600 writing prize for free

If you are a scientist or engineer who writes regularly about your subject, how can you know if you’re doing well? If you’re located in the UK and Ireland, or write for people based there, you can now enter your work for recognition by the Association of British Science Writers (ABSW).

As well as validation, The Dr Katharine Giles Award for best popular article written by a scientist or engineer comes with a £600 prize and media skills training. Dr Katharine Giles was a Lecturer at University College London who carried out ground-breaking research on sea ice, ocean circulation and wind patterns. She was also a passionate science communicator. Dr Giles was tragically killed in a cycling accident in 2013. The award is funded by the Dr Katharine Giles Fund, overseen by her mother, Dorrie.

This award is organised in association with stempra, the membership network for science PR and communications professionals, and is for a specific article aimed at a general audience. Entry for this award opens on January 4 2021, closes at 23:59 on February 1, and is free to all. Full guidelines are available at this page.

However this is just one of many awards the ABSW runs – see the full list here. You can enter up to three categories – however entry in the other awards either costs £55, or is free if you are an ABSW member. If you are any form of student who does science writing you may be able to join the ABSW for just £20 – click here for more details. 

Good luck to all who enter!