Science

It's Okay to be Smart (www.itsokaytobesmart.com)

A PhD biologist and science writer. He also hosts PBS's "It's Okay to be Smart" PBS series. In this blog, he examines all aspects of life through a scientific lens.

• Where Did Life Come From?I just realized how long it’s been...
• What Is Luck?Is luck real? Sometimes it might feel like there’s...
• itsokaytobesmart: Seer of SeersSage of Sages Prognosticator of...
• How LEGO Helps Blind People SeeI’ve been a LEGO maniac...
• What happens to a video after it gets uploaded to...
• Meet the Donald Trump caterpillar!I took a trip to the Peruvian...
• This protoplasm was apparently predicting the state of the world...
• I’ve got a NEW VIDEO up on It’s Okay To Be Smart!Why do more...

Smithsonian (www.si.edu)

The gold standard in scientific news and education.

• The Double Life of a California Socialite Who Became a Leading Arctic Explorer
• How NASA's Opportunity Rover Made Mars Part of Earth
• How 18th-Century Writers Created the Genre of Popular Science
• How a Love of Flowers Helped Charles Darwin Validate Natural Selection
• Checking in on the Health and Vigor of the Chesapeake Bay
• Europe’s Megalithic Monuments Originated in France and Spread by Sea Routes, New Study Suggests
• The Reason These Poisonous Butterflies Don't Mate Is Written in Their DNA
• Artificial Intelligence Study of Human Genome Finds Unknown Human Ancestor

Science Blogs (scienceblogs.com)

Compiles over 60 science bloggers. It covers a huge variety of scientific issues from different, brillaint perspectives.

• Torturing more mice in the name of antivaccine pseudoscience, 2017 aluminum edition
• NASA team provides free satellite public health data to researchers and communities
• There's no place like home (for now)

Institute of Physics (www.iopblog.org)

Official blog of the institute of physics; don't expect any frills here, just a discussion of physics from a very professional perspective.

• Teaching physics: The practical aspect really appealed to me
• Teaching physics: I love teaching the KS3 light topic
• Remembering Uschi Steigenberger
• IOP at Science and the Parliament 2018
• Teaching physics: spending my days talking about a subject I love

Reddit Science (www.reddit.com)

Redditors share scientific stories, the latest research, and to discuss it all.

• A radioactive metal may stifle the formation of water worlds
• Drinking two or more diet beverages a day linked to high risk of stroke, heart attacks
• Neural tissue engineering advances enabled by a new class of biomaterials, introducing chemically induced phase separation as a way to form macroporous hydrogels after injection and in the presence of living cells
• Study finds fossil fuels are main source of carbon in the Arctic. Five years of testing at sites across the Arctic tracked seasonal fluctuations and sources of black carbon, or soot, which contributes to global warming and ice melt.
• Refugees who receive higher cash sums when they are resettled in the US go on to have better labor market outcomes (higher wages), in particular among the most highly educated refugees. This suggests that refugees benefit from additional liquidity while they find a suitable job match.
• Service dogs can have measurable positive effects on the health and wellbeing of individuals with physical disabilities, including better emotional, social, and work/school functioning, finds a new study (n=157).
• Scientists have discovered a new technique can turn plastic waste into energy-dense fuel. To achieve this they have converting more than 90 percent of polyolefin waste — the polymer behind widely used plastic polyethylene — into high-quality gasoline or diesel-like fuel
• Machine learning 'causing science crisis'

Retractiion Watch (retractionwatch.com)

Publishes news of scientific journal retractions. The goal is to keep scientific journalists improving.

• Weekend reads: Article retracted because of “racial characterizations;” India’s high retraction rate; meet the fraud finder
• Legal threats once again force corrections over a scale measuring medication usage
• A reviewer stole a manuscript and published it himself. But you wouldn’t know it from this retraction notice.
• Do the humanities need a replication drive? A debate rages on
• University of Texas lacks authority to revoke PhDs, judge rules
• Is it time for a new research integrity board in the U.S.?
• Weekend reads: A call for 400 retractions of papers on organ donors; “citation mania;” AAAS reassessing award for work on herbicide
• Chem journal yanks paper because authors had stolen it as peer reviewers

Mind Hacks (mindhacks.com)

Run by a neuroscientist and a cognitive scientist, and they definitely have fun in this blog about the mind.

• The Choice Engine
• After the methods crisis, the theory crisis
• Open Science Essentials: Preprints
• Believing everyone else is wrong is a danger sign
• Review: John Bargh’s “Before You Know It”
• Did the Victorians have faster reactions?
• spaced repetition & Darwin’s golden rule
• A graph that is made by perceiving it

The Loom (phenomena.nationalgeographic.com)

Carl ZImmer, contributer to New York Times and National Geographic runs this blog, which covers a variety of scientific issues.

• The map that popularized the word ‘gerrymander’
• Watch What Happens When Scavengers Find a Several-Ton Carcass
• Gorgeous Panoramic Paintings of National Parks Now Online
• Delusions of Infestation Aren't as Rare as You'd Think
• Explore Historic Mount Everest Expeditions Through National Geographic Maps
• Explore 100 Years of National Geographic Pull-Out Maps
• Discover Fascinating Vintage Maps From National Geographic's Archives
• How an Obscure Religious Sect Mapped the Cosmos

Science Daily (www.sciencedaily.com)

Offers regular updates on scientific research. Besides traditional scientific topics, they also have a fun "quirks" page that looks at the quirkier science news.

• How to feed the world by 2050? Recent breakthrough boosts plant growth by 40 percent
• Drinking contexts associated with early onset of alcohol intoxication among adolescents
• Engineered metasurfaces reflect waves in unusual directions
• PET/CT imaging agent shows promise for better diagnosis of acute venous thromboembolism
• Push-up capacity linked with lower incidence of cardiovascular disease events among men
• How do we conserve and restore computer-based art in a changing technological environment?
• Graphene-based wearables for health monitoring, food inspection and night vision
• Genetic vulnerability to menthol cigarette use

Last Word on Nothing (www.lastwordonnothing.com)

It Began as a project among many scientists to write stories. Their work covers both sciecne and the art of science writing.

• Desert-Googling
• This Valentines Day, say it with grubs
• In the Primitive Garden
• The Fraud Finder: A conversation with Elisabeth Bik
• The Abominable Mystery
• Scuba Diving: I Finally Get It
• Colder than Antarctica?
• Redux: Baby Steps with Baby Words

Thirty-Seven (thirtyseven.scientopia.org)

Run by Raychelle Burks, Thirty Seven examines crime, chemistry, and culture.

• I created the DIY Science Zone™ in 2013. Where is the #DIYscizone going next?
• UPDATED! My adventures in green screen sci-comm
• Cracked chemical mysteries for #NationalChemistryWeek!
• Why I love @GeekGirlCon's #DIYscizone
• Have I got a #chemistry story for you!
• Back to school: Ally Edition
• What I'm up to at #CVG2015
• Google autofill: Are chemists...?

PLOS Blogs (blogs.plos.org)

Brings together staff writers and independent writers to cover a diverse array of science issues.

• CSI Tromsø: Where Forensics meets Vikings
• PLOS Update
• Gordon Research Conference on Craniofacial Morphogenesis and Tissue Regeneration (February 11 – 16, 2018): Licia Selleri & Ophir Klein
• The Nexus of Data and Community: How Partnership Can Close Achievement Gaps
• Conflicts didn’t kill me, but made me stronger
• The Unitary Fund: a no-strings attached grant program for Open Source quantum computing
• “We need to commit to and invest in the changes we seek”: Insights from the MSF Scientific Research Day
• Meet our Editor-in-Chief at #ACSBOSTON in August | Booth 712

Science Mag (www.sciencemag.org)

Keeps you up to date on the latest science news.

• New app reveals the hidden landscapes within Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings
• The winner of this year’s ‘Dance Your Ph.D.’ contest turned physics into art
• Reality check: Can cat poop cause mental illness?
• Germany’s wolves are on the rise thanks to a surprising ally: the military
• Major medical journals don’t follow their own rules for reporting results from clinical trials
• Top stories: The origins of Stonehenge, a #MeTooSTEM leader, and a new crater under Greenland’s ice
• Update: U.S. science agencies see gains in final 2019 spending bills
• Researchers hung men on a cross and added blood in bid to prove Turin Shroud is real

Discover Magazine (discovermagazine.com)

Brings you news and features on all things science.

• Pumped Milk Gives Infants Different Bacteria Than Breastfeeding, Study Says
• NASA Wants to Return to the Moon as Early as This Year
• Climate Change Hearings Signal Congress Is Willing to Address the Issue Again
• Researchers Create 'Rat Cyborgs' That People Control With Their Minds
• Citizen Science Day 2019: Add Real Scientific Research to Your Library Programming!
• Just in time for Valentine's Day, the ocean and atmosphere have coupled — giving birth to a weakling El Niño
• New citizen science tools database to discover and access the right instruments
• Mice Deprived of 'Love Hormone' Oxytocin Sit Alone in the Cold