Komodo dragons and five other new articles

Well, it's Monday morning and most of the East Coast is embroiled in Frankenstorm Sandy. Or at least, I presume they are. I'm typing this up on Sunday afternoon in anticipation of Monday-morning posting.

So, if you haven't lost power and found yourself under a foot and a half of water, here are this week's six new articles for Scientific American and Mother Nature Network. (If you are without power, well then, that's the big problem with online publishing, innit?)

Female Komodo Dragons Die Young, Housework to Blame

Habitat Loss, Misinformation Spur Chimpanzee Aggression

Amtrak promises high-speed trains in Midwest after successful test run

Who goes there? Rare Yosemite owls studied via sound

Smoking apps promote cigarettes to kids, say researchers

Doctor-assisted suicide goes to ballot in Massachusetts

For all I know, I'll be without power myself before too long. That's why I spent all weekend working away, making sure that several assignments were awaiting my editors in their in-boxes on Monday morning. Of course, now I have to hope that they have power, too.

This is all climate change's fault, of course, which is why I keep writing about environmental stuff.

Anyway, more next week...

Rhino poaching, Apple controversy and Russia's bad smoking habit

Wow, after last week's long list of publications, this week's five new articles almost feels like a letdown. But all of these articles attracted huge numbers of readers, generated discussion and had an impact. For a journalist, things don't get much better than that.

So, first up in this week's link parade are my two Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American:

Rhino Poaching: An Extinction Crisis

Cost to Prevent All Future Extinctions: $11 per Person?

The "cost to prevent" article was also reprinted by Mother Jones.


The rest of this week's articles all appeared at Mother Nature Network, where my editor always finds a wide range of topics for me to cover:

Panda: It's what used to be for dinner in prehistoric China?

New Apple MacBook gets EPEAT Gold certification, but critics cry foul

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev vows smoking ban by 2015


That's it for this week, but I already have at least seven new articles in various stages of completion and lots more on the horizon. So stay tuned, there's lots more ahead.

Rediscovered species, Engineering careers, Ocean crusaders, French weirdness and more

Wow. It's almost hard to believe how many articles I published last week. This was one of those weeks when working on a combination of breaking news stories and features resulted in a whole bunch of stories coming out at the same time.

Meanwhile, readership on all of this articles was way above average. It helps when the world gives you interesting stories to tell!

So without further ado, here are this week's articles, starting with my two Extinction Countdown posts for Scientific American:

Solenodon: ‘Extinct’ Venomous Mammal Rediscovered in Cuba after 10-Year Search

(This was also reprinted by the Huffington Post.)

Last Wild Siamese Crocodile in Vietnam Found Strangled to Death


Two long-in-the-works engineer-related features came out this week, the first of which appeared in the IEEE publication, The Institute:

IEEE Trains Preuniversity Teachers in India 

...and the second of which appeared in IEEE-USA's Today's Engineer:

Career Focus: Defense Industry STEM Jobs


Wrapping it up, here are this week's articles for Mother Nature Network, a mix of interesting environmental and science stories:

Plastic power: Aviator plans intercontinental trip using plastics for fuel

Scientists dash hopes for dinosaur cloning

Why are French bees producing blue and green honey?

TerraMar Project launches to celebrate and protect the world's oceans

New Mexico and other states face a new crime trend: Grass thefts

Ketamine could rapidly treat depression, study finds


Well, that's it for this time around. I'm sure this coming week won't be quite so publication-heavy, but I'm working on a huge batch of new articles that will probably all see publication in one big clump again some time in the next month. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes.

Life-saving dung, MacArthur geniuses and other goodies

Happy Monday! It's time for my weekly compendium of the previous week's articles. Just in time for you to delay the start of your work week!

Last week brought five new articles, plus one reprint. Let's start, as I usually do, with my Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American:


Italy Faces Invasion of American Killer Squirrels

Dung from Critically Endangered Kakapo Parrots Could Save Endangered Plant

In addition, my recent Extinction Countdown article on Conservation Drones was reprinted by Mother Jones.


Mother Nature Network had my write about a few innovators this week, including two geniuses and one, um...

Innovative astronomer Olivier Guyon named a 2012 MacArthur 'genius' fellow

Marine ecologist Nancy Rabalais receives $500,000 MacArthur 'genius' grant

'Algae Opera': Singer grows edible algae with her breath


I have a bunch of new long-in-the-works articles pending publication this month -- maybe even this week -- so stay tuned to my Twitter feed for announcements as they go live.

Conservation drones, an amazing fish, and methane surprises

September's close brought a bunch of new articles by me, and tons of deadlines to finish up work that will be appearing over the coming weeks and months. Here are this week's links...

It was unofficially "primate week" for my Extinction Countdown blog at Scientific American:

Eye in the Sky: Drones Help Conserve Sumatran Orangutans and Other Wildlife

Guerrilla Marketing to Save Mountain Gorillas: Renewable Energy to the Rescue


Most of my publications this week were for Mother Nature Network, which had me writing about all kinds of interesting topics:

Amazing underwater 'crop circles' spun by Japanese puffer fish

Algae clogs newly renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in D.C.

Carmageddon 2 looms over Los Angeles this weekend

What is methane and why should you care?

6 surprising sources of methane

Bicycle commuting: How does your state (and gender) compare? 


And that's it for this time around. There's lots more coming, so stay tuned!