Robotics careers, dog stories, a milestone and more

What a week. I published my 350th Extinction Countdown article over at Scientific American (and I'm fast approaching my 1,000th article about endangered species). Several long-in-the-works features appeared. I wrote about dogs. A lot. And I started several new assignments that will keep me busy for the next month or so.

Oh, and I found out that a short comic-book script that I sold way back in 2006 is actually moving forward and could be out this summer.

More on that when I'm allowed to release the details. For now, here are this week's articles, starting with my two Extinction articles for SciAm:

Artificial Beaks Helping to Save Hornbills from Extinction in India [In addition to being my 350th article for SciAm, this was also reprinted by the Huffington Post.]

Critically Endangered Cross River Gorillas May Have More Room to Grow


On a completely different topic, here's my latest technology careers feature for Today's Engineer:

Career Focus: The Real Steel -- Robotics Careers Ready to Boom


Sticking with technology for a moment, I'm writing for IEEE's The Institute again. Here's my first of two new features that will appear this month:

IEEE Fellows Made Their Mark on Industry


Back to the enviro/animal side. Mother Nature Network kept me busy this week, mostly writing about the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. These were some of the most popular stories on the site all week long:

Canines from around the country heading to Westminster dog show

Four breeds that have never won the Westminster dog show

Meet the six new breeds in the 2012 Westminster dog show

Lawsuit takes aim at artist Christo's 'Over the River' project


And finally, here are two new blog posts for Green Hands USA:

Which Magazines Use the Greenest Paper?

Free App Turns Empty Cars into Rideshares


I'm already deep into writing this week's articles. Stay tuned for details!

Flightless parrots, Alaskan weirdness, and lots of turtles

Here they are, last week's 10 new articles.

First up, two new pieces for my Extinction Countdown blog for Scientific American:

Accidental Kakapo Death Lowers Population of Rare, Flightless Parrots to 127 Birds

Satellites to Track Rare Royal Turtle in Cambodia [Video]


Next up, the usual collection of news items (at least one of them rather odd) for Mother Nature Network:

Alaska proposes federal takeover of NYC's Central Park

CDC issues new warning about salmonella from pet turtles

Causes founder Joe Green doesn't regret not helping Mark Zuckerberg launch Facebook

Brazilian Blowout hair treatment ruled carcinogenic


And finally, several short blog posts for Green Hands USA:

Which Global Companies Are Greenest?

Black Warrior Riverkeepers Talk About Alabama Coal Ash

Journey North: Free Program Teaches Kids About Migration

Newark Delaware Seeks Sustainability


This coming week should see three new tech-oriented feature articles that have been pending for a while. Meanwhile, I'll be diving into seven new features and a boatload of other articles. It's going to be a busy month!

Slow Loris Debate, Magnetic Soap and more

Wow, I didn't realize how many of my headlines this week ended with a question mark until I saw them all at once. Maybe this week I'll try to work in some exclamation points.

Anyway, here are this week's articles...

First up, two very popular posts for Scientific American:

Should YouTube Ban Videos of the Adorable but Endangered Slow Loris?

Can Stem Cells Help Save Snow Leopards from Extinction?


This week's Mother Nature Network articles covered a pretty wide range of topics:

Another graphene miracle: It can distill booze

Frugal woman leaves $1.7 million to Salvation Army

Magnetic soap: New tool for oil spill cleanup?


And finally, here are several short items for Green Hands USA:

Cahaba River Society Endorses Ecosystem-Saving Car Tag

Free App Helps You Choose Healthy, Responsible Goods

Peoria Commits to Sustainability

Students Inspire Middlebury College to Go Solar

I turned in several new features last week, and will be turning in a few more this week, so expect a lot of interesting stuff in February.

Don't wait, read last week's articles...

What a week! Lots of great new articles went online, and one of them resulted in my being the expert on Saturday's "Bluff the Listener" segment on NPR's "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me." The host pronounced my last name wrong (sigh), but it was still pretty cool to be invited. You can listen to the segment online here.

(Which article was it? Well, in the spirit of the show, I'll let you guess from the list below.)

So about this week's articles... of course, there were my usual two Extinction Countdown columns for Scientific American:

Nearly Extinct Primate Rediscovered in Borneo [Video]

Manta Rays Endangered by Sudden Demand from Chinese Medicine


Mother Nature Network, as usual, gave me a great range of fun stories to write about this week:

South African weather bill creates a storm of controversy

Mourning the loss of 'The Senator,' a 3,500-year-old tree

Golden Globes winner Peter Dinklage calls attention to dwarf-tossing

Flesh-eating disease can be caused by illegal 'bath salts' drug


And finally, here's a short blog post for Green Hands USA:

Is Your Toilet Paper Killing Tigers?

That's it for this time around! I'm working on all kinds of cool things for the days ahead, so stay tuned for the latest links!

Apps for apes, killer crayfish, and fun careers

The second week of the year brought eight new articles from my keyboard to your eyeballs.

First up, this week's two Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American were quite popular:

Apps for Apes: Engaging Orangutans with iPads

(You can read all of my stories about orangutans here.)

Disease-Carrying Virile American Crayfish Invade U.K. Rivers

(I've been covering the UK crayfish plague since 2009. Here are all my stories on this invasive species nightmare.)

A reminder - you can get my Extinction Countdown articles via RSS here.


I covered a variety of environmental topics for Mother Nature Network this week:

EPA releases map of top greenhouse gas emitters in U.S.

Google can help predict flu outbreaks

'60 Minutes' exposes the dark side of the truffle trade


My latest article for Today's Engineer covered how some engineers find jobs in other professions:

Career Focus: Non-Engineering Careers for Engineers


And finally, here are two blog posts for Green Hands USA:

Help Scientists by Taking Photos of Your Local Wildlife

American University Students "Do It in the Dark" to Save Energy


I'm working on a ton of cool new articles for the coming week and beyond. Follow me on Twitter for links as they go live.

First articles of 2012 - Elephants, Vultures and Buildings

2012 is off to a great start -- aside from this persistent cough that's been plaguing me for the past three weeks. But coughing doesn't affect my typing ability, so there were still several new articles of mine published last week.

First up, both of this week's Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American covered elephants, a perpetually interesting topic. I'm always amazed that I'm still writing about the illegal trade in ivory more than 22 years since it was banned.

Poaching and Ivory Smuggling at Record Highs in 2011

Unchained: Indian Elephant Rehab Center to Be a Model for Rescued Zoo Animals

(That second article was also reprinted by the Huffington Post.)


Here's a weird news item for Mother Nature Network. My editor there always digs up the coolest things for me to write:

Hundreds of vultures invade Georgia neighborhood


Here's a brief "green living" blog post for Green Hands USA:

Which Big-Box Retailers Are the Greenest?

And finally, I have a new feature in the January 2012 issue of Lion magazine, the publication of Lions Clubs International. Inspired by my own Lions Club, I interviewed club members around the country (and around the world) who also own clubhouses to come up with some best practices for a non-profit maintaining their own building. The entire issue is online here.

Last articles of 2011

It's 2012, and I'm already deep into writing the first of my articles that will appear this year. But today you get one last list of links from articles I published in 2011.

Being a short week, there weren't many of them, but they were good ones. Here they are:

Lions vs. Cattle: Taste Aversion Could Solve African Predator Problem

'Poop to power' program turns pig manure into sustainable energy

'Cheetah' the chimp, Tarzan co-star, dead at age 80

PandaGate: BBC names a panda one of its 12 most interesting women of the year

I hope your New Year is off to a healthy and fun start and that good things are coming your way!