Cloning Extinct Species, Stolen Apes, Food Sovereignty and lots, lots more

What a week! I covered more than my usual number of endangered species stories, saw a long-in-the-works story appear, and touched upon some other odd and unusual topics.

First up, this week's two Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American, which covered some really interesting subjects and created all kinds of interesting online discussions:

De-Extinction: Can Cloning Bring Extinct Species Back to Life?

(This was also reprinted over at Salon.)

Great Apes in Crisis: Thousands Poached and Stolen from the Wild Annually


Next up, my third article for Conservation magazine, a great piece about a really innovative idea for protecting both wildlife and habitat:

Pay It Forward - Wildlife premiums incentivize conservation in rural communities


I'm going to break this week's stories for Mother Nature Network into a few different subsections, starting with, yes, two more articles about endangered species:

Proposal to ban trade in polar bear parts fails at international wildlife conference

Fitness guru Tony Little lends his name to a critically endangered gazelle


My next MNN article is a great profile of a really inspirational leader:

Why Winona LaDuke is fighting for food sovereignty


And finally this week, here are a bit batch of other articles for MNN:

Politician apologizes for saying bike riders pollute the environment

Keep America Beautiful goes social for annual Great American Cleanup event

Warren Buffet's BNSF to test natural gas-powered trains

TSA to start allowing small knives on planes

Static may have caused Hindenburg disaster


This coming week will bring my latest careers article for Today's Engineer plus a whole bunch more. Follow me on Twitter for links as they go live!

From the Archives: Editorial Cartoonist Uses Actual BP Oil to Draw Cartoons About BP Oil Spill

I just found out that one of my old publishers, Tonic.com, is in some sort of a transition period. Right now, the site says "we'll be back soon." I'm not sure what's happening on that front, but anyway, this was a good opportunity to dip into my Tonic archives. Here's one of my favorite short articles from my last few months there:

Editorial Cartoonist Uses Actual BP Oil to Draw Cartoons About BP Oil Spill

By John R. Platt | Monday, July 26, 2010

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Steve Breen turned his outrage into art.

As a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist, Steve Breen of The San Diego Union-Tribune is used to commenting on the issues of the day. That's his job, after all. But when it came to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, just drawing a cartoon wasn't enough.

So Breen hopped on a plane over the Fourth of July weekend. He flew from San Diego to New Orleans, then drove to Florida's Santa Rosa Island, where he spent the weekend collecting tar balls off the ocean beaches.

But Breen wasn't done yet. He took some of the gobs of oil home with him. Back at his art desk, he thinned the oil with gasoline, then used it as the ink in several new cartoons about the BP oil spill. In addition to criticizing BP itself, Breen's cartoons tackle America's addiction to oil and the lax regulation that allowed the accident to happen in the first place.

"I wanted to channel that outrage in a unique way," Breen told the Associated Press. "Since I'm in the powerful image business, I came up with the oil idea."

The cartoons use a mix of black India ink with spot color (brown, really) from the oil and gasoline. The results are powerful, unforgettable images.

"I was surprised by how well it turned out," Breen told the publishing industry magazine Editor & Publisher "because I just wasn’t sure I’d be able to work with the oil."

You can see Breen's BP cartoons, along with his other work, on the Creators Syndicate website.

(Afterword: I didn't get a chance to interview Breen for this piece, but I did exchange emails with him several times immediately after. Great cartoonist, great guy.)

Elephant ecosystems, helping the blind, climate vs. weather (and lots more)

Who says 13 is an unlucky number? I've got a baker's dozen worth of new articles to share with you today, and I find myself incredibly lucky to have been able to write them.

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

What Happens When Forest Elephants Are Wiped Out in an Ecosystem?

Tragedy in New Zealand: Dozens of Critically Endangered Birds Dead, Cause Unknown

In addition to those two, a version of my previous article about drones protecting rhinos appears in the March 2013 issue of the print edition of Scientific American. Check it out on newsstands now.


Next up, one of my favorite articles of the year, my latest inspiring feature for Lion magazine. (This also includes three of my photos.)

The Iris Network: Maine's Lifeline for the Visually Impaired

And now, a whole bunch of articles for Mother Nature Network, which has been keeping me busy writing about all kinds of environmental and science stories. The first one is a great profile of a young businessman making a difference:

Jonas Falk earns a healthy profit helping school kids eat well

Weather forecasters and climate science have a stormy relationship

Students solve water woes by mimicking nature

Nobel Prize belonging to late DNA pioneer Francis Crick goes on the auction block

Poisoned mice to be dropped on Guam to kill invasive snakes

An egg that monitors air quality goes online around the world

'Inocente' becomes first Kickstarter-backed movie to win on Oscar night

New online guide ranks water filter systems

Sahara dust linked to rain and snow in California


That's it this time around -- which is good, because 14 would just be too many. I have a ton more in the pipeline, so follow me on Twitter for links as they happen. 

See you next week!

Slain wolves, electric bees, fireballs and extinct species

Howdy folks. I'm wrist-deep in the writing of several new features that are due before the end of the month (damn you, four-week February!), but I wanted to take a few moments to share last week's stories, which were fun, sad, interesting and inspiring.

First up, my two Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American. I took a different approach than usual with the first one and it paid off in terms of both readership and number of comments. I plan on mixing a few things up with this blog in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for some really good upcoming articles:

4 Extinct Species That People Still Hope to Rediscover

$2,500 Reward Offered after Critically Endangered Red Wolf Killed in North Carolina


Next up, a big batch of stories for Mother Nature Network, which doesn't even include the three or four stories I already have queued up to publish at some point this week:

Bees get a buzz out of electricity from flowers

Bette Midler's New York Restoration Project aims to plant one million new trees by 2017

Be a disease detective: Solve outbreaks with new CDC iPad app

More meteors create fireballs over Cuba, Florida and California

Supreme Court to hear soybean farmer's case against Monsanto


This coming week should bring a whole bunch of new stories, including (maybe) some tales that have been pending publication for some time now. Make sure to follow me on Twitter for the latest links as they go live, or stop back here next Monday for the full list.

Oh, before you go, here's an article I didn't write, but it's about me and my work writing about endangered species. Check it out.

Bigfoot. Nuff said.

What was my most-read article of the week? I'll give you one guess:

Bigfoot evidence 'conclusive,' says scientifically dubious study

That was just one of this week's articles for Mother Nature Network. Here are the rest:

Texas and California battle over jobs, carbon dioxide emissions

Another Heart Attack Grill spokesperson dies ... of a heart attack

Bill Gates discusses polio, climate change and Steve Jobs during Reddit AMA


My other articles this week were for my Extinction Countdown blog over at Scientific American:

Whale Sharks in the News: Citizen Science, Migration Revelations and High Fashion

Giant Pandas at Risk from New Chinese Forestry Policies


There's lots, lots, lots more in the queue, including at least ten features that are pending publication. But alas, none of them are about Bigfoot. I may need to remedy that situation.

More next week!

Pygmy elephants, extinct moths, software careers and fracking

Hey there, my Monday morning readers! Did you survive the blizzard named Nemo? I'm putting this in the queue on Saturday morning, just in case I don't make it through the storm. Hey, with this country's infrastructure, it pays to be prepared.

Anyway, let's get to this week's article links! It was a pretty good week, with some interesting news items and the publication of two long-in-the-works features. I'll start, as I usually do, with this week's two Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American:

Was Palm Oil to Blame for the Poisoning of 14 Pygmy Elephants?

3 British Moths Extinct; Most Other Species in Decline


Next up, my latest technology careers article for IEEE-USA's Today's Engineer. I really enjoyed working on this one and interviewed some incredibly cool folks:

Software Engineering Careers Continue to Boom


Sticking with technology, here's another feature for another IEEE publication, The Institute, about inspirational museums:

IEEE Launches Exhibits Program for Science Museums

And finally, here are this week's eco/tech news items for Mother Nature Network:

Fracking waste: Is it safe to ship by barge?

Poll reveals more Americans believe in climate change

Earthworms may play a role in climate change

Copper computer keyboards could reduce hospital infections


In other news, I have happily joined founding editors Rod Heather and Sean O'Leary as the third editor on Lore, a twice-annual anthology of "weird fiction." It's going to be a blast.

That's it for this time around. I've got about a dozen more features on my plate right now, and lots of other new stuff pending. Follow me on Twitter for links as they happen or come back here next Monday for another link list!

Beer, Penguins and Climate

The last week of January brought fewer articles than the week before, but that's okay: I'm already working on at least 10 new articles.

Let's start the link list with my two Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American, including my most popular article of the week:

New Zealand Farmer Helps Save Rare Penguins from Extinction

Yaks Are Returning to Tibet, but Does Climate Change Pose Further Risks?

In addition, my older articles got a boost from an unexpected source: Cracked.com. That was worth a smile or two.

 Next up, a few new articles for Mother Nature Network, including one article that horrified everyone who read it:

Fracking vs. beer: Does natural gas exploration threaten America's breweries?

RinkWatch: How backyard skaters are monitoring climate change

Bill Gates calls on Europe to fight hunger, despite economic crisis


This coming week should bring two new Extinction Countdown articles, several pieces for MNN, and, if we're lucky, a couple of new technology features. Follow me on Twitter for the latest links as they happen.