Mayhem Week: Diseases, Poisonings, Thefts and More

Wow, this week's articles took a bit of a dark turn...

First up, my "Extinction Countdown" articles for Scientific American, the first of which has been covered by no one else:

Typhoid Monkey: Can Social Networks Predict the Apes Most Likely to Transmit Disease?

From Saved to Stolen: Thief Absconds with Extinct-in-the-Wild Water Lily

Sunday Species Snapshot: Gulf Coast Jaguarundi


Next up, a bunch of news/science articles for Mother Nature Network:

Winner of $350,000 black rhino hunting auction goes public, now finds himself hunted

Did wine made from this poisonous flower kill Alexander the Great?

Darwin was right: Island life makes animals more relaxed

Molecular chlorine found at high levels in Arctic atmosphere

Ice-covered valley, bigger than the Grand Canyon, found hidden under Antarctica


And finally this week, here's my latest feature for IEEE-USA's Today's Engineer (which is, thankfully, mayhem-free):

IEEE-USA Board of Directors Has Big Plans for 2014


That's it for this time around. See you next Monday with another long list of article links. You can also follow me on Twitter for the latest links as they go live. As always, thanks for reading!

2014 starts with a roar (of sadness)

Wow, are we 13 days into the New Year already? My, how time flies when you're busy writing. This is my first list of article links for 2014, which contains a bit more than my usual weekly reports so you probably have a bit of reading to do!

I'm happy to say that the year is off to a great start. In addition to the published links below, I am also working on several big features that will appear over the coming months, including one that won't see print until May. Yup, I'm a busy guy!

But although that's the present for me, it's the future for you. This blog is about the recent past, so here are the links from the first week-plus of 2014.

Let's start with a few Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American:

Shocking Study Finds Lions are Nearly Extinct in West Africa [This was one of my most popular articles ever.]

New Population of Critically Endangered Rabbits Found in (of All Places) a Nature Reserve

Sunday Species Snapshot: Forest Owlet [This inspired a pretty neat article on Boing Boing.]

And here are two history articles and several news pieces for Mother Nature Network:

'Bring 'Em Back Alive': How one explorer changed what we know about animals

If you love pandas, you have one amazing woman to thank

Emperor penguins spotted climbing cliffs to avoid climate change

Ferreted away: Who's stealing the UK's ferrets?

Global warming could drive world temperatures up 7 degrees by 2100

Actual glow-in-the-dark pigs created by Chinese scientists

Poisoned oaks, now gone, loom large at Auburn University


Several of these articles were also reprinted by the Huffington Post. I won't overwhelm you with the links, though!

That's it for now. Make sure to follow me on Twitter for the latest links as they happen. See you next Monday!

My last articles for 2013

Here they are...my final handful of articles for 2013. There weren't many, mainly because I finally took a few days (kinda) off.

First up, my latest print piece for Scientific American, which is based on one of my regular online "Extinction Countdown" articles:

Frog from Dwindling Haitian Forest Thriving in U.S. Zoo 

Next up, two new "Extinction Countdown" articles:

Fish Found: The Greatest Conservation Success Story of 2013?

Sunday Species Snapshot: Visayan Warty Pig

And finally, one new article for Mother Nature Network:

What happens inside a battery?


And there we go! I have lots of completed articles already pending publication in January and what feels like hundreds in various stages of writing and research. I'll get back to them in a few days.

For now, though, have a great New Year and thanks for reading all of my work in 2013!

Parasites, Lemurs and Talking about Technology

The year may be rapidly drawing to a close, but I still have a few things left to accomplish this year. That includes a whole bunch of new articles, which covered a wide range of topics this week.

First up, as usual, my three "Extinction Countdown" articles for Scientific American:

Good News for One of the World’s Rarest Monkeys

Parasites that Cause Chagas Disease in Humans May Also Be Killing Tiny Australian Marsupials

Sunday Species Snapshot: Alaotran Gentle Lemur


Next up, my latest feature for IEEE-USA's Today's Engineer, which I enjoyed researching and writing:

Talking Technology with Non-Technical Audiences

This past week also saw the publication of my first article for Engineering News-Record, a look at the past year for the communications construction industry for their Global 2013 Sourcebook. It's behind a subscriber paywall, but if you happen to be a subscriber you can read it here.


Finally this week, here are a whole bunch of news articles for Mother Nature Network:

Bananas: Famous fruit faces fatal fungus

Mark Zuckerberg and other tech billionaires create $3 million mathematics prize

Are there diamonds in Antarctica? It's possible, scientists say

Do you 'like' nonprofits? Now you can donate right through Facebook

Tiny 'micromotors' could clean polluted water


That's it for this week. Join my next week for my final list of articles for the year. I may wait until after Monday to post it, if just to include the last links for 2013. Don't forget, you can always follow me on Twitter for the latest links as they go live.

Iguana poop, Superman's lies and comedy for a cause

It's the last Monday in autumn and I'm snowed in. Ah, Maine...

Anyway, the piles of snow and the frigid temperatures mean I just get to stay inside and write. For you, maybe it means you get to stay in and read some of my articles. Here are the ones that saw print last week.

I'll start this list, as usual, with my Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American:

Lawsuit to Remove Plant from Endangered Species List Completely Backfires

Tourists Are Giving Endangered Iguanas Diarrhea and High Cholesterol

Sunday Species Snapshot: Cuban Crocodile


Sticking with the endangered species theme, here's my latest brief for Conservation magazine, which appears in their new issue:

A Blobfish Walks into a Bar


And finally, here's a history article, an explainer and a news brief for Mother Nature Network:

Who invented the idea of organic farming and organic food?

Do diamonds really come from coal?

Spill: A new play about the people affected by the Gulf oil spill


Oh, in addition to the stuff that I wrote, the Allegheny Front turned the tables and interviewed me  about the Endangered Species Act. You can read/listen to it here.



That's it for this week. Follow me on Twitter for more links as they go live.

Extinction, Time Travel and a History Lesson

It's cold out. All the more reason to stay inside and write.

Last week brought forth eight new articles -- at least, eight published pieces. Some of those were turned in last week. Other pieces I turned in this week won't appear for a few weeks more. I'm also working on some big assignments that won't see print until maybe next Summer. Yup, I have lots of plates in the air and I love every minute of it.

Anyway, let's start this week's link list with three new Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American:

Tiny Ohio Catfish Species, Last Seen in 1957, Declared Extinct

Can You Guess Which Country Has the Most Endangered Species?

Sunday Species Snapshot: Fijian Monkey-Faced Bat


The rest of this week's publications all came from Mother Nature Network, where I'm writing a nice mix of news articles, history pieces and explainers. Here are this week's links:

Stephen Hawking invites you to a party for time travelers (that may have already happened)

What we learned from the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history

Should chimpanzees have human rights?

Enneagram: The personality test you've never heard of

Could this easy-to-make material help replace gasoline?


And that's it for this time around. Make sure to follow me on Twitter for more links as they happen, or come back here next Monday for another list.

Okapi, robotics and a horrible history

If it's Monday morning, it must be time for my weekly look back at the articles of the previous seven days. Of course, it was a short week, marked by the Thanksgiving holiday (I hope yours went well; I had pie), so there were fewer articles than usual.

Let's start with my Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American: 

'Forest Giraffe' Now Endangered: Okapi Populations Drop 50 Percent in 18 Years

Sunday Species Snapshot: Daggernose Shark


Next up, two newsy items for Mother Nature Network:

Extremely tiny robot floats through the air — like a jellyfish

Why the FDA told genetic testing company 23andMe to cease marketing


And finally this week, a horrifying slice of history that was written for MNN but which fit better at their sister site, Treehugger:

Thomas Edison: Inventor, genius ... elephant killer?


In non-article news, the fourth edition of LORE -- the horror-SF-fantasy anthology series for which I serve as contributing editor -- is now available. I hope you'll check it out.

By the way, this weekend marked my seventh anniversary as a freelance writer. I wonder what will happen in year # 8?