Climate change, two kinds of bears, and even more

I think I must possess some sort of innate and unnatural immunity to tryptophan, because even with way too much turkey in my belly I still managed to get an awful lot of writing done this week.

Without further ado, here are links to all of my articles that went live last week while you were preparing and/or eating Thanksgiving dinner:

Was Lonesome George Not Really the Last of his Species?

Last 22 Gobi Bears Endangered by Climate Change in Mongolia

SeaWorld Orlando unveils upcoming Antarctica ride

Greenhouse gas emissions hit record levels in 2011

What do polar bears eat and how is their food threatened?

World Bank report warns of 'devastating' effects of climate change

Those were all for Scientific American and Mother Nature Network. I also spent the weekend (between eating leftovers) working on five new features for MNN and other magazines that are all due before the end of the month. As in Friday, tick, tock.

I already have several articles in the publication queue for this week, so make sure to follow me on the Tweeter for the links as they happen.

Now if you'll excuse me, there's one last slice of pumpkin pie waiting for me in the fridge. I need to fuel up before today's writing sessions, after all...

Clones, gay penguins, climate doubters and going off the grid

What a week! First, several of my long-in-the-works features finally appeared. Second, I got to write about some fantastic current news items.

I'll start this week's list with my two Extinction Countdown blogs for Scientific American, the second of which is a great follow-up on a story I originally did just over a year ago:

Brazil Plans to Clone Its Endangered Species

Controversial Toronto Zoo Penguins Not Gay after All?


Next up, a whole bunch of stories for Mother Nature Network, including two of those features I mentioned:

Going off the grid: Why more people are choosing to live life unplugged [This was probably my most popular article of the week]

What if climate-change doubters held a debate and nobody came? [This one earned me some nice hate mail.]

Undercover video depicts abuse at Butterball turkey farms

Galapagos to poison 180 million rats

Smartphone app could help save Australian Aboriginal language from extinction

Can you trust online product reviews and ratings?


And finally, here's this month's feature for Today's Engineer. I'll follow this up next month with a look at nuclear engineering careers outside of the power industry:

Career Focus: Careers in Nuclear Energy


That should give you enough to read for your next few lunch hours. More next week!

Whale discovery, bad news for coffee and a surprise appearance by Charles Darwin

What a week. The election and hurricane Sandy combined for a one-two punch of stress. Most of my friends and clients live in storm-ravaged areas, so I have spent a lot of time lately worrying about them, digging up information through my thankfully functioning Internet connection, and trying to stay connected. It hasn't always been easy. I still have one or two friends without heat and at least one client without email. What a modern society we have in this country!

Anyway, although a few of my articles didn't see print last week as planned, quite a few more still made their way into the world. Here's the list, starting with my Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American:

Amazing: Rarest Whale Seen for First Time in History, but Not at Sea  [This was my most-read SciAm article of the past year!]

Last 500 Ethiopian Wolves Endangered by Lack of Genetic Diversity


Next up, a whole bunch of articles -- many of them climate-related -- for Mother Nature Network:

Charles Darwin gets 4,000 write-in votes in Georgia election

More researchers join effort to control stink bugs organically

Climate change threatens your morning cup of coffee

Satellites could help predict volcano eruptions

Staten Island desperately needs underwear

Climate change could have devastating effect on India's monsoon season


That's it for this time around. A few extra, storm-delayed articles should appear this coming week, along with my usual batch of stuff. Make sure to follow me on Twitter for the latest links as they go live!

Species discoveries, glowing tides and inspirational spider webs

Monday morning again. It feels a bit odd that only one of my articles last week touched upon Hurricane Sandy, which devastated so much of the northeast and affected so many of my friends, family and co-workers. But even when one story dominates the news, other tales remain to be told. And there must have been a hunger for non-Sandy news because all of these stories had more than the usual number of readers.

We'll start this week's run-down with my two Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American:

9 New Tree-Loving and Endangered Tarantula Species Discovered in Brazil

New Lizard Discovered in Australia, Threatened by Incoming Housing Development

Mother Nature Network kept me more than busy last week, and these articles touch upon at least six fields of science:

First all-carbon solar cell made with nanotubes and buckyballs instead of silicon

Will San Diego's tides glow blue again this year?

Michael Bloomberg endorses Barack Obama, 'a president to lead on climate change'

Europe's oldest prehistoric village found in Bulgaria

Vision evolved 700 million years ago, researchers find

Spider webs and gecko feet inspire potential pain-free bandage 

That last one was also reprinted by the Huffington Post.


In addition to the above, I turned in my next feature for Today's Engineer (and I'm deep into my next one for them), I have three features pending at Mother Nature Network,  Monday's SciAm article is already queued up waiting for an embargo to lift, and I am plugging away on two new features for Lion magazine. I'm so busy that my fingers have worn the letters off of seven keys on my keyboard. I guess it's a good things I'm not a hunt-and-peck typist!

More next week -- or follow me on Twitter for the latest headlines as they happen.