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.