Mondays, am I right?

Hey folks, welcome to my normal Monday link-dump of the articles that I published in the previous week. Whoo-boy...this week's list contains some pretty bleak stuff. But don't worry, if you can get through it all, there's a neat technology story at the end.

Okay, first up on the Monday Morning Bleak Parade, my latest "Extinction Countdown" articles for Scientific American:

Bluefin Tuna, Chinese Cobra and Others Added to Red List of Threatened Species

Life on the Volcano Is Increasingly Tough for These Hawaiian Birds


Next up, two more bleak articles, this time from my poaching and wildlife coverage for TakePart:

Poachers Are Now Slaughtering Africa's Giraffes

Florida Drivers' Need for Speed Is Wiping Out the Critically Endangered Panther


Still with us? Well here's your reward: something about the future. This is my latest careers piece for Today's Engineer:

Engineers: Your Brains Need You!


This week will be a short one, with Thanksgiving and the ensuing four-day weekend (of shop-fest, depending on your point of view), so there won't be too many new articles published over the next seven days. All the same, I'll probably be working all weekend to catch up some extra-cool deadlines. Don't worry about me, though: they're all really cool, non-bleak stories that help make up for some of the stuff like you just read.

See you next Monday!

Tasteful Nakedness and Distasteful Idiocy

Hey folks! It's Monday again and time for my weekly roundup of the previous week's articles. This was a fun week, with several great news stories and the publication of a few pieces that I had been working on for a while.

I'll start the list with this week's wildlife and poaching articles for TakePart. Can you guess which was my most popular article for the week?

Park Rangers Go Naked to Protect Rhinos

Watch Indian Villagers Rescue a Lion That Fell Down a Well


Next up, another article for TakePart. This one's a bit different in that two related articles were combined into one, so I share a byline with another writer. Anyway, both parts are good, important stuff. Check it out. Mine is the second half.

Battling Ebola, It's the Little Things That Count

The next two links come from my regular Extinction Countdown column at Scientific American. The first story gets the win for the biggest stupidity uncovered this week:

Mapping Mistake Threatens 1,400 Chimpanzees and Newly Discovered Endangered Plant

Critically Endangered Gecko Discovered in Madagascar

And finally, on a completely different note, I also have an article about hospital construction trends entitled "Health Care Law Boosts Outpatient Facilities" in the November 10 issue of Engineering News-Record, but you need a subscription to access it. Oh well, you can at least see the cover to the right.

That's it for this week. I already know that a few cool things are coming up pretty darn quickly -- perhaps even today -- so make sure to follow me on Twitter for the latest headlines as they happen.

Mountain Gorillas, Dead Tigers and Breeding Birds

One of the great things about having a regular beat as a journalist is the opportunity to revisit important stories over the years. What's changed? What's new? Have things improved? Gotten worse? How have the threads of the story come together over time? This week's publications almost all embody this, as they gave me a chance to revisit several topics that I have written about in the past (and will not doubt return to again).

Let's dig into these revisitations. This week's "Extinction Countdown" articles for Scientific American are both updates to stories I have covered in the past (one's good news, one's awful):

Rarest Kiwi Species Gets Breeding Boost

Canine Distemper Could Wipe Out Siberian Tigers


This week's articles for TakePart fit into the revisit theme in a slightly different way. I have written about mountain gorillas, eels and the bear-bile trade several times before. These articles all look at these topics from new angles:

Dangerous Diet: Mountain Gorillas’ Love of Bamboo Puts Them in Conflict With Farmers

Asia’s Appetite for Sushi Is Putting Philippine Eels in Peril

Laos’ Shrinking Bear Population Threatened by Booming Bile Business


Finally this week, here's my latest technology careers article for IEEE's The Institute. I enjoy working on these. This isn't exactly a topic that I have visited in the past, but I think that the years I have spent writing about tech careers gives me the best perspective to ask questions that really get to the heart of the matter. There's good advice in this one that would benefit anyone looking for a job:

Job Candidates: Here’s What to Ask in Interviews


That's it for this week. Come on back next Monday for more links, some of which will cover brand-new topics!

Halloween Horrors

Halloween used to be my favorite time of year. Now I know that the ghosts and goblins are with us year-round. Here are some of the horrors I covered during Halloween week, plus one or two slightly more positive stories.

I'll start with a new feature about the nature of science, written for TakePart:


The Battle to Control the Story—and Science—of the Deepwater Horizon Catastrophe


I also wrote two of my regular wildlife articles for TakePart. The first one is actually pretty fun, but the second is about as bleak as it gets:

These 11 Endangered Sea Turtles Are Racing for Victory

A Baby Chimpanzee Was Rescued From Poachers—Her Family Wasn’t So Lucky


And finally, here are two new endangered species articles for Scientific American. Okay, I actually got into the holiday spirit with one of them:

African Lions Face Extinction by 2050, Could Gain Endangered Species Act Protection

Halloween Horrors: The Ghost Bat (aka the False Vampire Bat)


More horrors this week? Probably. Make sure to follow me on Twitter for the latest links as they happen.