Deformed frogs, Asian unicorns and a sex-changing snail

What a great week. I signed the contract for a huge new freelance assignment, moved forward on several others, and wrote some pretty darned good articles. Let's go to the links.

Most of last week's publications appeared in Scientific American, where they hit on three fronts. First there was my usual three Extinction Countdown articles, which covered a wide range of endangered species:

Conservation's Holy Grail: "Asian Unicorn" Sighted in Vietnam

The Incredible Mr./Mrs. Limpet: The Endangered, Sex-Changing Sea Snail

Sunday Species Snapshot: Rothschild’s Giraffe

Then there was my latest article for the print magazine, which is a consolidation of two of my previous Extinction Countdown pieces:

An Endangered Species Act Success: California’s Santa Cruz Cypress

Finally, here's my first non-Extinction article for the SciAm website, a story I am glad that I had the opportunity to cover:

The Good and Bad News about Frog Abnormalities


This week's two other publications came from Mother Nature Network:

New York named America's most walkable city

Puerto Rico's famous bioluminescent lagoon stops glowing


Beyond that published work I have a ton on my plate, including several more articles for SciAm and MNN as well as my usual monthly feature for Today's Engineer and a new piece for Lion magazine. I also just signed the contract for what could be my biggest magazine assignment to date, but I probably won't be able to talk about that publicly for several months yet.

I don't know how many articles will appear online this week, what with the Thanksgiving holiday and all, but you can follow me on Twitter for links as they happen.

How Frustration Led to Last Week's Most Popular Story

Writing about endangered species for a living almost guarantees that I remain in a state of constant frustration. This week that frustration gave birth to one of my most popular articles in recent months. It wasn't the fact that the western black rhino had gone extinct that caused that frustration or my reaction. The western black rhino went extinct years ago but most people in the media -- and the world in general -- didn't seem to notice until this past month. This has led to some truly awful reporting from too many news sites that should have known better. I decided to set the record straight with one of this week's Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American:

How the Western Black Rhino Went Extinct

That article got tens of thousands of readers, more than I ever expected. Hopefully it will continue to dispel some of the misinformation that has been spread about this extinction.

In other news, here are this week's other two Extinction Countdown articles. The first is feature-length, while the second is a weekend quickie:

Jamaican Iguana Conservation Program Marks 20 Years of Success, Faces Worries about Next 20 Years

Sunday Species Snapshot: Jackass Penguin


This week also saw publication of my latest feature for Today's Engineer. I think this is a particularly important piece and I enjoyed working on it:

Federally Funded Research: The Key to Unexpected (and Valuable) Discoveries


Finally, here are two new articles for Mother Nature Network:

Global warming isn't on 'hiatus'

Scientists invent not 1, not 2, but 3 new 'invisibility cloaks' [This was my favorite headline of the week]


What will this coming week bring? Hopefully it won't involve too much frustration, but we'll see. If it does, maybe I'll turn that into something useful like I did this past week.  Wish me luck!

Rare Cats, Melting Starfish and a Man with Wings

Well, this past week didn't see all that many new publications, but that's only because I have so many in the pipeline. I have more articles in process or pending publication than I can count, so expect a lot more soon.

Meanwhile, here are this week's articles, starting with one article and one shorter post for "Extinction Countdown" over at Scientific American:

Beautiful but Rarely Seen Cat Species Photographed in Borneo

Sunday Species Snapshot: Sociable Lapwing


And here are three short pieces for Mother Nature Network:

Mysterious wasting syndrome is turning West Coast starfish into goo

Bill Gates: Prioritizing worldwide Internet access over human health is 'a joke'

Jetman ascendant: How Yves Rossy learned to fly with four jet engines strapped to his back


This coming week should be a big one. Follow me on Twitter for headlines as they happen and come back here next Monday for another list of links.

Post-Halloween Article Goodies

We don't get many (okay, any) trick-or-treaters in my rural neck of the Maine woods, which may explain my productivity: too much sugar from 50%-off post-Halloween candy.

Anyway, I published a metric tonne of articles last week, so here are the links before I go try to burn off a few thousand calories. We'll start with this week's Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American:

Halloween Scares: A Graveyard for Extinct Species

How Much Did the U.S. Spend on the Endangered Species Act in 2012?

Sunday Species Snapshot: White-Cheeked Gibbon


Next up, several news items for Mother Nature Network:

Hunting group auctioning off the right to kill an endangered black rhino

Olympic oops: Russia's games aren't as 'zero-waste' as promised

United Nations takes aim at asteroids

New system could predict how climate change will affect future fishing conditions


And finally this time around, the new annual report from Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences contains 10 articles by me, all about their latest research. This was in the works for a long time and finally came out last week. Cool stuff.

Okay, that's it for now. Follow me on Twitter for the latest article links as they go live!

Frog Week, Fulgurites and Freebies

Hello Monday, how have you been? Did you have a good weekend? How's the wife and kids? Does everyone hate you as much as they used to? Well don't worry about it, some of us still like you, Monday. After all, it's a great chance to look back at the week that was.

Which is what I'm doing now, as a matter of fact. Yup, it's time for my weekly Monday linkfest. This time around I've got nine new articles for your reading pleasure.

I'll start with my Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American, which covered two critically endangered frogs and one spectacular (and also critically endangered) bird:

Good Dads Help Rare Haitian Frogs Breed in Captivity

Squeaking By: Frog Species Rediscovered in Ghana, but Invasive Devil Weed Threatens Its Survival

Sunday Species Snapshot: Bali Myna


Next up, my latest for IEEE's The Institute. Although geared toward engineers, these lessons are good for just about anybody:

Learn Effective Communication Skills With Free Online Lessons

And finally, here's a wide mix of science and technology articles for Mother Nature Network, including two explainer-type articles:

Art that sucks: Dutch artist proposes 'vacuum' to clear Beijing of smog

New studies provide clues into colony collapse disorder and other bee deaths

Sweetening the bottom line: Tobacco farmers switching to stevia

Electrical safety: How electrical current affects the human body

Fulgurites: When lightning strikes sand, magic is formed


That's it for this week. I already have several items for this coming week turned in and working their way through the editorial process, so make sure to follow me on Twitter for the latest links as they happen.

See you in seven days, Monday!

Stimulating, Solving and Faking

Monday rolls around again, like it does almost every week, and that means it's time for me to once again present to you, dear reader, my list of the previous week's publications.

We'll start our journalistic journey with my two Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American, both of which cover critically endangered birds:

Century-Old Egg Answers Mystery about Critically Endangered Bird

Soon the Only Place to See This Nearly Extinct Bird May Be on Samoan Currency

I also added one extra weekend quickie to this week's Extinction Countdown, something I may continue in the weeks ahead:

Sunday Species Snapshot: Tasmanian Devil


Next up, my latest feature for IEEE-USA's Today's Engineer, which took a timelier turn than expected:

Six Ways Electric Vehicles Are Stimulating the Economy


Finally, here are three new articles on a variety of subjects for Mother Nature Network:

Air pollution causes cancer, says World Health Organization

157 science journals accept fake cancer study

Iran prepares to launch new monkey in space


This coming week should see publication of, well, more like that. But what exactly shall they cover? I'll leave that mystery to be revealed seven days from now...

(Of course, you can always follow me on Twitter for links as they happen if you just can't wait that long.)

Mountain gorillas, dead hemlocks and environmental disasters

Hello Monday, did you miss me?

I normally post these article link compendiums on a weekly basis, but October brought a few changes in my regular patterns. For one thing, I left the house. That's right, I actually went somewhere -- that "somewhere" being Chattanooga, Tenn., host city for the annual conference of the Society of Environmental Journalists. It's a great city and the conference was fantastic. It has already inspired one article (which you'll find below) and will no doubt result in many more.

But travel meant an unusual slowdown in articles coming out of my keyboard. And travel delays -- hello broken airplane! -- meant I wasn't home last Monday to post this regular update. So let's catch you up on what you missed over the past two weeks. (Don't worry, there weren't that many articles, so this won't take long.)

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

How Will Climate Change Affect Mountain Gorillas?

Endangered Species Success Stories: How Many More Are We Likely to See?

Hemlock Extinction Looms over Tennessee Forests


Next up, a history article, an explainer and a news post for Mother Nature Network:

The Great Sparrow Campaign was the start of the greatest mass starvation in history

CO2 101: Why is carbon dioxide bad?

Who (and where) is boson namesake Peter Higgs?


And finally, an article for IEEE's The Institute:

IEEE Certificate Program Expands Its Reach


This coming week should bring a new feature for Today's Engineer, another Institute article, two or three more for SciAm, and a bunch for MNN. Or more. Or less. We'll see.

I'm back on my regular schedule now, so come on back next Monday for another batch of article links. Can't wait that long? Follow me on Twitter. I'll post the headlines as they happen.