Missing species, biometrics and robot fish

A few years ago I heard what I thought was a great piece of advice: Don't cross things off your to-do list. Instead, highlight them. A list full of crossed-off items feels angry and messy. A list of highlighted lines, on the other hand, glows with the satisfying feeling of a job well done.

I did a lot of work this week. And it feels good.

And so, here are this week's article links. I'll start with three Extinction Countdown articles for Scientific American:

Roosevelt’s Barking Deer, Unseen for 85 Years, Photographed in Vietnam

Tea and Consequences: Unsustainable Cultivation Puts Honeybush Tea at Risk

Sunday Species Snapshot: Panamanian Golden Frog


This week also brought my latest technology careers article for Today's Engineer...

Career Focus: Biometrics


...and my second article for TakePart:

What's Worse Than Shooting Fish in a Barrel? Hunting Lions the Same Way


To round things off, here are a few newsy items for Mother Nature Network:

Soft robotic fish makes a big splash

Why can't we find Malaysia Airlines Flight 370?


I have a few articles already pending for this week, and lots more to write on my to-do list. I look forward to pulling out the yellow highlighter as they make their way toward publication.

Otters, Exotics and the Need for Speed

The past three months have been busy, busy, busy. After working my tail off from December through February, I decided to slow down a bit last week and took a couple of hours off each day. It felt great -- and more importantly, it gave me the opportunity to refocus on some amazing opportunities that lie ahead.

But I still managed to write several articles last week, including this one for Scientific American:

25 Years after Exxon Valdez Spill, Sea Otters Recovered in Alaska’s Prince William Sound


This week also saw the publication of my first article for TakePart, where I'll be contributing weekly articles about wildlife and other environmental issues:

A Guy and His Pet Tiger Walked Into a Bar—Find Out What Happened Next


I also wrote a few of my usual news items for Mother Nature Network (this was a particularly fun batch):

WildLeaks: The neighborhood watch of the animal world seeks prying eyes

Sick of winter? Use this site to find the cities with the most pleasant days per year

Speed-reading apps: A time-saving solution for the modern world?


It's back to full-speed-ahead this week, and there's already lots on my plate. As usual, I'll post the headlines on Twitter as they happen, and you can get the full list here next Monday.

Have a great week!

Lemur Week and the letter Q

I always like it when unintentional themes appear in my articles, even when they collectively represent bad news. Today's article lists represents what became Lemur Week, with two articles touching upon lemur conservation. The other articles -- for Scientific American and Mother Nature Network -- also touch upon climate change, deforestation, the letter Q and other happy subjects.

Crisis in Madagascar: 90 Percent of Lemur Species Are Threatened with Extinction

Endangered Falcon Lives Fast, Dies Young in Response to Habitat Loss

Conservation community mourns Alison Jolly, famed lemur researcher

The Quelccaya Ice Cap is melting and global warming is to blame

Quagga mussels invade Utah's Lake Powell reservoir

That's it for this time around. I have sooooo many other articles pending publication in the coming weeks and months. Make sure to follow me on Twitter for the latest links as they happen!

Conservation, critters and climate

When you work as a freelance writer, time often takes on a fluid quality. Today is today, as you work on articles that will appear in a few hours, but it's also tomorrow, next week, next month and six months from now, as you work on stories that will see print in the near and far-flung future. It's also yesterday, as you continue to promote articles published within the past 24 hours, as well as last year, as the articles you wrote months ago continue to influence the things you write today.

But now it's Monday, and you're about to find the links to the articles I published this past week (unless you're reading this six months from now), so I guess time is fluid for readers, too.

Anyway, here are last week's article links, starting with my "Extinction Countdown" pieces for Scientific American:

The Long, Strange Saga of the Endangered Hawaiian Hawk

Sea Lion Whisker Patterns Could Be Key to Conservation


And here are a variety of science news stories for Mother Nature Network:

Wild bumblebees are catching diseases from domesticated honeybees, says study

Ants form rafts using babies as flotation devices

John Kerry: Climate change is a 'fearsome weapon of mass destruction'

Science and God: Compatible or antagonists?


That's it for this time around. Make sure to follow me on Twitter for the latest links as they happen...in the future.

From the cute to the horrifying

It's another Monday, which means it's time for another list of links to my articles from last week. It was an "Extinction Countdown" heavy week, with four new articles at Scientific American:

Slaughtered for Ivory: 65 Percent of Forest Elephants Killed Since 2002

Lion Tamarins versus Climate Change

Manumea Found: Strange Bird Seen Breeding for the First Time in a Decade

Sunday Species Snapshot: Blue-Crowned Laughingthrush


This week also brought my latest monthly career article for IEEE-USA's Today's Engineer:

Get the Most Out of Professional Development Opportunities


And finally, here are a few tech/green articles for Mother Nature Network:

Fish face: Reconstruction of ancient fossil reveals the origins of the face

DARPA wants to build a better search engine and fight crime

Amazing new laser could diagnose disease and detect greenhouse gases


I'm still working on a ton of stuff for publication in the coming weeks and months. Stay tuned for links as they go live!

New species and a warming world

Good Monday! It's time for this week's list of last week's article links. I'm a little surprised that this list is so short this week, given the massive number of articles that I actually worked on. Of course, several things that that I have on my desk right now won't seen print for months, so you have a lot to look forward to.

Anyway, this week only saw five new articles see print, including these two about endangered species for Scientific American:

New Crocodile Species Discovered in West Africa

Sunday Species Snapshot: Coquerel’s Sifaka


The other three for this week were for Mother Nature Network, which all covered climate change to one degree or another (no pun intended):

President Obama unveils 'climate hubs' to help farmers and rural communities

Google Earth adds 160 years of global temperature data

Snowmaking at 70 degrees? It's possible (with a $2 million device)


There's lots more coming this week, so come on back next Monday for another big batch of links. And as always, thanks for reading!

Weird wildlife, Extinction sadness and Science awesomeness

Even the flu can't keep me down for long. I cam back like gangbusters after last week's ugh-induced lowered productivity, with eight new published articles and a bunch of others working their way through the editorial cycle.

I'll start this list, as I usually do, with my "Extinction Countdown" articles for Scientific American, which covered both sadness and wonder:

Only 4 Northern White Rhinos Remain in Africa: Inside the Last Attempts to Breed and Save Them

First Wild Beaver in 800 Years Confirmed in England? [Video]

Did the Axolotl Just Go Extinct?

I also wrote a wide variety of stories for Mother Nature Network, including one that may be the funniest thing I have written in months:

Behold, the freaky leech that can stay alive at 321 degrees below zero

For stem cells in 30 minutes, just add acid

These e-whiskers could lend cat-like sensitivity to robots

Stephen Hawking says black holes don't exist (well, not in the way we thought)

Drug trafficking leads to massive deforestation in Central America


This coming week should see more for SA and MNN, and maybe some additional articles that are working their way toward publication. Follow me on Twitter for the links as they happen, or come on back here next Monday for another list of links. Have a great week!