science Archives - Mark Marchand blog

Albany-area residents view the April 8 solar eclipse. (Photo credit: Times-Union, Albany, NY)

Guest commentary on the 4/8 total solar eclipse

Post published:April 16, 2024

(The Times-Union daily newspaper of Albany, N.Y. accepted and published my guest commentary on the April 8 total solar eclipse:) Commentary: All eyes on the sky The total solar eclipse was an opportunity to live in the moment, no cellphone required — except for taking photographs By Mark Marchand April 14, 2024 In those low-tech pre-internet days, I was often called upon as a Verizon spokesman to relate how world events affected phone call volumes. Two of my favorite happenings were the O.J. Simpson trial verdict in 1995 and the 1981 wedding of…

Joining Bob Dylan in his famous movement to "go electric."

Following Bob Dylan to go electric: Our one year of driving an EV

Post published:February 18, 2024

Bob Dylan famously went electric, so we decided to try it too. So off we went last year to shirk off the yoke of an internal combustion, fossil-fuel-burning, pollution-emitting car. We joined the legions of drivers who chose a new electric vehicle, or EV. It wasn’t a huge leap for our family, since I was among the first New Yorkers to buy a hybrid Toyota Prius in 2000. We drove it for years, reveling in over 50 mpg and answering questions from curious strangers who waited in parking lots to talk with…

A coral reef off the shores of Hawai'i

Mapping the Ocean Floor – Hawaii Sea Grant College Article

Post published:October 13, 2023

The University of Hawaii Sea Grant College assigned me to research and write this article on the process of digitally mapping the ocean floor. Published in August, 2023. Here's a direct link to where my article appears in the Sea Grant College Ka Pili Kai magazine. My article appears on pages 41 and 42. While you're there, feel free to browse the rest of the magazine. Lots of great information and great writing!

Street flooding north of New York City, Sept. 29, 2023. (Credit: New York Times)

Posing the ‘why’ behind the streak of bad weather

Post published:September 29, 2023

Should broadcast news organizations and their weather teams help us better understand the role of human-caused climate change in ongoing weather disasters? The deadly Maui wildfire, widespread New York City flooding, crop-wilting heatwaves, our breathing air fouled by Canadian wildfires, and so many other weather calamities are coming at us in head-spinning waves. Maybe it’s time to elevate the topic to the same painstaking investigation and reporting that take place after other disasters. All it would take is journalists and forecasters asking experts “why” this global bad weather avalanche accelerates. The…

Cover of the new book on Albert Einstein's life: "Einstein - The Man And HIs Mind."

Book Review: A photographic tour of one of the world’s greatest minds

Post published:March 3, 2023

By Mark Marchand If you stare long enough into his eyes in the many photographs of the man, you might begin to see faint images of atoms splitting … light waves being bent by the sun’s gravity … equations rolling by … a man descending in an elevator … or even musical notes dancing across a staff. This man is Albert Einstein, who peers at us from a new collection of photographs taken over a lifetime during which his “thought experiments” and other work shook the foundations of physics and…