By Hugh Markey On a sunny spring day, I met a middle aged couple along the trail of a state land management area. He was tall and lanky, gray-bearded and sporting a keffiyeh. She was short, plump and apple cheeked. Both wore binoculars with a harness that identified them as serious birders. We were all there to see the warbler migration, and we struck up a conversation. We touched on […]
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By Hugh Markey Even as the world seems to be recovering from several years of battling COVID, there is another disease that has been quietly killing people for decades. Like COVID, cholera treatment relies on medicines and an educational campaign. But for people in rural parts of the world, receiving vital information about cholera hot spots can be nearly impossible. Prof. Ali Akanda and his team have just completed a […]
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Here’s a link to a story recently published in URI’s Grad School of Oceanography (GSO) magazine, Aboard GSO. It relates the fascinating work of faculty member Isaac Ginnis, whose new computer program is being used by emergency management agencies to reduce the destructive forces of storm surge. Check it out! Click the photo on the left at the top of the page.
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No Comments First published in the Providence Journal 9/6/20. Story and photos copyright Hugh Markey. URI Professor Brad Wetherbee seems to think his favorite shark may need a better press agent. “Makos are like a high-performance car, like a Lamborghini. They’re fast, fast, fast,” he says, lightly pounding the rail of the boat for emphasis. “Certainly, these makos are impressive animals. They get to be 13 feet long and 1400 pounds. […]
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Parks are limited and social distancing is the rule, but birds are still flying. They’re everywhere right now, whether returning from far off winter homes or just coming out to find a mate. And you don’t need to travel to somewhere in the country to see them. Just look up. “Actually, the odds are pretty high that you’ll see some good birds right in downtown Providence.” Dan Berard is a […]
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You can hear them on a mild spring night: what sounds like a flock of ducks, quack-quacking from a nearby freshwater pool. But these are no ducks; instead, they are Wood Frogs, calling out to invite females to have a mating swim in the pool. Wood Frogs are typically the first inhabitant of the pools heard in the springtime, even before the more popular Spring Peeper toad. It means that […]
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2 Comments Note: This story appeared in the Providence Journal 3/27/20, and in hard copy 3/29/20. All photos by Gary Carlson: ifishinri@aol.com. Used with permission. The human world is in turmoil, but spring is arriving unconcerned. Skunk cabbage is popping its pungent leaves through the marsh. Forsythia is only days away from its sunlight yellow show of flowers. And in the skies, the Ospreys are returning. The males come first, making a […]
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No Comments Read the latest issue of 41° North here and find out how Rhode Islanders are responding to climate change. Included in this issue are two stories of mine. Enjoy!
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No Comments It’s been done using decommissioned ships, oil rigs, and even subway cars. Now it’s being done for the first time in Rhode Island. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and RI DEM have teamed up to create the state’s first artificial reef, situated off Sabin Point in Providence. TNC’s communications manager Tim Mooney says the hope is that adding complex structure to the floor of Narragansett Bay will improve recreational fishing and […]
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The following is a short article that I wrote for the August 2019 issue of RI Monthly Magazine. Rhode Island is home to a feeding frenzy of shark research. Just a few examples: How not to age a shark: NOAA’s Dr. Lisa Natanson recently published a paper that blew up the way sharks are aged. Until recently, scientists had been relying on pairs of growth rings in shark spines (like […]
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