Category: Travel

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If This is Friday, It Must be Paris

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I’m out science traveling two of my most frequently visited cities. Next stop:

Eiffel Tower, Paris

Hopefully this visit will be drier and sunnier than when this photo was taken. I’ll have more from the road as internet connections allow.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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Science Traveling the Great Capitals of the World

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I’ve been lucky enough in recent years to travel to three dozen countries on four continents. Over the next several weeks I’ll be science traveling in a handful of the great capitals of the world.

I got started on this trek a week or so ago in New York City. Technically it isn’t a capital, but if you asked any non-American (and perhaps most Americans) to name our greatest city they most likely would name New York. On this occasion I spent some touristy time at the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, the 9/11 Memorial, and the aircraft carrier Intrepid (which also has the Space Shuttle Enterprise).

Statue of Liberty

But NYC is the beginning of my fall travels. Next up is a weekend in Paris, the capital of France:

The artist in Paris

Followed by a week in London, the capital of the UK:

London from the Eye

To be followed immediately by Salt Lake City (the capital of Utah) for the SETAC meeting, where I’ll pick up an award. And then on to Gettysburg to attend a conference and commemorate Abraham Lincoln’s famous address.

Gettysburg Tweet

Which reminds me that I skipped an event. On October 20th I’ll be the featured speaker for the Lincoln Group of DC. My topic is “Lincoln and Technology,” which allows me to blend my two favorite topics. Sign up now on the Lincoln Group web page.

I’ll have more from the road as connections allow, and many stories after my return(s).

David J. Kent has been a scientist for thirty-five years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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Liberty for All

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A little taste of New York. Probably the only blue sky seen all day, and with a tropical storm hitting, all week.

Today probably a good day for museums. Saw the new 9/11 Museum yesterday. Very emotional impact; a lot of memories can flooding back.

More later.

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I’m in a New York State of Mind

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As Billy Joel once said a long, long time ago (and probably at every concert for the last four decades), I’m in a New York state of mind. And not just mind, body too. By the time you read this I should be on a train to the Big Apple, The City, the City That Never Sleeps.

New York, New York (a la Frank Sinatra).

It will either be a short week or a long week. I’ll let you know when I return. The plan is somewhat flexible, pending cooperative weather (or not) and ease of decision-making (or not). Try to Imagine the possibilities.

Lincoln

 

I’m sure there will be a Lincoln stop or two, and a Tesla stop or two, and maybe even an Edison stop (or not). How about the United Nations? Seems there has been a flurry of activity there – the Pope last week and Presidents of various countries this week. Perhaps I’ll run into Barack, of Vladimir, or Xi (or not).

United Nations

I’ll post updates from the ground as I can during the week.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for over thirty years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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Revisiting Patagonia

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PatagoniaPatagonia is one of the most diverse geographies on Earth. It encompasses the lower end of South America, mostly in Argentina but also spanning Chile. As such it touches on two coastlines – the Atlantic on the Argentinian east and the Pacific on the Chilean west. The area goes from the high Andes, to the low scrubland plains, the large lake filled northwest, glaciers in the southwest, and coastlines of the southeast. Animals range from the ostrich-like choiques (CHOY-kas) and camel-like guanacos (WAN-a-coes) to snakes and penguins. Yes, penguins.

Perito Moreno glacier - front and north faces

Last year I spent three weeks in Patagonia, traveling from the very north in Bariloche down through the Argentinian side of the Andes mountains to the southern glaciers at Perito Moreno. A planned visit to the Chilean side of the Andeans was quashed by an unforeseen broken ankle (my host’s, not mine), but that opened up a return trip driving east through the desert-like steppe and up the eastern coastline. Another week was split between enjoying the beautiful lakes of Bariloche and visiting various doctors and hospitals (see “unforeseen broken ankle”). I also got to visit with my host’s fisheries biology lab mates. All in all a fantastic trip.

I’ll be writing much more on Patagonia (and planning another South American trip), but to catch everyone up here are links to previous posts. Click on the titles below.

The Route: A quick tour of the plan for the trip, and some highlights.

Cueva de las Manos…the Cave of the Hands: An amazing place with 10,000 year old hand prints. It was quite a challenge to hike to, which made it all the more incredible.

Mount Fitz Roy and the Glaciers: Mountains named after the Captain of the Beagle (Charles Darwin’s ship). An amazing hike with even more amazing views.

Up Close and Personal with the Perito Moreno Glacier: One of the most iconic glaciers in the world (you’ve probably seen photos). It’s even more impressive up close.

The Gravel Roads of Patagonia: This was a road trip. Except the roads were often more in name than actuality. A good story was had by all.

Drinking Tea, aka, Mate, in Argentina: No trip to Patagonia is possible without a healthy dose of matte, the South American “tea” that is as much a social event as it is a libation.

Much more on Argentina and other points south in the future.

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

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Tenerife from the Snow

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El Teide, TenerifeThe road to Tenerife is paved with four inches of snow. At least, that was the case for this trip. So while the warmth of the largest Canary Island waited off the coast of Morocco, my plane sat in the Brussels airport buried in snowflakes. At first it seemed just a minor delay – only a half hour waiting for the bus to take us to the Airbus A320. Brussels had seen snow before, I reminded myself, and this didn’t seem like that much. The snow coming in on the train was fluffy; beautiful, in fact. Okay, it was cold, even frigid, but a little ice is easy to handle. No matter, we were ready to board the transport.

“Excusez-moi, Mesdames et Messieurs.” “Neem me niet kwalijk, dames en heren.”

This can’t be good, I thought. The announcement repeated over the airport intercom. Somehow the mere introduction, in French and Dutch, was enough to create a wave of incredulous groaning from the passengers impatiently dawdling in the concourse. We all knew what was coming.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we regret to inform you that the airport is now closed because of the weather. We will keep you posted as to when the status changes. Thank you.”

The next three hours seemed like forever. The din from hundreds of disgruntled travelers calling their bosses, spouses, paramours, and travel agents was deafening. No one was happy, but then in oft-rainy Brussels no one ever seems to be happy. Most of us wandered around, looking to see if anyone else was taking off (they weren’t) or giving up and leaving the airport (they were). I had an overnight stopover in Madrid, so knowing that I had some time to kill anyway, decided to stick it out, keeping myself company watching the television monitor documenting the snowfall accumulations.

Somehow I survived, though whether it was despite not having a cell phone of my own, or because of it, I can’t be sure. All I remember is that eventually we were told to board the bus, which took fifteen minutes to snake around the entire terminal (possibly twice) before letting us off about 50 feet from the plane. The slog through snow drifts at least a foot deep, and the climb up the slippery steps to the fuselage, was a challenge. Then more time waiting our turn at the de-icing station where we spent another ten minutes under a waterfall of what I knew from experience was not the most innocuous of chemicals. I didn’t care; we were off the ground. Tenerife or bust.

I found out later that I was in the last plane to leave Brussels that day. Only six planes took off, the rest were stranded; some as long as two days. Ironically, on my first day in the tropical paradise I would discover that Tenerife also boasted frigid cold and snow. But that’s another story.

Check out this earlier look at The Orchids of Tenerife.

[More on Tenerife and other science travel coming soon. Reposted from Hot White Snow.]

David J. Kent is an avid traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Two Black Birds, But No Blackbirds

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Earlier this year I traveled to Florida. A quick couple of days in Miami was followed by two days exploring the Everglades before heading down the Keys and eventually out to the Dry Tortugas. At one stop along the keys we encountered two beautiful black birds. The first was a Black Vulture .

Black Vulture

There were hundreds of them. Our first clue was in the parking lot, where you could tell the first-time tourists from the seasoned veteran visitors by whether their car was covered by a blue tarp or not. Fully half the cars had tarps designed to protect the vehicles from black vultures. Protection seemed futile, however, as most of the tarps had holes ripped in them, or were pulled largely off the car onto the ground. Black vultures used many of the cars as perches.

Once on the path for the hike it was hard not to step on the vultures. They were everywhere, seemingly undaunted by human presence. Quick to scarf up any dropped morsel, they wandered around your feet, across the paths, and along the edge of the waterways. Not really domesticated, just unconcerned. A far cry from the Turkey Vultures I was used to in the northeast.

The other black bird was the Double-Crested Cormorant. Beautiful plumage and orange chin patch led to its hooked bill.

Double-Crested Cormorant

These birds too were plentiful and unafraid of the humans trudging noisily around them. If you’ve seen a cormorant, it’s likely to have been the Double-Crested.

There were many other birds as well – herons, egrets, ospreys and more. We also saw manatees, alligators, fish and frogs. More on those later.

David J. Kent is the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Reconstructing Bermuda

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David at Sandy HookMany years ago I lived in Bermuda for a college semester. There were 15 of us learning how to be marine biologists while living at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research. For two months we studied, we dived, we snorkeled, we spent hours bent over equipment in the laboratory searching for microscopic parasites. Fun was had by all.

As my old classmates responded to my recent “Barracuda of Walsingham Bay” post on Hot White Snow I realized that there are a million stories to tell. I also realized that those stories fit better here on Science Traveler. So along with other science traveling stories I’ll be reconstructing those Bermuda experiences.

To catch everyone up on the story, the following were two I posted on my creative writing blog, Hot White Snow. Click on the titles to read the full articles. I’ll follow with more on a regular basis. Who knows; some day it might make a good book.

The Barracuda of Walsingham Bay, Bermuda

Each of us were required to do a field research project of our own design. Mine was to examine the epibiota on mangrove roots in Walsingham Pond, with a comparison site in Walsingham Bay. I gathered data by snorkeling around both locations and writing my findings on waterproof tablets (the plasticized paper kind, long before iPad-type tablets). A barracuda full of teeth and curiosity followed me around the Bay. It was unnerving, and yet at the same time exhilarating. [Read more]

Bailey’s Bay Slide

Our main mode of transportation around the island was by small motor scooters called moped. While seemingly innocuous, they played central roles in several incidents, including one that makes my knee throb to this day. One day after a light rain we set out on a research expedition that turned out to be more eventful than we anticipated. This is why. [Read more]

I’ll have a lot more on our time in Bermuda. There are many stories about the science, but also many about a bunch of college kids in a semi-tropical island (think “The Real World” before MTV), and even more stories of love and intrigue.

I hope that my colleagues on that trip  – Pat Arszyla, Mark Blake, Mike Calabrese, Ed Carver, Ken Foote, Eric Henderson, Joan Kwiatkoski, Sandy Mazzo, Pat Piccirilli, Nancy Rigotty, Sue Schurman, George Skalski, CeCe Spinella, Pablo Vigliano; our professors Dr. Bob Singletary and Dr. Dean Christanson; and Bermuda Biological Station Director Wolfgang Sterrer and other instructors  – will enjoy the memories. I’ve had the privilege to reconnect with some of them after all these years. If anyone has kept in touch with those I haven’t, I would appreciate getting reintroduced.

[A quick note about the photo. It was taken a few years after Bermuda while I worked as a marine biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service at Sandy Hook, NJ. I was tagging flounder on a cold winter’s day. It was a good day to be a marine biologist, just before the laboratory burned to the ground. But, that’s another story.]

David J. Kent is an avid science traveler and the author of Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, now available. His previous books include Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate.

Check out my Goodreads author page. While you’re at it, “Like” my Facebook author page for more updates!

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Science Traveling the World – One Aquarium at a Time

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Lisbon Aquarium

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that I’m an aquarium nut. I was a marine biologist early in my scientific career, including a semester in Bermuda during college and several years working at National Marine Fisheries Service laboratories in Maryland and New Jersey.

Over the years I’ve visited 40 aquariums in the United States, Canada, Asia, Europe, and Bermuda. I have an Aquariums page on this website where I’ve logged in the places visited. As I’ve written articles about them I provide a link, and my plan is to cover all of the remaining aquariums over the next several months.

I’ve rearranged the Aquariums page to make the stories and photos easier to find. It will also serve as a handy guide to finding aquariums in your area, or an area where you plan to travel. North America is now split into regions covering New England, the Mid-Atlantic, the Southeast, the West, and Miscellaneous (for those that don’t quite fit the others). Asia and Europe remain as single entities because there are fewer aquariums to list, but I’ll expand in the future as necessary. I also hope to add aquariums from South America and Africa if and when I go to any.

Check out the Aquarium page and come back to see new additions.

David J. Kent has been a scientist for over thirty years, is an avid science traveler, and an independent Abraham Lincoln historian. He is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (now in its 5th printing) and two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His book on Thomas Edison is due in Barnes and Noble stores in spring 2016.

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Slogging Through the Smog in Beijing

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It’s no secret that Beijing has an air pollution problem. The city’s PM2.5 (a measure of particulates in the air) routinely exceed unsafe levels; and I don’t mean exceed by just a tad, exceed by 800% or more. About 4000 people per day die in China from air pollution. I saw – literally – this pollution on my most recent visit to Beijing.

The view from the apartment where I was staying, in the southern part of the city far from the touristy areas, gave me a good indication of what I was to experience.

Beijing smog

That isn’t fog; it’s smog, which smog permeated the air no matter where I went. Mid-afternoon on a “sunny” day, the huge portrait of Mao Zedong on the front wall of the Forbidden City was barely visible from Tian’anmen Square.

Beijing smog

I didn’t just happen to pick a bad day; this is routine. So routine that the government installed huge television screens, ostensibly as tourist marketing advertisements, but often filled with beautiful vistas of Chinese landscapes. They even show photos of the Forbidden City on those days where the entire facade is hidden.

Beijing smog

As I write this Beijing is preparing for its September 3rd remembrance of the end of World War II for China 70 years before. As with many big international events held in Beijing, including the 2008 Olympics and the 2014 APEC Summit, the Chinese government has ordered stopgap measures to make Beijing more palatable to foreign dignitaries. This means closing down much of the capital, shutting down factories, and banning odd/even tagged cars on alternate days. These result in temporary cleansing of the air – just long enough for the foreign press to get nice pictures. Once the grand show is over, the air clogs up again and residents don their dust masks in a feeble attempt at normalcy.

Science Traveler will cover more of the science of China in future posts. One area of interest is the impact of a growing middle class, and the consumption that goes with it, on energy demand. China has a coal and oil problem even worse than the United States, but it also has been building solar and wind capacity. Clearly they have to do something, not just for climate change considerations, but for the health of their own citizens.

David J. Kent is the author of Tesla: The Wizard of Electricity (2013) and Edison: The Inventor of the Modern World (2016) (both Fall River Press). He has also written two e-books: Nikola Tesla: Renewable Energy Ahead of Its Time and Abraham Lincoln and Nikola Tesla: Connected by Fate. His next book, Lincoln: The Man Who Saved America, is scheduled for release in summer 2017.

Follow me by subscribing by email on the home page.  And feel free to “Like” my Facebook author’s page and connect on LinkedIn.  Share with your friends using the buttons below.

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