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MadMax

Maxime Marquette

Independent columnist · MadMax

MadMax is an independent bilingual news outlet based in Québec, publishing analysis on geopolitics, technology, democracy, and culture.

Our mission: rigorous, source-cited analysis carried out with full editorial independence — no sponsorship, no party line.

Our editorial standards: sources are cited inline, corrections are fixed and logged publicly, and any use of artificial intelligence is disclosed.

Fire first

“Burn rather than rot. Write rather than stay silent.”

Write as if burning

Fire first. Sentences after. No lukewarm takes.

Raw truth

Always answer the strongest version of the opposing point. No strawmen.

Independence

No commissioned pieces. No editorial masters. No compromise.

Columns by Maxime Marquette

4,540 columns published
Reportage· No. 2992

The largest living organism on Earth is a fungus hiding under Oregon

We tend to imagine size records in the living world belonging to whales or giant sequoias, never to a simple fungus. Yet

Column· No. 2991

Understanding the Loss of Coral Reefs the Size of Cambodia

It's sometimes easier to grasp an ecological disaster by comparing it to something concrete rather than a simple percentage. That's exactly what

Analysis· No. 2990

Does the Amazon Rainforest Really Make Its Own Rain

The idea that a forest could literally produce its own climate sounds like something straight out of a science-fiction novel. Yet this

Analysis· No. 2989

The World's Oldest Tree Was Already Alive When the Pyramids Were Built

It's hard to imagine a living thing that already existed when the first pyramids were rising from the ground. Yet in the

Analysis· No. 2988

16,000 New Species Discovered Every Year on Earth

You might think that in the age of satellites and artificial intelligence, there isn't much left to discover on our own planet.

Analysis· No. 2987

Your Body Contains Nearly as Many Bacteria as Human Cells

It's hard to believe that a simple number, repeated without verification for decades, could establish itself as scientific truth. For a long

Note· No. 2986

DID YOU KNOW your body has a molecular clock accurate to the quarter hour

There is something almost poetic about knowing that every one of your cells carries an invisible clock, capable of measuring time with

Reportage· No. 2985

The Protein That Makes Tardigrades Nearly Indestructible

It measures less than a millimeter, looks like a tiny eight-legged bear under a microscope, and yet it has fascinated scientists worldwide

Reportage· No. 2984

Why Your DNA Is 98.8% Identical to a Chimpanzee's

When you hear that human beings share roughly 98.8% of their DNA with chimpanzees, the first reaction is usually disbelief. How can