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Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire 

Unleaded gas coming to small planes, finally

I got my general aviation pilot's license close to 40 years ago and haven't flown since - couldn't afford it then, don't need it now - but recently I learned something that I should have known all along: I was flying with leaded gasoline! While commercial jets use...

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Do cell phones belong in the wilderness?

The Appalachian Mountain Club has an excellent piece online (right here) debating the role of cell phones when hiking in the White Mountains and wilderness areas of the Northeast. It's well worth a full read. The story includes an interview with Lt. Jim Kneeland of NH...

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N.H. patents through Nov. 6

(Note: The US Patent Service has changed the way it reports patents and as a result, we can no longer include direct links to each patent. You can find them here, using the patent number. Sorry for the inconvenience.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The...

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Ballot-counting machine using Linux was tested in NH

Ballot-counting machine using Linux was tested in NH

Voters in three small New Hampshire towns will be putting their ballots into a new type of counting machine Tuesday – one that runs on open-source software rather than company-controlled software – in a pilot project to see whether digital transparency can increase...

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‘Compostable’ plastic doesn’t, usually

CNN reports: "A new study conducted in the UK found that 60% of products labeled as compostable do not fully break down in home compost." And unlike conventional plastics, these alternatives are largely unregulated, despite their advertised benefits." (The story is...

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Big investment bucks flow toward … culverts?

Big investment bucks flow toward … culverts?

Body Here’s a sentence I didn’t expect to hear during an interview: “That’s why, all of a sudden, people are talking about culverts.” This might be a bit of an exaggeration – OK, it’s a wild exaggeration – but the statement from Rachel Rouillard, director of...

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About Granite Geek

Dave Brooks has written a weekly science/tech newspaper column since 1991 – yes, that long – and has written this blog since 2006, keeping an eye on geekish topics in and around the Granite State. He discusses the geek world regularly on WGIR-AM radio, and moderated the monthly Science Cafe NH sessions when they were still a thing. He joined the Concord Monitor in 2015.

Brooks earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics but got lost on the way to the Ivory Tower and ended up in a newsroom. He has reported for newspapers from Tennessee to New England. Rummage through his bag of awards you’ll find oddities like three Best Blog prizes from the New Hampshire Press Association, Writer of the Year award from the N.H. Farm and Forest Bureau (of all places) and his 2024 induction into the New England Newspaper Hall of Fame.

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