Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Changing climate means trees are keeping more nitrogen, depriving the soil
Warmer seasons and later onset of cold weather in the Northeast appears to be changing the chemical composition of leaves that fall from hardwood trees, reducing the amount of nitrogen available in the soil. Less soil nitrogen (actually, a different carbon-nitrogen...
First the bark, now the leaves: Beech trees are taking it hard
A few weeks ago a reader suggested I write about beech leaf disease, but I said it wasn’t that big a deal. Then I went for a walk in the woods and was astonished – but not in a good way. “Our beech has been dealing with bark disease for so long they’re already in...
The heat dome in the coolest summer of the rest of our lives
I was on vacation playing with a grandchild during last week’s heat dome, so I didn’t pay much attention to the details. Now I’m back at work and wondering: How bad was it? Bad, of course. The state’s official thermometer at Concord airport broke the daily heat record...
NH patents through June 29
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through June 29. Iron Nanoparticles and Methods of Production UNIVERSITY OF NEW...
Everything you wish you didn’t have to know about why ticks carry so many diseases
An online news source with the clumsy name The Conversation has a long, well-reported piece on why ticks carry so many bad diseases. You can read it here. Contained in every bite of this infuriating, insatiable pest is also a trove of social, environmental and...
Utility unveils an almost-but-not-quite-5 MW solar array
Not everybody is crazy about utilty-owned solar; they fear the utilities will favor their own setup and squash independents. Nonetheless, let's celebrate a just-barely-under-the-state's-silly-5MW-net-metering-limit array, via a Unitil press release: Unitil Corporation...
You have to flip a lot of pages on the calendar to find the last time it didn’t rain on a Saturday
Something weird is going to happen Saturday in Concord: It won’t rain. Not raining on Saturdays didn’t used to be weird, but then The Spring of 2025 arrived with orders to dampen our weekends. Dampen them, it did. According to the National Weather Service, the gauge...
Yes, they’re all scams
I hate overreacting to bad news, but I don’t think this statement is an overreaction: All emails, texts and phone calls that you get from companies, non-profits and government organizations are scams. Yes, all of them. Sounds extreme, I know, but this is the only...
Curious about ham radio? Field Day (June 28, 29) is your chance to learn
Every year amateur radio operators, also known as ham radio operators, participate in a nationwide event called Field Day on June 28 and June 29, 2025. The primary objective of Field Day is for ham operators to practice transmitting and receiving from remote...
NH patents through June 15
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through June 15. *** System, Method, and Apparatus for Detecting Air in a Fluid...
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