Anti-vax folks will love this: N.H. measles case was a vaccine reaction
This is a breaking story as I am putting together the newsletter, and more details may emerge. This news is good for the patient who doesn't have measles, but it's unfortunate for those of us trying to prevent anti-vaccine foolishness from deluding the public. One of...
read moreA ‘non-wires alternative’ to electric line upgrades
What is it with the little towns on the Connecticut River west of Keene? First Chesterfield sets up the state's first municipally-supported broadband network with Consolidated Communications, now its neighbor Westmoreland is the target of an unusual 'non-wires...
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Sneaker-net lives!
I moderated my 60th - if I'm counting correctly - Science Cafe New Hampshire this week. It featured three UNH physics professors ( Francois Foucart, James Ryan, and David Mattingly) talking about black holes and other deep-space astrophysics stuff. Science fans came...
read moreSmall ‘nudges’ may undermine support for big (and necessary) change
An intriguing paper in Nature argues that the usual method of getting people into environmental activism by doing little things first (turn out that light! take a shorter shower!) is actually counter-productive for getting real change. Across six experiments,...
read moreAnimal + electric transformer = darkness
In the course of my career I have written several articles when an animal (squirrel, hawk, something else that I forget) gets into an electrical system and blows out power to thousands of people. Here's an example. Spring is prime animals-screw-up-power season, so...
read moreJoin a statewide makerspace flash mob
New Hampshire has had makerspaces for almost a decade, so the first one and by most measures the biggest wants to celebrate. MakeIt Labs in Nashua is holding its first regional festival next month. MakeIt Fest will have representatives from New Hampshire makerspaces...
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No-till & other types of sustainable farming are catching on in N.H.
From UNH News Service: New Hampshire farmers are increasingly moving to more sustainable farming practices, with those adopting no-till, reduced-till, and cover crop practices dramatically increasing since 2012, according to the 2017 Census of Agriculture....
read moreN.H. hotel disclaims connection to anti-vaccine push in New York’s Jewish Orthodox community
Even as New Hampshire faces another measles scare (an infected child in Keene), a North County hotel beloved by parts of New York's Orthodox Jewish community is pushing back against that group's anti-vaccination claims. As I report in the Monitor (read the story...
read moreNew Hampshire patents
The Concord Monitor runs a list of patents that have been issued recently to companies or individuals in New Hampshire. Check it out.
read moreWood-burning power plant’s waste heat may grow some leafy greens
Burgess BioPower, a wood-burning electricity plant in the North County city of Berlin, has gotten a $500,000 state grant to heat a greenhouse for vegetables with its waste heat. From a press release: The recovered energy will be used to heat a state-of-the-art, $25...
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Science Cafe NHAbout Granite Geek
Dave Brooks has written a science/tech column since 1991 – yes, that long – and has written this blog since 2006, keeping an eye on topics of geekish interest in and around New Hampshire, from software to sea level rise, population dynamics to printing (3-D, of course). He moderates monthly Science Cafe NH discussions, beer in hand, and discusses the geek world regularly on WKXL radio in Concord.
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 and a Writer of the Year award from the N.H. Farm and Forest Bureau, of all places. He joined the Concord Monitor in 2015.