Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Electric boats coming (slowly) to Maine coast
The always reliable Tux Turkel has a piece in the Portland Press-Herald about the tentative arrival of electric boats along the Maine coast. (Read it here) This quote sums it up, I think: “I think we’re in the early, Tesla stages,” he said, making a car analogy. “It’s...
Historic Vermont wind-power site gets NIMBY’d
A hill known as Grandpa's Knob near Rutland, Vermont, is generally considered to have been the site of the first large (1 MW) electricty-generating wind turbine, back in 1941. (VPR story here) A truly historic accomplishment that New England should be proud of. A...
They’ll have no problem finding volunteers for this vaccine trial, I suspect
By LAURAN NEERGAARD and SHELBY LUM, Associated Press: Researchers are seeking thousands of volunteers in the U.S. and Europe to test the first potential vaccine against Lyme disease in 20 years. While a vaccine for dogs has long been available, the only Lyme vaccine...
UNH: Tiny satellites have a big scientific ROI
From UNH News Service: Good things can indeed come in small packages, especially when it relates to satellite technology. Scientists at the University of New Hampshire have found that innovative miniature CubeSats, usually no larger than a box of tissues, can be just...
Professor of therapy and professor of computing get boost for Alzheimer’s care robot
Video of a test can be seen here. From UNH News Service: Researchers at the University of New Hampshire will receive a five-year grant totaling $2.8 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to develop and test social assistive robots to aid in the care of...
Saving a bunny rabbit species as the climate changes
Heidi Holman wants you to know that it’s not her fault all the lettuce you planted in the spring has disappeared. “I often get letters from people that are very upset about their garden because we’ve released so many rabbits,” said Holman, a wildlife biologist at New...
We’re not the new Tornado Alley, despite how it feels
Is it just me or does it feel like we’re having more tornadoes in and around New Hampshire these days? I wouldn’t be surprised if we were. The climate emergency is making everything else worse so it’s only logical that it would increase the number of dangerous wind...
A musical two-fer: 1. The undignified end of old pianos …
There is a certain sort of online for-sale ad, whether in the pages of the Monitor or placed on Craigslist or tucked into social media, that sounds kind of sad. “Piano – still sounds great! The kids are grown and it doesn’t get played anymore. Give it a good home,...
… 2. Looking for a few good bassoon players
The last couple of years have seen such a parade of problems that it’s hard to be surprised by them any more. Even so, here’s a problem you probably haven’t thought of: New Hampshire is facing a shortage of bassoon players. A combination of factors made worse by COVID...
Dartmouth Health: N.H. isn’t an outlier in pediatric cancer after all
From Dartmouth Health: In 2018, a paper by David A. Siegel, MD, MPH, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) made headlines in New Hampshire. The paper reported that the state of New Hampshire and the Northeast region of the U.S. have some of the...
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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 WGIR-AM radio..
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.