One of the most intriguing regional disasters of the past century – the Great Molasses Flood that killed 21 people in Boston’s North End in 1919 after a 2 million-gallon storage tank burst – has gotten the attention of academics who were curious about why it was so bad. The NY Times has a big story about it (here it is), but in summary, the weather was just wrong: warm enough to allow the molasses to flow very fast, but cold enough that it congealed quickly and trapped people.
Return to the Concord MonitorAbout 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.