Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Trump’s USDA may give green light to GMO chestnut tree
Word is percolating online that Trump's mangled/decimated US Department of Agriculture might go ahead approve a genetically modified variant of the American chestnut tree, a wonderful species that as you probably know was wiped out by fungus. This is the latest twist...
Science Cafe 6/17: ‘Impacts of Tech on Child Development’
Science Cafe NH is closing out the first half of the 2025 season with an important topic concerning technology and children. The event will feature panelists exploring "The Impacts of Technology on Child Development." Attendees can expect a lively conversation...
Community Power Coalition, a sort of co-op for buying electricity, is having a tough time
From NHPR: (full story is here) Electric rates for members of the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire are higher, for the first time, than rates for customers with any of the state’s investor-owned utility companies. As community power programs have grown in...

From YouTube to the language of the universe via polynomials
Just like you and me, Dean Rubine admits that he sometimes wastes time online. “When I’m not doing my real job, I like to watch math on YouTube,” he said. OK, maybe he’s not just like you and me. And as we’ll see, it’s not always a waste of time. Rubine is a computer...
Community college students solve DNA extraction conundrum
From NHTI News: Two students at NHTI-Concord’s Community College have solved a problem that has impacted the school’s Biology II class for years. Noah Ford and Sophia Lemay refined a complex method to successfully extract DNA from a bacteriophage, allowing future...
NH patents through June 8
(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 8. *** Disinfection Devices and Methods Using the Same SOCLEAN, INC.,...

Vermont’s electric airplane lands at JFK – with passengers
the fascinating Vermont company BETA Technologies, developing electric passenger aircraft of both convential and vertical take-off-and-landing types, made a splasy arrival at JFK Airport in New York. Press release here, full of the usual self-congratulatory quotes...

Why did 11,650 amphibians cross the road? To get to the other side safely!
Turtles aren’t the only species endangered by cars when spring arrives , as noted in this earlier post. Frogs and salamanders face automotive peril, as well. For years, the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock has run Salamander Crossing Bridges, in...

You’re tough but are you as tough as a turtle? (Answer: no)
Next time you have to sit through some guy’s boring litany about how tough he is, here’s a good way to end the blather: “Dude, you think you’re resilient, but you’re no turtle.” “We have some turtles that come in just totally obliterated-looking. People tell us, ‘No...
NH patents through June 1
(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 1. *** System and Method for Automation of Surgical Pathology...