Segway-ish wheelchair gets insurance coverage, finally
More than two decades ago I was one of the reporters who got an early peek* at an eye-popping machine being developed by Dean Kamen: a motorized wheelchair that could stand up on two wheels, raising its occupant to eye level with standing adults, and also climb...Bubble curtain may cut noise during offshore-wind construction
Some whales blow bubbles to create a rising “curtain” that helps them trap fish. The folks doing the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm are looking into doing something similar during construction to reduce undersea noise. ReNews has the story. A bubble...N.H. patents through May 14
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through May 14. *** Methods and Systems for Efficient Encrypted SNI Filtering for Cybersecurity...From little animals, mighty oaks (and other trees) grow
From UNH News Service: Mushrooms and many other less well-known types of fungi play key roles in forested ecosystems, helping transfer nutrients and water to plants and protecting roots from parasites found in the soil. In return, the fungi receive carbon-based food...Maine flower comes back from the extinction brink
From the Center for Biological Diversity: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today that an endangered flower in Maine is recovering under the Endangered Species Act and has been downlisted to threatened status. Furbish’s lousewort is a nearly 3-foot-tall,...
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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.