Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
How about a drone shooting pepper spray?
A couple of New Hampshire inventors in Wilcox Industries in Newington NH have gotten a patent for switch-out-able units under a drone that could be used for "crowd control" via pepper spray, thermite or a "pike missile launchers" (!!!!) What could go wrong? The patent...
Why does Vermont keep flooding?
Remember when Vermont was listed as one of the places to go, to avoid climate change disasters? How things have changed. The state has been hit by back-to-back-to-back-to-back historic flooding. Tyler Jankoski of the NBC affiliate in Vermont pointed out that in 130...
The Ig Nobels are returning to MIT
That's fitting, I think; Harvard always seemed a little too establishment for the cleverest geek parody show around. Here's the news from Marc Abrahams, the chief Ig himself: On Thursday night, September 12, 2024, the new Ig Nobel Prize winners will be announced — and...
GE Vernova blames manufacturing defect for Vineyard Wind failure
A manufacturing defect led to the July 13 failure of a turbine blade on the Vineyard Wind offshore energy project, turbine supplier GE Vernova said in an earnings call Wednesday, according to Workboat.com. The whole article is here. The break on turbine AW38 in the...
Can a ‘just the facts’ approach move the needle on climate change?
When a global catastrophe is destroying entire towns overnight via fire, flood and storm, it shouldn’t be hard to convince people that we should take things seriously. If only. It has been 20 years since I began writing stories that warned about the alarming things...
British astonished at “new technology” in maple sugaring (hint – it’s not new)
The British newspaper the Guardian, which has a very international audience, has discovered that maple syrup isn't collected via metal buckets hung on trees any more. That's a little unfair: Their article today (here it is!) gushes that vacuum draw and tube collection...
Water flea might be giving cyanobacteria blooms a boost
One of the reason people freak out about invasive species - new, fast-spreading plants, bugs or beasts that suddenly show up in an ecosystem - is because they can cause other unexpected and often undesired changes. Case in point: The arrival of the spiny water flea...
NH patents through July 28
(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 July 28. *** Systems and Methods of Arrhythmia Detection BRAVEHEART...
This Maine wind-power move is interesting. I have no idea what it means.
You can't know everything, so the sensible thing to do is to decide what topics you will ignore completely, saving your mental energy for everything else. Long ago, I decided that for me, large-scale finance is one of those topics. When complex financial agreements or...
Protecting backends from hackers is important, especially when toilets are involved
Considering that he’s one of the state’s most important cybersecurity folks whose organization is helping to secure vital government facilities, there are times when Jason Sgro gives some unexpected advice. “We’ve run into wastewater and drinking water facilities that...
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