Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Signs, signs, everywhere a (campaign) sign, blocking out the scenery, messing my mind …
New Hampshire's elections have not seen much in the way of electronic campaign signs - we're still in the land of cardboard/plastic on little metal brackets. I guess that's better? As the state gets closer to the September party primary, I dusted off an article...
It’s dry up here but what’s happening underground?
As we all crunch across our lawns in yet another dry summer, we should spare a moment’s thought for what’s happening underground. It might be changing and that might not be good. “It seems we are seeing a shift in baseline conditions of our monitoring wells,” is how...
Wastewater testing for monkeypox comes to Maine, maybe NH soon
Portland's water district will start testing wastewater for the monkeypox virus, reports the Bangor Daily News (paywalled). The private company Biobot tests for COVID at a couple of NH wastewater plants (data is here). I queried them yesterday and was told "we're...
Aging New Hampshire is going to need robot helpers, whether we like it or not
Technology won’t succeed unless we’re ready for it. New Hampshire, where the population is getting older and we don’t have enough caregivers, needs to get ready for robots. “In Japan, it is not shocking to think you will spend the last 10 years of your life with a...
Lyme disease is here to stay, vaccine or no
The need for a human vaccine against Lyme disease is a reminder that this tick-borne disease remains a major problem in New Hampshire even though our attention has been diverted by the pandemic. “We’ve been 100% focused on COVID for two years and just now are digging...
N.H. patents through Aug. 14
By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire from Aug. 7 through Aug. 14. *** Cirkul Assigned Patent for Adjustable Additive Cartridge Systems, Methods Cirkul, Tampa, Florida, has been assigned a patent (No....
UVM teaches first responders what to do with drones
Drones can be really valuable for emergency workers, giving a birds-eye view of the situation or even carrying small supplies to remote locations quickly. But using them property isn't always easy, so it's cool that the University of Vermont's Spatial Analysis Lab...
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...
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