Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Another thing we’re doing to the planet: Reducing the nitrogen that plants need
When talking about nitrogen in the ecosystem, the problem is usually an excess caused by human activity, such as runoff into New Hampshire waterways. But on a global scale, the problem might be too little nitrogen entering the ecosystem due to the usual culprit: the...
Maine’s got a lot of wind power but it wanted to have 3X as much
More than a decade ago, Maine said it wanted to generate 3,000 megawatts of electricity from onshore wind by 2020. That was a very aggressive goal and the state has fallen well short, even though it's the Northeast's leader in wind power: It generates about 1,000...
Time-of-use rate for electric car charging OK’d is parts of N.H.
By Amanda Gokee, New Hampshire Bulletin: The Public Utilities Commission has approved new rates for charging electric vehicles for those in Liberty and Unitil coverage areas. The decision advances what’s called “time-of-use rates,” which means the price you pay for...
Induction stoves beat gas stoves and I won’t set fire to any more potholders
My brother is something of an electronics pack rat and I often get his hand-me-downs. I’ve learned not to be surprised when gently used laptops, routers, MP3 players and the like suddenly arrive in the mail, but his most recent gift was surprising. It was an induction...
Idea: Launch polar rockets from the ocean off Maine
A company called BluShift that wants to send small rockets into polar orbits from coastal Maine has switched plans to using a "liftboat" - a large, flat boat with long retractable legs that can be lowered to the ocean floor, stabilizing it. The Bangor Daily News has...
Two years and counting to the solar eclipse going through northern NH
It's a little less than two years now until a solar eclipse will zip across Coos County on April 8, 2024. The day will be an official non-holiday holiday. I've been writing about this since 2019 ("Time to Panic - it's only five years until New Hampshire's total...
Time to hit the hiking trails – those rocky, too-steep, overly popular hiking trails
I wrote a short story about repairs coming to the much-loved but much-overused Franconia Loop hiking trail - one of the greatest day hikes in the entire world. You can read it here, but the reason I bring this up is that it's an excuse to revisit one of my all-time...
N.H. patents through April 10
By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire from April 3 to April 10 . *** Antenum Assigned Patent for FM Scavenging for Wireless Charging Antenum, Merrimack, New Hampshire, has been assigned a patent...
Algorithms textbook is a million-seller (and a Jeopardy! clue)
It’s a rare textbook that has sold over a million copies, has a Twitter account, has been a clue on Jeopardy!, and even made a cameo appearance in a popular Chinese soap opera. That distinction belongs to the best-selling Introduction to Algorithms,...
The tech woe of interoperability haunts wildlife-spotting efforts
A century ago, when the Audubon Society’s Christmas Bird Count was just getting started, the idea of asking random people to provide field data about wildlife was ridiculous. These days it’s almost overwhelming. Organizations from most state wildlife agencies to the...
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