Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Companies say they’ll use Maine wood to make fuel and fertilizer
The Bangor Daily News has a story about several companies looking to convert old paper mills into factories that turn wood into biochar (as I've reported) or biofuels of various types. It's a hopeful sign both for environmental reasons and for the economy of the North...
What if instead of the station filling my car, my car could fill the station?
Next time you’re filling up your car and moaning about the cost, imagine if the price of gas went down at midnight and you could fill up at night without leaving the house. Replace “gas” with “electricity” and that’s smart charging. Better yet, imagine if you could...
Offshore wind for me but not for thee (for certain thees, at least)
Parochialism is fun in sports, not so fun when tackling global disasters. A UNH study of offshore wind found, alas, we don't make that distinction. We conducted two surveys – one in Rhode Island and the other on the New Hampshire coast – to see how people felt about...
Ugh – a return (even if momentary) of the COVID tracker
Six weeks ago, the >italic<Concord Monitor>res< happily mothballed the weekly COVID Tracker after 20 months of pondering the ups and downs of the pandemic, with fingers crossed that it would never return. Alas, we have had to uncross our fingers, at least...
Plastic ‘recycling’ is a joke – a painful one
"Tthe high recycling rates of post-consumer paper, cardboard, and metals prove thatrecycling can be an effective way to reclaim valuable natural material resources. The problemlies not with the concept or process of recycling but with the material itself – it is...
N.H. patents through May 1
By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire from April 24 through May 1. *** Centripetal Networks Assigned Patent for Efficient Threat Context-Aware Packet Filtering for Network Protection Centripetal...
Anti-Lyme Disease GMO mice still targeted for Nantucket
Since at lease 2016 there was talk about releasing tons of GMO white-footed mice on Nantucket, a Lyme disease hotbed, to test whether we can break the Lyme transmission cycle. There's still talk, reports the Boston Globe, although it's getting closer. Rather than...
UNH to monitor underwater sound for Vineyard Wind
Vineyard Wind, the offshore-wind farm that hopes to start producing power next year, has announced a new multi-year collaboration with the University of New Hampshire to deploy a Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) device to record ambient sound and marine mammal...
Sex secrets of amphibian singing choruses
The above headline is taken from the Dartmouth press release because I can't improve on any headline starting with "sex secrets". The web story (here it is) has a link to a video/audio recording showing this cool camera at work. NY Times Science has a story today too...
Trimming climate change impact, one cooler door at a time
Tackling big problems, as I’m sure you’re been told, requires thinking outside the box. Even if the box is vertical, chilled, and full of tomorrow’s dinner. “Ten years ago, this was heresy – putting a door between the product and the customer!” said George Parmenter,...
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