Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
While you were shoveling the driveway they were shoveling in the woods – for science!
It takes a lot of incentive to get people to go out into the woods and shift 15,000 kilograms (16.5 tons) of snow around by hand. Fortunately, scientific curiosity is a great incentive. Earlier this month, six people spent three days at Hubbard Brook Experimental...
U.S. seafood workers at increased risk for COVID-19 during pandemic
My native thought was that the seafood industry would have less COVID-19 than most of us because they're fishing, well separated and in the open air. But much of the industry involves processing fish indoors so that you can I can get those convenient fillets, and...
Are rental and vacation homes the reason it’s hard to find housing?
What explains the incredibly tight housing market in New Hampshire right now, with rental units almost impossible to find and houses snapped up the moment a For Sale sign appears? One possibility is that the market is being artificially squeezed by vacation homes or...
N.H. patents issued through March 13
By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire from March 13 to March 20. *** Desprez Assigned Patent for Methods Software for Pricing-Method-Agnostic Ecommerce Marketplace for Manufacturing Services...
Permanent DST would squelch our Atlantic Time Zone fantasies
(This ran in the Monitor on Thursday. Also on Thursday, Buzzfeed News ran a piece (here) saying the Senate vote was sort of a mistake, snuck through under an obscure thing called unanimous consent. So dropping Daylight Saving Time may not be as near as we thought.)...
Heat pumps are awesome; shared heat pumps are awesomer
Here’s an idea for Concord as it tries to cut its carbon emissions: Swap individual gas furnaces in buildings for a city-wide heating system fueled by a renewable source. Pull that off and we’d be the envy of the net-zero world! Yes, that’s sarcasm – and...
Solar, wind, batteries & demand response = 15% of NE power needs by 2025
As a further sign of changes happening to the electric grid, non-traditional power sources – solar and wind generation, energy storage and reduction in demand resources – accounted for 15% of all power production that won the latest futures auction in New England, far...
New movie about Mount Washington rescue looks awfully Alps-y
New Hampshire’s own Mount Washington will be the star of a major motion picture opening later this month but be warned: It’s not any Mount Washington we’re familiar with. “I told my friends who pointed that out: just roll with it!” said Pam Bales, a back-country...
With less COVID to track, the COVID tracker ends
For 20 months I've writing a week "COVID tracker" in the Monitor, trying to give a sense of how the pandemic was doing in New Hampshire. It was spurred by confusion over all the numbers we were hearing in the early days and has been surprisingly popular even as we've...
Science advocacy group launches N.H. candidate recruitment program
It's great to hear that a national advocacy group is launching a drive in New Hampshire "aimed at encouraging more individuals from science fields to run for state office" - but it's depressing that they feel limited to just one political party, the Democrats. Here's...
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