Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Electric Coop tests ‘transactional energy’ to cope in a climate-emergency world
Rooftop solar power may seem like 21st-century energy tech but to a certain extent, it takes a 19th-century approach. After all, a solar panel is a machine that sends out electricity to be used by somebody else, just like Seabrook Station or the Sewell’s Falls...
How to preserve a snowflake (meteorological, not political)
Wilson Bentley (1865-1931) who lived his entire life in Jericho, Vermont, is the guy who invented how to photograph a snowflake. In his honor, the column The Outside Story had a piece last week on how you - yes, you! - can preserve a fast-melting snowflake on a glass...
Hand-count vs. machine-count ballots: let’s look at the data
Another natural experiment about the accuracy of AccuVote machines occurs because almost half the polling places in New Hampshire still hand-count their ballots on election nights. In 2020, there were three recounts of multi-town state representative districts which...
How accurate are our ballot-counting machines? Let’s look at the data
The machines that count our paper ballots every election in New Hampshire are so old they run on out-of-date Windows XP from 20 years ago, which is why some people like to cast doubt on their accuracy. (Strangely, people only cast doubt when their candidates loses. I...
New Hampshire patents through Dec. 12
By Targeted News Service The following patents were assigned in New Hampshire from Dec. 5 to Dec. 12.Parallel Wireless Assigned Patent for Locally-Generated TEIDs for Core High Availability Parallel Wireless, Nashua, New Hampshire, has been assigned a patent (No....
Novel design with ‘soft joints’ makes stretchy crystals
From Dartmouth News Service: Researchers have discovered a new way to make crystals stretchy, a modification that could enable them to act as very effective nanofilters. “Picture a diamond that behaves like a rubber band,” says Assistant Professor of Chemistry...
No New England winter power shortages unless all hell breaks loose, in weather or supply chains
The winter outlook for New England’s electricity grid is mostly the same as it has been for several years: We have more than enough power as long as the weather doesn’t get really bad for really long. But the 2021-22 winter outlook from ISO-New England, which operates...
Plymouth State to try some vehicle-to-grid power
From Plymouth State University: Environmental sustainability, financial flexibility, and enhanced student services will be coming together in the form of two leased Nissan Leaf "vehicle to grid" (V2G) capable electric cars. Plymouth State plans to have the first V2G...
In Vermont, 31 towns jointly run a fiber network
Fiber-optic cables are the present and future of the information superhighway (I've always loved that phrase and darned if I'm going to give it up) and they're finally starting to spread outside through northern New England, sidestepping copper DSL and cable TV...
Evolution is great except when it’s not (COVID edition)
Evolution is an amazing process but when it comes to COVID-19, I wish it would slow down a bit. The imminent arrival of the Omicron variant while the Delta variant is still rampaging through New Hampshire is not really a surprise. Thanks to evolution people have been...
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