Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
N.H. to offshore wind: Plug in here!
It doesn't seem like New Hampshire has a lot to bring to the table for the coming boom in Gulf of Maine offshore wind. We haven't been doing much basic R&D like Maine, we don't have much in the way of industrial seaport facilities like Massachusetts, our coastline...
Hub-and-spoke satellites will study space turbulence
We’ve all gotten familiar with the idea of a hub-and-spoke system for everything from airline flights (you have to visit Newark before you can visit L.A.) to home computer networks (except for the printer, which can never seen to get connected). But I wasn’t expecting...
N.H. patents through Feb. 13
By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire from Feb. 6 to Feb. 13. NB Research Assigned Patent for System, Method for Securing Resource NB Research, Bedford, New Hampshire, has been assigned a patent...
Wastewater monitoring of virus is growing but random sampling would be better
A month ago this column talked about the possibility of using wastewater monitoring to keep an eye on COVID-19 when – we move into endemic status. The Centers for Disease Control has now taken a step in that direction. Last week it released a web dashboard...
NASA chooses UNH satellite swarm to study solar wind turbulence
From SpaceNews: NASA has selected a University of New Hampshire cluster of smallsats to monitor turbulence in the solar wind, as well as a second project to study the sun’s corona, as its next Explorer-class heliophysics missions. Here is the NASA announcement. NASA...
Utility poles (definitely not telephone poles) for sale: 175,393 of them
Utility poles don't get much attention considering that they are the most visible part of both the telecommunication and energy system, but the state's Consumer Advocate wants that to change. The consumer advocate, Don Kreis, is drawing attention to a deal in which...
Online scammers have to educate people on tech, just like you with your parents
I don't want to make fun of people who suffer from online scams, which are repulsive and pernicious, but I couldn't help but chuckle at a quote from the assistant attorney general in my story warning about Valentine's Day-related romance scams. With bitcoin, he said...
N.H. decides cryptocurrency is worth studying
N.H. Gov. Chris Sununu said Wednesday he will name a 12-person commission to hold hearings and make recommendations on laws and regulations dealing with cryptocurrency and "digital assets". The commission will include the attorney general, state banking commissioner,...
Three NH wastewater plants are part of national COVID-19 monitoring
Three New Hampshire treatment plants are part of a CDC database detecting COVID-19 in wastewater. Judging from the map, I think they're Concord, Claremont and Conway. At the moment there is recent data only from Conway, which saw a drop of between 10% and 99% over the...
Now *this* would be useful: A way to detect lost or unsuspected electronics in the house
From Dartmouth News Service: Radar technology that has been used to track flying insects and detect explosives can also be used to discover and identify unknown or unwanted electronic devices in homes. Beatrice Perez, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of...
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