Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
It’s still legal for NH state employees to modify the weather, even with a ground-based gun
I'd hate to choose just one section of New Hampshire laws that is the weirdest, but Chapter 12-F has to be in the running. It says, in totality: Any department or agency of the state may, with the approval of the governor and council and within the limits of...
N.H. gets deliberate fires to prevent accidental fires
New Hampshire has long seen prescribed burning around Concord Municipal Airport, in order to maintain the ecosystem that supports the Karner blue and frosted elfin butterflies. (Story here) But now, as NHPR reports (here), we're going to start seeing some deliberate...
Tick tubes or bait boxes – which kills more ticks?
The snow is gone or going, depending on where you live in the state, so it's time to start worrying about ticks. There's a new study of two similar methods to get small rodents to apply pesticide to themselves: tick tubes and bait boxes. I I wrote about tick tubes...
Great explainer about solar for towns
UPDATE: Town meeting passed this easily. The town of Bristol wants to build a 200-kw solar array to cut costs for their wastewater treatment plant. Their energy committee has created a terrific 17-minute video pitching it to voters that covers a lot of questions you...
N.H. patents through March 14
By Targeted News Service The following patents were assigned in New Hampshire from March 7 to March 14. ***Centripetal Networks Assigned Patent for Systems for Protecting Secured Network Centripetal Networks, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has been assigned a patent (No....
At UNH they’re looking for an aqueous battery breakthrough
From UNHInnovation: Xiaowei Teng is a professor and chair of chemical engineering at UNH. His research focuses on aqueous electrochemical energy storage devices that use a water-based electrolyte, which is less likely to burn if exposed to air or moisture. Teng...
February: colder than average, warmer than normal
There’s no better measure of how New England’s winters are changing than this: February a bit colder than average in New Hampshire but it was a bit warmer than normal. Confused? Blame terminology – and climate change, of course. In this case, “average” is a comparison...
Another right-to-repair bill for N.H. is in trouble
A N.H. legislative committee has narrowly given a thumbs-down to a watered-down version of a "right-to-repair" law, continuing the trend of lawmakers in the Live Free or Die state saying people shouldn't be free to fiddle with things they buy. The bill would require...
When is a tiny house not a tiny house? When it’s a cottage home!
The city of Dover has approved a development of 44 houses on 7 acres, each of them 384 square feet. They are called "cottage homes". I'm not sure how that differentiates from a tiny house, which is usually defined as less than 400 square feet. Seacoast Online has the...
How do creeks and hills get their names (and can I play, too)?
UPDATE: I posted this on Reddit and my "best name" was promptly beaten: https://geonames.usgs.gov/apex/f?p=138:3:::NO:3:P3_FID,P3_TITLE:865853,Bumfagging%20Hill The contest for Best Name of a Geographic Object in New Hampshire has a new champion, thanks to an...
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