Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Space weather update from UNH’s “PlasmaPhysicsMom”
Amy Keesee, a UNH space physicist, has led a team that has mapped a "highway" of charged particles in Earth's magnetosphere created during solar storms which "could help scientists predict when dangerous effects of space weather might be headed towards Earth." That's...
Batteries in cars & buildings aren’t changing NH fire-fighting much – yet
As we all know, water and electricity don’t mix. Unless, that is, you’re fighting an electric-car fire. “It’s like a normal fire attack, but you have to have an adequate supply of water to ensure you can cool that battery. You may need additional water supply,” said...
Maine lab thinks kelp can soak up CO2
Associated Press: A Maine science center has received a grant of almost $900,000 for research into ways that aquaculture of kelp can be used to combat climate change. Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences received the money from the World Wildlife Fund with support...
First biofuel rocket gets a test flight in Maine
Space.com reports on a space first in the Pine Tree State: A small rocket billed as the world's first commercial booster powered by biofuel has launched from Maine. The Brunswick-based startup bluShift Aerospace launched its first rocket prototype, called Stardust...
Pool testing of saliva for COVID could be part of post-pandemic life
(Note: after this was published I heard from readers about a few places doing this already, including Graphicast, a graphite mold casting company in Jaffrey.) For the last half-year of COVID-watching, we have been fixated on the number of cases and more recently on...
N.H. cities, towns think about buying their own electricity
The Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire is a nonprofit that is trying to get enough cities and towns to buy their electricity together, bypassing the utilities (for energy but not transmission - there's no getting around that). The select board in Hanover has...
‘Roaring Kitty’ of GameStop/Robinhood fame started roaring (well – meowing) in New Hampshire
The Reddit/YouTube/TikTok handle Roaring Kitty became quite famous due to the little-guy-vs-hedge-fund investment frenzy via the RobinHood app. The story has become more complicated since this column ran, with GameStop's price plummeting again Well, the kitty was...
N.H. patents through Jan. 31
By Targeted News Service The following patents were assigned in New Hampshire from Jan. 24 to Jan. 31. *** Parallel Wireless Assigned Patent for SON Accounting for Max Geographical Distance Parallel Wireless, Nashua, New Hampshire, has been assigned a patent (No....
Dartmouth Students win NASA challenge with lunar rover built in a garage
Science and engineering are full of acronyms, of course. Some are good and some are not. This one is good: Their idea, SHREWs — Strategic Highly-compliant Roving Explorers of other Worlds — is inspired by the rodents of the same name, which link up mouth to tail in a...
Life during COVID: Toss, wipe, water
Since I work for the Concord Monitor, this story is Concord-specific. But I bet the situation is the same for your city. Looking back on 2020, it’s clear that people in Concord did three things when the pandemic hit: Threw stuff out, watered the lawn and wiped down...
Return to the Concord Monitor