Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
How to make one of those iPad telepresence robots? Magnets!
I've been helping the local high school's FIRST Robotics team for a decade, although not technically - they've got real engineers. I write and put together the kids' parody musical as part of their fund-raising night, and they are much better than you're thinking...
Men are the weaker sex when it comes to COVID-19
One of the poorly understood aspects of COVID-19 (one of many) is that it affects males more severely than females, if I may be binary when considering gender. This July study on the CDC page, for example, found that globally, "the overall COVID-19 case-fatality ratio...
Opinions still run high over that Antrim wind farm
National Wind Watch came to see how folks felt about the Antrim Wind Power after it was finally built following a long, contentious legal battle. You will not be surprised to hear that opinions built up over years of debate haven't changed much: Almost a year after...
New Hampshire patents through Dec. 6
By Targeted News Service The following patents were assigned in New Hampshire from Nov. 29 to Dec. 6 ***Hypertherm Assigned Patent for Connecting Plasma Arc Torches Hypertherm, Hanover, New Hampshire, has been assigned a patent (No. 10,856,400, initially filed March...
In which I go from recycling fan to recycling grump to recycling realist
olks in the tech world are familiar with what is called the “hype cycle,” in which a new technology is initially praised to the skies, then gets criticized mercilessly as a complete failure, and finally (sometimes) settles in for the long haul. I’m going through...
New Hampshire needs a state spider, and it should be …
... the daring jumping spider, of course. So say elementary students in the town of Hollis and they're absolutely correct. Jumping spiders - little arachnids that don't spin webs but hunt down their prey like tiny, extra-legged wolves - are fascinating. Orb-weavers...
Not everybody is a COVID-ignoring loudmouth
Many New Hampshire residents seem to have listened to public health officials and not visited family and friends over Thanksgiving break – or told their out-of-state relatives to stay home – judging from traffic the turnpike system, which declined sharply over...
DNA confirms that at least one wolf was, or maybe still is, in Maine
There are a few thousand eastern wolves - a slightly smaller relative of the gray wolf - in Ontario and Quebec. DNA analysis of scat found in northern Maine near Canada shows that at least one of them has crossed the border, making it the first documented case of that...
Mountaintop triangulation to map N.H. (redux)
Last week my wife and I hiked up the back side of the Mt. Sunapee range - I'm waiting until there's real snow in the Whites to drive that far - and were surprised to find a fancy cairn on the ridge, shown above. It was a couple miles south of the ski area, maybe a...
Science on Tap: Can humans and machines be creative together?
The SEE Science Center's adult discussion series, Science on Tap is continuing its season virtually on December 8 via Zoom. Join it to discuss how humans and machines can work together to enhance creativity. Discuss AI and machine learning with local experts....
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