Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Flying cars are coming to NH (cont’d)
I've been reporting about New Hampshire's connection to flying cars a.k.a. roadable aircraft for almost a decade, thanks to Terrafugia developing a folding-wing car over the border in Massachusetts. It's was the topic of one of the last in-person Science Cafes in...
If I can’t protect myself from COVID with germicidal pulse cannons, how can I protect myself?
The fact that this column is named “Granite Geek’ might give you a clue about my certain bias when solving complicated problems, such as how best to keep indoor spaces safe during the pandemic. I want the solution to be geeky! Social distancing and wearing masks and...
When gas was ‘manufactured’ rather than ‘natural’
If you think about it the name "natural gas" is kind of weird. Why "natural"? Does that mean there is "unnatural gas"? The answer: Yes, although "manufactured gas" is the usual term. I have a story in today's Monitor about the days 70 years ago when Concord, like many...
Dragonfly larvae are a sentinel to measure mercury pollution
By DAVID HIRSCH, Dartmouth News: A citizen science program that began over a decade ago has confirmed the use of dragonflies to measure mercury pollution, according to a study co-authored by Celia Chen, director of Dartmouth's Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program....
UNH says drones & multispectral pictures *can* see the forest for the trees
From UNH News Service: In a new study, University of New Hampshire researchers have concluded that when assessing forest imagery collected by unmanned aerial systems, an alternative method of delineating individual forest tree crowns within those images is more...
N.H. COVID numbers still look good-ish
(This column ran Monday with data from the previous week. Different data and different analysis can produce different conclusions, as I noted in this item in the paper Tuesday.) It’s a journalistic truism that, human nature being what it is, bad news sells papers....
Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, with live music
I have a feeling that a large percentage of my readers like old-time silent films, especially comedies. There's something about that pre-digital era that appeals to geek fans, as "steampunk" demonstrates. So let me make a pitch for my local indie movie house, the...
COVID deaths and doubling time
One of the measures of population growth is "doubling time" - the time it takes for a population to double in size. I've been tracking the total number of COVD-related deaths in New Hampshire (as compared to the average daily number, which is what I've been tracking...
Breeding isn’t resurrecting the chestnut tree; genetic engineering might
A long-running attempt to resurrect the American chestnut tree from the blight that virtually exterminated it – an attempt that can be seen in a Plymouth “germplasm conservation orchard” among other places – is now running on two tracks, one with traditional...
With KSC students returning, Keene eyes sewage as a COVID early warning system
Analyzing sewage from a wastewater treatment system for evidence of VODI-19 in the population is an interesting idea that's getting lots of attention - such as the Massachusetts firm Biobot, which is running pilot projects around the country. Keene State College is...
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