Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
The confusing dance of sunsets, sunrises and day length
As I write this (June 14th) sunrise has occurred at the earliest clock time of the year - 5:05:33 a.m. in Concord, a tiny bit later where I am, an hour south. But it's not the longest day of the year, meaning the most hours of daylight - that doesn't happen until the...
MIT dumps Elsevier, giant science-journal publisher, over article access
There's been a lot of grumbling in recent years from researchers about the business and information-sharing practices of the companies that publish scholarly journals: The basic complaint is that while scientists write the articles and do peer review for free,...
Dartmouth to lead IoT security research project
As far as I'm concerned, the big problem with the Internet of Things is security. With umpty-ump different companies fighting for attention with products that link you online, everybody's going to concentrate on features and price and ignore security and privacy,...
N.H. patents through June 14
By Targeted News Service The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire from June 7 to June 14. *** Hypertherm Assigned Patent for Providing of Nozzle for Liquid-Cooled Plasma Arc Torch Hypertherm, Hanover, New Hampshire, has been assigned a patent (No....
Everything you wanted to know about COVID vaccines
An organization called SciLine, which links journalists with scientists, hosted a terrific webinar this week about vaccines for COVID-19 - how they work, how they're being made, and what types are being pursued. If you're at all curious about this vital question put...
No contract-tracing apps for NH
Tuesday at a regularly scheduled press conference, the director of Health and Human Services, Lori Shibinette, said New Hampshire would not using apps on mobile phones as part of its efforts to track the spread of COVID-19. “We have looked at different apps … We just...
Will electric cars bring us time-of-use rates?
It exasperates me that we're so slow to set up some form of time-of-use rates for electricity, since that's such a straightforward way to get people to shift when we demand power, making it easier to balance a clean grid. The power of market incentives, the invisible...
Maybe the metric system can fix my kitchen follies
I am not one of those people who gets all hot and bothered about the need to adopt the metric system. I’m perfectly happy with inches and degrees Fahrenheit, which fit better into daily life than than centimeters (too small) and degrees Celsius (too big). But COVID-19...
Reopen goal update: 1. No; 2. No; 3. Almost; 4. Yup
The Concord Monitor is keeping track of four measurements that are often cited as good indicators of how the COVID-19 pandemic is progressing, looking at data provided by New Hampshire. This is our weekly update on how we’re doing on these four goals, looking at data...
Dartmouth is on patent list
Dartmouth is the only Northern New England institution on a list of 100 colleges and universities that got the most U.S. "utility patents" - those that involve a new or improved product, process, or machine. It is No. 91, edged out by the University of South Carolina...
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