Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Issues with NH patent list because – well, you know why
The weekly list of New Hampshire patents gathered by Targeted News Service is facing problems. This appears, I'm told, to be related to gutting the Patent Office along with all the other valuable government agencies decimated by the push to make government small...
Record number of flu fatalities in N.H. this season
More people have died in New Hampshire from the flu this season than in any other season on record, according to the state. There have been 71 deaths attributed to influenza this season, one of them a child, according to the weekly report from the Department of Health...
N.H. has become majority male for first time in decades
ADDENDUM: This article's data is from the state economic analysis; Ken Johnson, UNH's demographics guru, says federal Census Bureau estimates indicate we're still slightly (50.1%) female - that's a lower percentage than any other New England state or the country as a...
Helping the planet – yay! Less odiferous kitchen – super yay!
Helping to save the planet is all well and good, but if it’s going to inconvenience us, I’d like some immediate benefit. So how about this: My trash doesn’t stink. That is what got me into composting. At my house, all the peels, fat, coffee grounds and other organic...
Climate “realism” or just business as usual?
I've learned to be very suspicious of claims that loudly proclaim themselves to be "pragmatic" or "realistic". More often than not, those are code words for "we don't want anything to change so we'll block all reform, pretending that it's useless." I get that vibe...
Science Cafe NH to discuss drug development
Science Cafe NH in Nashua is discussing drug development at its Tuesday, April 15 meeting: The journey from lab bench to the pharmacy shelf for new drugs is typically long (>10 years) and costly (hundreds of millions of $ or more). This discussion highlight some of...
Two N.E. colleges to test A.I. tool “to help teach users instead of offering shortcuts to an answer”
Axios Boston has an article about Northeastern University and Champlain College in Vermont testing an "artificial intelligence" program from Anthropic, a California startup. It's called Claude for Education and there are lots of sweeping but not-very-concrete examples...
Birth rates are falling fast but another billion people are coming
I am constantly encountering maps online showing falling birth rates in countries around the world with alot of hand-writing about the consequences. And while there are consequences from resulting changes in society in some places - I've written about New Hampshire's...
NH legislators think they, not doctors, should decide what vaccines are needed
There's no limit to vaccine idiocy in Washington or Concord these days. New Hampshire Bulletin reports that the House has decided they, not doctors, should decide what childhood vaccines are necessary because of, you know, freedom. The bill would forbid the state’s...
Vermont tries to recycle all that plastic used on farms
I've often wonders what happens to all that white plastic used to wrap round bales of hay - which can weigh up to a ton - stored in fields for winter sileage. Vermont is trying to recycle it, which is easier said than done, as the Valley New reports in this story....
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