Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire

N.H. says one staircase is enough (which is a big deal)
In what I regard as a pleasant surprise, the state legislature (a body of which I am not usually fond) did a clever thing this session by making one of those easy-to-overlook changes that can improve life. "A lot of states are looking at doing this. New Hampshire did...
NH patents through Aug. 10
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through Aug. 10. Power Budget Calculation Using Power Headroom PARALLEL WIRELESS,...
When floods hit dirt roads, runoff hits waterways
I live across the street from a dirt road that runs down a short but steep hill. When there are really heavy rains, as happens more often these days thanks to our warming atmosphere, sand can flow clear across the road into my driveway and the town has to come out and...
The NH state marsupial is …
The opossum, of course. What other choice was there? U-L story here. When I was a kid, possums were a southern thing. I don't think they were found in New Hampshire back then, or at least were very rare. Just another species moving north as we change the climate.
Mass. town banned gas hookups, ‘did not slow new construction or make it more expensive’
Canary Media has a story about Lexington, Mass., doing what more towns should do - banning new nat-gas hookups in buildings - and the result on housing construction. Surprisingly, perhaps, it had no effect. Whether this is translatable everywhere is uncertain, since...
NH patents through Aug. 3
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through Aug. 3. ***Reinforced Wood Fiber Core and Method of Making ThereofSOUHEGAN...
NH: At least we don’t have to worry about wildfires like out West. Climate change: Oh, yeah?
Compound interest in banks is fun. Compound disasters in our surroundings, not so much. Consider wildfires, as the town of Henniker is currently doing. We haven’t thought much about wildfires in New Hampshire for 125 years, since the White Mountains stopped being...
Dartmouth joins search for ways to use AI to treat addiction and mental health disorders
ChatGPT and other AI language models can drive people crazy (as has been shown, alarmingly) so maybe it can help keep them sane. That's roughly the idea behind "a new artificial intelligence institute backed by the National Science Foundation, building on the...
NH firm: We’re first to deploy 1 million kilometers of undersea cables
New Hampshire, like many places, has a lot of large companies that few know about because they don't sell directly to consumers. SubCom of Newington is one of those. It recently celebrated a milestone this month when it became the first company to deploy 1 million...
NH patents through July 27
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through July 27. Controlled-Impedance Compliant Cable TerminationARDENT CONCEPTS,...