Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
West Virginia gave us wild turkeys 50 years ago because we gave them fishers
This is the 50th anniversary of wild turkeys being reintroduced to New Hampshire after hunting and deforestation had wiped them out. New Hampshire Fish and Game's magazine "Wildlife Journal" reprinted an article from 1969 that carried hopeful headline "Turkeys Again?...
Super Tuesday could have really used ranked-choice voting
If a fan of ranked-choice voting sat up all night to devise a scenario that would bolster their argument, they could hardly do better than the Super Tuesday Democratic primary in Maine and other states. It’s not just that ranked-choice voting is best when there are a...
Berry growers are psyched about UNH research
Growing Procuce, an industry news site for "specialty crop growers"*, is very excited about research at UNH that uses tunnels and different varieties to greatly extend the berry-growing season in the Northeast. They more than doubled the annual yield of strawberries...
Maine voters soundly reject anti-vax law
An attempt to expand parental vaccine exemptions for kids was soundly defeated in Maine on Tuesday, with 74% rejecting the ballot initiative. From the Portland Press-Herald (story here): The “no” vote was widespread throughout Maine, winning big in the cities, small...
Hand sanitizer is just alcohol, so make your own (no, not with a still)
Supplies of commercial hand sanitizer are selling out in the face of the COVID virus. Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to make your own because they’re just alcohol, which kills viruses and bacteria, in a medium that lets you spread it on your hands. Here’s a recipe from...
Remote sensors and vacuum pumps battle climate change on maple syrup farms
Maple sugaring is as traditional an activity as you can find, but for commercial operations, tradition is increasingly being replaced by technological improvements in a battle against modern climate obstacles. “If you just wait until town meeting day, like they...
As antibiotic resistance builds, Dartmouth research seeks an alternative
The scariest thing happening in the world these days is climate change, but there’s a close second: Antibiotic resistance. The global impact of the COVID-19coronavirus shows how bad things can get when a contagious disease that we can’t treat enters our interconnected...
Miss the Science Cafe on science fiction? You can watch it!
If you missed the Science Cafe NH in Concord discussion about science fiction, you can watch it online, courtesy of ConcordTV. It's right here (the audio's a little iffy at times - audio is hard) And if you need more, check out Science Cafe NH in Nashua on March 11 -...
Solar being ducky on New England grid (part 2)
As noted in this column earlier (here), the existence of "hidden" or behind-the-meter solar has changed the shape of electricity demand in New England. It creates what is known in the industry as a duck curve, because the 24-hour chart looks vaguely duck-ish, if you...
Little metal buckets don’t cut it for making syrup any more
Climate change is scrambling the traditional process of gathering sap from sugar maple trees and boiling it down into that Nectar Of The Gods known as maple syrup. Old-timers rarely started tapping trees until much before traditional town meeting day, the second...
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