Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Ticks thrive where Acadia burned
A massive fire in 1947 burned much of Mount Desert Island, which is where Acadia National Park lies. A recent study finds that six decades later, those areas have a lot more black-legged ticks (a.k.a. deer ticks), which seems weird. Check the story about it in the...
Oh, boy, another tree-killing disease is coming
Have you noticed all the dead ash trees around, now that the emerald ash borer has gotten well established in the state. Wonderful, isn't it? Just the latest in a string of diseases, many consisting of fungus carried by boring beetles, that has hit eastern forests....
A big expensive bridge that’s also a little science-y
If you're going to spend $30 million or more to carry vehicles across a relatively short span of water, you might as well do other interesting things with the structure. That's the idea behind the Memorial Bridge that connects Portsmouth, N.H, with Kittery, Maine....
As Crawford Path turns 200, let’s reconsider whether our hiking is too hard
The Crawford Path in the White Mountains turns 200 this summer, making it the oldest known recreational mountain path in the country. It was established two centuries ago at the very start of the industry of people coming north from Boston and New York to relax in the...
Where do the commuters go?
Commuting is one of the biggest drawbacks to industrial society. Once people stopped working around their homes - mostly farming, but also small-scale businesses - they had to spend time going to and fro. The state occasionally analyzes where these commuters go at a...
“Smart farm” sounds buzzwordy but it could be important
The Union-Leader has a piece about $10 million from Stonyfield, the yogurt folks, to develop ways to improve agriculture so that it absorbs rather than emits carbon into the atmosphere. (You can read it here). The initiative will work to develop a new open-source...
The best ‘no trespassing’ sign ever – because it says ‘go ahead’
I came across this gem of a sign alongside a lovely little brook near Keene. Brilliant.
UNH gets big NASA contract to look at our coasts
UNH has received the biggest NASA award in its history - close to $108 million - for a space-based instrument that will make observations of coastal waters to help protect ecosystem sustainability, improve resource management, and enhance economic activity. The...
Where will the tree-killing beetle go? Ask an electrical engineer
Worcester, Mass., remains the nation's biggest outbreak of tree-killing Asian Longhorn Beetles. The city and neighboring towns cut down more than 35,000 trees and established a 74-square-mile quarantine area where wood can't be moved as part of a massive program that...
For a while on the N.E. grid, coal outdid solar & wind combined
For a while on Tuesday, July 30, there was more coal-fired electricity on the New England grid than power from solar panels and wind turbines, combined. (When I took the above screenshot, solar and wind each made up about one-ninth of the "renewables" pie slice. Most...
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