Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Portland gets airport bragging rights over Manchester
Portland, Maine, and Manchester, N.H., don't have as much of a rivalry as they should. Both are the biggest cities in their similarly-sized state (both are "queen cities", the term for a state's biggest city that isn't the capital), and they're just close enough but...

Take *that*, expensive textbooks!
It's been a very long time since I was in college - cue jokes about papyrus scrolls and how math class was easier then because only 8 numerals had been invented - but I still remember how annoying it was to shell out big bucks for the "new edition" of Paul Samuelson's...
Study says non-mathematicians can see beauty in math
The concept of mathematical beauty fascinates me - and lots of other people, as the long wikipedia article demonstrates - because it's such a mix of opposites, the very quantifiable with the very non-quantifiable. There's no question that some math work produces a...
Put hemp in your concrete (or is it cement? I always get them confused)
I think I'm going to have a Science Cafe NH later this year on the topic of building materials and carbon sequestration. I suspect most of it will cover modern lumber technology like cross-laminated timber, since we have so many trees, but I'd like to find a panelist...

Why do we send 1,500 animal teeth to Montana every year?
It's not easy to tell the age of a wild animal. That's why New Hampshire sends 125 bobcat canines, 500 deer incisors, 100 moose incisors and 800 bear premolars to a really funky lab in Montana every year. Yes, you want to know more, which is why you will click right...
If you want to help build a real airplane, some kids need you
Students at the Manchester School of Technology are building an actual airplane, but they need volunteer mentors to help students build the airplane, a two-seat RV-12iS light sport aircraft. "Our student plane-build project has received solid financial support, but...
The ocean is coming – what should we do?
New Hampshire has the shortest coastline of any state bordering an ocean but it's still long enough and has enough development that sea-level rise and erratic storm surges will cause gazillions of dollars in damage down the road. So what should we do? A new report has...
The lowly culvert can be exciting
I've long been fascinated by culverts, those zillions of pipes that carry small waterways under roads - writing about them (e.g., here) so much that one editor at the Monitor makes jokes about my passion. Culverts interesting because they're a perfect example of...

That’s what a flat roof should look like
The day has long gone when "building unveils solar array" is much in the way of news - but I'll make an exception for Dover High School, which installed a rooftop array so big that it increases the state's (admittedly small) solar capacity by 1.5%. You can see the...

Days are getting shorter, trees are getting webbier
There are certain rituals which signal the coming end of New Hampshire’s summer, and one of them is showing up at the end of tree branches all over the place. “Drive down any street and you’ll see them,” said Kevin Clough, owner of K. Clough Landscaping & Design...