Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
N.H. hotel disclaims connection to anti-vaccine push in New York’s Jewish Orthodox community
Even as New Hampshire faces another measles scare (an infected child in Keene), a North County hotel beloved by parts of New York's Orthodox Jewish community is pushing back against that group's anti-vaccination claims. As I report in the Monitor (read the story...
Wood-burning power plant’s waste heat may grow some leafy greens
Burgess BioPower, a wood-burning electricity plant in the North County city of Berlin, has gotten a $500,000 state grant to heat a greenhouse for vegetables with its waste heat. From a press release: The recovered energy will be used to heat a state-of-the-art, $25...
Is there a macro role for microgrids in NH electricity?
Microgrids - large-ish collections of buildings that can power themselves for at least a while independently of the main power grid - are seen as one of the ways that the electric system can cope with the new reality of renewables and distributed energy. New...
‘You can teach anything through beer’
The Brewing Science Lab has been a publicity gold mine for UNH. Reporters (including me) can't resist stories about the science of making beer. Here's the latest example: A nice piece in Foster's Daily Democrat, the weirdly-named daily paper of Dover, about the lab's...
A clever container for a statue of a “father of video games”
Today in Manchester they unveiled a statue of home video game pioneer Ralph Baer, about whom I have written many times. It shows him sitting on a bench playing with the "brown box" that was the first iteration of what eventually became Maganvox Odyssey, the first...
World’s most famous Tesla mechanic is in New Hampshire
YouTube is horrible for many things but it's awesome for training videos. My wife and I have used them for everything from very minor car repairs to fixing the sink to learning the Shim-Sham (a lindy hop dance - which we're still trying to learn). These repair videos...
N.H. may outlaw phone-number spoofing
Scammers and some telemarketers change Caller ID information to get past your defenses. That may soon draw a $5,000 civil penalty in New Hampshire - although good luck finding the real perpetrators, especially if they're overseas. Here's my story today in the Monitor:...
Half-empty Manchester airport is trying to rebound
When I moved to New Hampshire, Manchester airport (they hadn't added the "Boston" name) was still in the old terminal. You'd walk out to the planes, and park on the street. They'd put envelopes under the windshield wipers and ask you to mail in $3 (I think it was) per...
More science talks amid beer
There are two ways to approach holding science talks in a bar or restaurant - programs that have names like Science Cafe or Science by the Pint or Science on Tap. One is to invited local scientists to talk about their research. That's the route frequently taken by...
Talking about research on Mars (well – Utah)
Erika Rydberg, a 3D printing expert with the interesting job title of Digital Creation Technologist at Plymouth State University, spent two weeks at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, where people go to simulate life on Mars (except for the gravity) to help...
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