Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Mazel tov for MALDI-TOF to fight antibiotic resistance
I wrote recently about how human medicine and veterinary medicine are starting to share their efforts fighting the development of antibiotic-resistant disease. (Here is the piece) UNH sent out this item today about one of the main tools in that effort: By Lori Wright,...
Nowhere in New Hampshire is truly dark any more
Last week I saw a talk by Matt Marulla, former president of the New Hampshire Astronomical Society and a contributing author to the latest edition of The Oxford Astronomy Encyclopedia, about light pollution and the "dark sky" - really, lack thereof - phenomenon....
Pumped hydro is great energy storage, but imagine trying to build one today
You know how freaked out many people and organizations get about wind farms being built on hills in New Hampshire? So freaked out that I suspect there will never another major onshore wind farm built in the state. Now imagine if you wanted to big a super-duper...
Is climate change making it windier?
A reader wrote me recently saying that it seems windier in Concord than it did in her youth, and she wondered if climate change was affecting wind speeds. I mentioned this on Twitter to the National Weather Service's account from Gray, Maine, which also covers most of...
N.H. bobcats have switched direction: They now roam north to south
Interesting new research from UNH using DNA from 50-year-old bobcat skulls found that bobcats' movement patterns from generation to generation have flipped: Once they were more numerous in southern parts of New England young adults headed to the less hospitable north...
Archaeology field schools in New Hampshire this summer
Feld schools coordinated by the N.H. Division of Historical Resources’ State Conservation and Rescue Archaeology Program (SCRAP), will take place this summer in Durham, Livermore Hollow and Pillsbury State Park, where the team will canoe to the survey site searching...
Can one device replace furnace, hot water heater, air conditioner and emergency generator?
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: A well-known New Hampshire entrepreneur wants to create an home-sized power plant that can provide electricity, heat and hot water using a type of engine that has been around for a century but never really commercialized. Nope,...
Airbnb rooms (and hotels) may face town-by-town fees
Update: It passed the House on April 4, 209-146, It will still have to go to the state Senate and the governor's desk. Being a tourist destination can be good for business but hard on roads and other municipal services, which is why the legislature may let towns and...
The folks breeding a disease-resistant chestnut tree are fighting over GMO’s
The disagreement over genetically-modified organisms has shown up in an unexpected place: Efforts to resurrect the American chestnut tree, which was wiped out by blight last century. The American Chestnut Foundation has spent years cross-breeding a few surviving...
N.H. doesn’t even register on the national map of distributed solar power
Here in New Hampshire it feels like distributed solar power, mostly rooftop solar panels, is growing fast. Just look at this chart from the Public Utilities Commission: Whoopee, right? Well, maybe not. Check out the map at the top of this article, which shows...
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