Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
It never occurred to me that flooding would be a problem for gas hookups
Nice piece from New Hampshire bulletin about yet another way that climate change problems escalate: For the utilities that provide residents and businesses with electricity and gas services, it’s an escalating reality they’re considering in their strategic plans. From...
Science Cafe NH returns! A.I. will be the topic
Science Cafe New Hampshire, which ran in Nashua and Concord for more than a decade before COVID, then restarted in Nashua only to be squelched when the bar closed, is reborn! I am not involved with it any more, but this just arrived in my inbox: Science Cafe New...
That fake-Biden robocall before the NH primary traced to Texas firm
The robocalls that imitated President Joe Biden telling people not to bother voting in New Hampshire’s presidential primary were generated by a Texas-based public relations firm called Life Corporation “and an individual named Walter Monk,” according to the state...
Chestnut restoration’s genetic mix-up has locals wondering: What now?
Scientists like to say that their work usually proceeds two steps forward and one step back. But sometimes that’s optimistic. Case in point: A scientific effort I’ve been writing about since 2010, the work to bring back the American chestnut tree to our forests, has...
NH patents through Feb. 4
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through Feb. 4. *** Computer Vision System and Method of Label Detection, Reading,...
Vertical-solar-panel project amid vegetables, saffron in Vt.
In South Burlingtin, Vt., this year they're building a vertical agrovoltaics array on 3.7 acres, with 3 rows of vertical solar panels with 30 feet gap between, with cultivation of vegetables and saffron between the rows. Not a big array - 50 kw - but interesting. The...
Dartmouth: Tackling social problems, one dataset at a time
Dartmouth has an article about its Program in Quantitative Social Science, "which launched as a major in 2015 and brings together scholars and students interested in examining social science questions through the application of statistical and mathematical tools. The...
Why is an autonomous-helicopter startup in Nashua, of all places?
Small companies are encouraged to start up near potential customers. So why is Rotor, which hopes to turn small helicopters into autonomous crop-dusting machines for big farms out west, based at Nashua Airport and testing prototypes from a private airstrip in...
Managing forests for carbon is, sorry to say, a financial problem
Whenever I read an online discussion about building devices to remove carbon from the air, somebody will always pop up to comment, “That technology already exists – they’re called trees!” and then high-five themselves for being clever. They never stick around for the...
Those fake Biden calls came from an AI startup
Kevin Landrigan in the Union-Leader reports: Fake robocalls that appropriated the voice of President Joe Biden to encourage New Hampshire voters to stay away from the polls have been traced to ElevenLabs, a successful startup company in the field of artificial...
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