Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
The Vermont utility wasn’t hacked by Russians, but it’s a good thing that we got nervous
It's now obvious that the Russians didn't hack into Burlington Electric, the power utility in northwest Vermont, despite an early Washington Post story claiming it. (The Post, which is a real rather than fake news organization, wrote a follow-up story detailing its...
How much snow did you get? That’s a trickier question than it seems
By the time you read this, the first heavy storm of the winter will be on its way out to sea and you will have one question on your mind: How much snow did I get? I hate to break it to you, but if by “how much” you mean “how deep,” nobody really knows for sure....
NH has roughly one “telephone pole” for each 3 people – is that a lot?
My favorite stories involve explaining ordinary things that we hardly think about (like, say, snow fences). For several years I've wanted to write one about telephone - sorry, utility poles. I finally got around to it last week, and it was published on Christmas Eve...
Snow fences are boring, right? Wrong
I have a fairly long driveway next to an open field, and at least once every winter, snow drifts across it to the point where things get dicey without all-wheel drive. For two decades, I have talked about setting up a snow fence to keep out the drifts, but I’ve never...
What exactly is that new Manchester bio-institute trying to do?
Note: Subscribers to the GraniteGeek weekly newsletter saw this story yesterday. You can subscribe for free here. You probably heard the news Wednesday about a federal/private initiative to develop an Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute in Manchester, with...
Nashua family buys a farm in a shipping container
The “farm” is a shipping container turned into an hydroponics facility by Boston Freight Farms, using LED lighting, temperature control and water rather than soil.
Eversource buys half of big proposed Mass. offshore wind farm
A one-gigawatt offshore wind project called Bay State Wind is being planned for an area south of Martha's Vineyard - Eversource Energy has just bought into the project, saying it will be responsible for the onshore transmission infrastructure while Dong Energy, the...
UNH InterOperability Lab tackles Internet of Things security weaknesses
The InterOperability Lab at UNH has a national, even international, reputation as a good place for testing and certification of network devices and helping the development of standards. So I'm happy to see that they've begun a program focusing on security testing for...
Why is a computer board maker on Main Street, below a bookstore? To lure engineers
Everybody knows the sort of companies you find on a downtown main street: Funky retailers, novel eateries, bars, music venues and professional offices. In Concord, you can add something of a surprise: Makers of very high-end computer boards. That's the start of my...
Greenland is melting and it’s going to take our beaches
Dartmouth researcher Erich Osterberg is researching surface melting in Greenland via ice cores and other fieldwork. I talked to him about his work for my Monitor column today, which you can read right here. Trigger warning: It is realistic about climate change, which...
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