Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Why is the earliest sunset (and latest sunrise) not on the winter solstice?
Tonight (Dec. 8) will see the earliest sunset of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, even though the shortest day of the year won't happen for almost two weeks. Equally confusing, the latest sunrise of the year won't happen until almost two weeks after the winter...
A vital winter question: Wipers up, or wipers down?
You can't say I avoid the tough issues: My Monitor column today ponders whether to put your windshield wipers up when you park and a storm coming, or leave them down. You can read it here and then tell me why I'm an idiot.
Warmer ocean = more tainted oysters in New England
From the Associated Press: "Scientists are recognizing that a waterborne disease sickening tens of thousands of people each year is associated with warmer waters of the Gulf of Mexico moving northward, partly due to climate change. The problem is extremely rare in New...
Despite the rain (and snow) we’re still in a drought – especially underground
Despite all the recent rain, Concord and many other New Hampshire communities are still asking people to conserve water, and two-thirds of the state is still listed as suffering from “severe drought,” although that’s a bit of an improvement from the “extreme drought”...
Why didn’t Makerbot create a 3-D printing home revolution?
The November Science Cafe Concord discussed 3-D printing and had the subtitle "Has it lived up to its promise?" The panelists, from printer-manufacturer SolidScape in Merrimack, Technology Education Concepts in Concord and Manchester Makerspace, made a convincing...
Hotel proposed 2/3 way up Mt Washington, along Cog Railway
UPDATE: Online petitions may be pointless, but competing ones have been created at Change.org over this issue - this one supports the hotel; and this one opposes it. The owner of the Cog Railway has an idea: Build a 35-room hotel alongside - maybe even straddling -...
Eversource is overlooking a big new customer: Marijuana growers
Because of the way cannabis grows (lots and lots of heat is needed), it is generally cultivated indoors and requires tons of electricity. As much as half of one percent of all electricity in Colorado current goes to indoor cannabis farming! The Energy Gang, an...
Science cafes: Drone talk in December, electric cars and cybersecurity in Jan.
Science Cafe New Hampshire takes December off, but SEE Science Center in Manchester still holds its science-chat-in-a-bar session, called Science on Tap. Its held at the Stark Brewing Company, 50 Commercial St. in Manchester, on Tuesday, Dec. 6 at 6 p.m., and the...
It’s damp up here, but still a drought underground
Local media is finally getting back to other stories in the post-election days, and one of those is our drought - which is continuing, despite a relatively rainy month. The Uniobn-Leader and NHPR have had "we're still in a drought" stories and I'm putting one...
We’ve discovered a new prime number – not all news is bad
A new prime number has been discovered through a crowdsourced system - but it's not from the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Project, about which I have written often. This was found by Seventeen or Bust, a similar project to find Sierpinski numbers. I had never herd of...
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