Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Disease, fires, storms replace logging as major threat to Northeast trees
From University of Vermont. The original research paper can be accessed here. Why Do Trees Fall in the Forest? The Answer is Changing. New research suggests that in just 15 years, the causes of most tree loss have flipped from human hands to a handful of natural...
Scrap yards learn to deal with EV batteries
Firefighters in Merrimack spent Monday pouring 60,000 gallons of water on the car involved in last Wednesday’s fiery accident at the Bedford tolls, demonstrating the biggest downside of electric vehicles: After a crash their batteries can re-ignite without much...
‘In New England, Catching Climate Data Along With Fish’
Lobstermen are more like farmers than hunter/gatherers, in the sense that they return regularly to the same patch of the world to harvest a crop, while fishermen roam the high seas seeking prey. More or less. So it makes sense to use lobster traps to gather...
NH patents through April 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 in the week through April 4. Actively Actuatable Valves for Aerostat Buoyancy Control...
If you don’t test a medicine, there won’t be any bad outliers to make people freak out
Stat, the medical publication started by the Boston Globe (although I think it's independent now) has a depressing piece about why people flock to untested pseudo-cures: Because they haven't been tested there aren't any outliers or statistical anomalies for the...
Our precipitation has been below average for 9 months straight
It's hard to remember after a winter that had snow on the ground for months and a recent stretch of damp weather, but all of New Hampshire is still in various states of drought and it's time to start being a little cautious about outdoor fires. A look at weather data...
Neighborhood geothermal project coming to Vermont
From Vermont Public (full story here): Vermont’s natural gas utility is teaming up with two local affordable housing developers to experiment with using geothermal energy to heat a new neighborhood in Hinesburg (a small town south of Burlington) without fossil fuels....
A chat with Vermont’s new Cartoonist Laureate
If you think that cartooning is a silly little subset of life that has nothing to do with you, the new Cartoonist Laureate of Vermont has some news. “Anybody who uses a cell phone, a digital device, a computer, is far more literate in the combination of words and...
NH patents through March 29
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 in the week through March 29. Cost Effective Cartridge for a Plasma Arc Torch...
There’s an older crowd saying ‘I do’ in New Hampshire these days
If you heard this story on NHPR this morning (March 31), this is the story they used: The joy and pageantry of weddings hasn’t changed much in the past generation but the age of the people walking down the aisle sure has. Consider this: In 1995, five percent of New...
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