Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
What’s more interesting, political results or a dead swordfish?
This is the only interesting story on the AP news feed for New Hampshire on this day-after-party-primary-election morning: RYE, N.H. (AP) — Seacoast Science Center officials say an 8-foot swordfish that washed up along Cable Beach in Rye earlier this week appears to...
Yes, ‘ballot selfies’ (a term I invented, sort of) are still legal
Due to complicated legal maneuvering, New Hampshire's law against "ballot selfies" (taking and posting a photo of your completed ballot, before you deposit it with election officials) is not in effect for the state primary election happening today, so people can click...
National offshore-wind push doesn’t go north of Cape Cod, for now
The U.S. is way behind in developing offshore wind. We've got lots of good resources in relatively shallow water (especially on the East Coast, where the continental shelf goes out a long way) but financial, power-grid and political problems have stalled things, as...
‘Dead fish’ be darned – fire up that research MRI!
Dartmouth has a new, more powerful fMRI machines (3 Tesla, as in magnetic field strength, not cars) for studying the workings of the brain and personalities, as I discuss in today's GraniteGeek column in the Concord Monitor. But being knowledgeable, you ask: What...
Nashua makerspace was part of White House conference on makerspaces
Makerspaces aren't exactly going mainstream, but they are mainstream-ish, as you can see in a story in the Sunday Nashua Telegraph Adam Shrey (head of MakeIt Labs in Nashua) was invited by the Office of Science Technology Policy on behalf of the White House to attend...
Science is a human activity with human problems – and humans can suggest solutions
Vox is a site that says its role is to "explain the news," an attempt to make a virtue of necessity (it doesn't hire enough reporters, so it has to wait for others to find news and then swoop in to claim a piece). Happily, its swooping is often quite good - its...
Slimy stuff on your pond? This is a job for BloomWatch!
Algae blooms turning ponds into a gloppy mess has become, distressingly, routine news. That's why the EPA has launched a citizen-science project in which you can use your smartphone to document the problem - or, if you're really interested, get a microscope and delve...
Football games are bad for telephone poles
I'm doing a story about utility poles (which I, like you, still call "telephone poles" even though the electric company owns at least half of them) - and here's the most entertaining quote I've heard so far: "After the first Patriots pre-season game, we had four...
Granite Geek On The Air: The makerspace-in-school edition
Once I started reading transcripts of my weekly chats with NHPR's Peter Biello, I sympathized much more with fumble-tongued politicians. Boy, do I sound dumb. You can see how dumb I sound here, as we discuss a new makerspace opening in a New Hampshire middle...
Fentanyl is so dangerous a drug that even the “dark web” is getting scared
Motherboard has a startling piece about a well-known (in certain circles) dark web marketplace - one of a number of online sites where illegal material and services are bought and sold - has banned listings of fentanyl, the synthetic opioid that has been linked to...
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