Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
White Mountains are home to 140 native bee species
By Lori Wright, UNH: The White Mountain National Forest is home to nearly 140 species of native bees, including two species of native bumble bees that are in decline in the Northeast, according to researchers with the NH Agricultural Experiment Station who recently...
Opioid use may be contributing to an alarming outbreak of amnesia in Massachusetts
From Stat News: Public health officials on Thursday said they had detected a bizarre cluster of cases in which patients in Massachusetts developed amnesia over the past few years — a highly unusual syndrome that could be connected to opioid use. The officials have...
Who should decide on school vaccines – citizen legislators or health professionals?
The bill is being made in the name of openness rather than limiting vaccinations, but the people who spoke in its favor at a subcommittee hearing described vaccines as the dangerous product of pharmaceutical greed, physicians who are misled or chasing profit, and regulators who are in industry’s back pocket.
Is the “January thaw” a real thing? Mount Washington Observatory crunches the numbers
Everybody in New England – by which I mean me and people I know – has heard of the “January thaw”. This is the expectation that during the middle of this month, temperatures will rise above freezing long enough that skiers will get grumpy and everybody else will notice.
What my ski helmet needs is better chiral auxetic cellular solids
Material science has always seemed to me like a dull subject – “hey, kids, let’s make better cement!” – but technological changes have increased its importance, especially for 3D printing, and really seem to have livened it up. Yet another fascinating tech topic that I know too little about!
Why do we hate invasive plants? Remove buckthorn and watch what happens to white pine
By Lori Wright, UNH News Service: Researchers with the NH Agricultural Experiment Station have found that the economically valuable eastern white pine thrives when the invasive glossy buckthorn shrub is actively managed in New Hampshire forests. The University of New...
Best part of electric car Science Cafe: First-person memories of a Model T
Science Cafe Concord discussed electric cars on Tuesday - it was a full house, despite the snow - and I think the best part came from a 97-year-old audience members who recalled starting his dad's Model T, which required hand-cranking the engine, and setting the choke...
Speaking of science cafe, a new one is coming to Portsmouth
Another science cafe series is starting in Portsmouth, with discussions focused on environmental issues. Called Piscataqua Science Cafe, it's hosted by Sam Evans-Brown on NH Public Radio. It has no connection to Science Cafe New Hampshire, except for the attitide that...
The best wikipedia article that wikipedia killed: “Chess-related deaths”
A little something special just for you newsletter readers.
Global sea ice is at lowest level ever recorded
There are times when it seems to me that almost all news is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic - and seeing this news is one of those times: Global sea ice is at the lowest level ever recorded. The scary part is the speed at which this...
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