Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
The not-so-pretty consequences of our love of pretty produce
America wastes at least a third, and maybe even half, of the food we grow for human consumption, and a big reason is that you and I and other consumers won't buy vegetables and fruit unless they look perfect. There's even a small push to sell "oddball produce" or...
Pokemon Go’s crowdsourced origins are reflected in lack of “gyms” in black or poor areas
When virtual becomes virtual reality, reality's problems come along for the ride. That's why Pokemon Go, the charming and delightful virtual-reality game that is sweeping the world, has inadvertently reflected the nasty way we humans separate ourselves into different...
At UNH, cows send a text when they go into labor (and it’s not over-sharing)
BY Lori Wright, UNH News Service: It’s the middle of the night, and University of New Hampshire doctoral student Kayla Aragona has just received a text alert at home on her cell phone from a cow in labor at the Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center. A sensor –...
Only in N.H.: You can buy a Powerball ticket via an app
A Silicon Valley startup has launched an app that lets you buy and claim Powerball lottery tickets in New Hampshire. It's only available for that one game and only in New Hampshire because of the state-specific regulations and laws around lotteries, even multi-state...
Emerald ash borer may not wipe out America’s ash trees, after all
Ever since the emerald ash borer, an invasive beetle, burst out of the Midwest a decade ago, it has seemed obvious that it would wipe out all of North America's ash trees, just as Dutch elm disease wiped out our elms. The expectation is that in a few decades the only...
To my friends who don’t like brown spots on bananas: You’re causing big problems
The desire for perfect-looking fruit and vegetables leads to as much as half of all American produce to be discarded, reports the Guardian: Vast quantities of fresh produce grown in the US are left in the field to rot, fed to livestock or hauled directly from the...
USGS report is no surprise: Cape Cod’s groundwater is vulnerable to rising sea levels
Cape Cod is vulnerable to rising water tables and, in some areas, groundwater inundation as a result of rising sea levels, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study. Groundwater inundation occurs when the water table reaches or exceeds land surface. The...
Weaving fabric from carbon nanotubes can take you to Jupiter
Nanocomp, the Merrimack (formerly Concord) firm that makes carbon nanotubes and turns them into yarn and fabric with interesting properties (strong, light, conducts electricity, absorbs some radio and microwave signals), is enjoying some attention because its fabric...
Twenty years ago it was Riven; yesterday it was Pokemon Go
One of the staples of journalism is the "localizer" - taking a bigger story and telling it through local people. Yesterday I, like about 5,000 other reporters, did a localizer about Pokemon Go, the GPS-based smartphone game that had scores of people wandering the...
UNH: Toxin from algae blooms may be hurting loons
By UNH News Service: A harmful neurotoxin produced by cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae blooms, in New Hampshire’s fresh water lakes, which has been linked to ALS in humans, may be contributing to the decline of the state’s Common Loon population, according to...
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