Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Collecting bat guano with tweezers
The photo above shows my wife, Shelley, collecting bat poop, one pellet at a time, with tweezers. She's in a neighbor's barn, and we're collecting it as part of a UNH research project that analyzes poop from these insect eaters to spot invasive insects. I had thought...
The complications of daylight saving time: Egypt cancels it at the last minute
Daylight saving time - advancing clocks an hour during summer so evening daylight lasts an hour longer - is one of those geeky-ish ideas that has been adopted by society, to much consternation. Every year (twice a year, actually) there is debate in the U.S. about...
Who needs Star Trek? Nashua bus system has developed its own Universal Translator
The Nashua bus system is using Google Translate on a tablet computer to help drivers deal with non-English-speaking riders. Brilliant idea. NHPR has the story. Speaking as somebody who has tried and failed to learn a second language most of my life - I can't even do...
Dartmouth professor’s “robust hashing” can spot terrorism videos automatically
An algorithm based on "robust hashing" of video images, developed by digital-image-forensics expert Hany Farid at Dartmouth, is being touted as a new way to limit the spread of violent recruitment videos online. Basically, once a video is identified by a human as a...
We need good news, so: Canada/US/Mexico cooperation is saving the Monarch butterfly
Goodness knows we need some upbeat news these days, so how about this, from Quartz: In 2014, scientists and activists alike panicked after Monarch population numbers reached record lows the year prior. Since then, North American leaders have been cooperating to save...
For reasons that aren’t clear, the nasal spray flu vaccine was a real dud
New Hampshire kids will have to get a shot in the arm this year to vaccinate against the flu - the state isn't buying the nasal-spray version after the CDC said that in the past two years it basically hasn't provided any protection. The nasal spay (FluMist is the...
Vermont’s GMO-labeling law goes into effect Friday (I, personally, am GMO-free, depending on how you define it)
Vermont's unique GMO-labeling law goes into effect Friday, and a lot of retailers are puzzled, reports the Burlington Free-Press. But maybe they'll get healthier: Coke may be pulling some products from Green Mountain State shelves while it figures things out. (New...
How dry is it? A brush fire is still smoldering, 10 days later
Yesterday morning I was walking around the blackened 14-acre site of a brush fire in Henniker, which is still smoldering more than 10 days after it was discovered, for a story about how dry it is ... when it began to absolutely four. We were drenched in a 20-minute...
Is it better to teach pure math or applied math? Now *that’s* a hard question
US News - which, to be honest, I didn't realize was still around - has an excellent article about the argument about whether to emphasize pure or applied mathematics when teaching it. In the OECD study, researchers looked carefully at survey questions on how often...
“Rock snot” algae bloom is doubly weird: It’s native not invasive, and is triggered by too *little* nutrients
A few years ago, people started encountering disgusting blooms of an invasive algae known as didymo - blooms so disgusting they were termed "rock snot," making the topic irresistible to reporters. It turns out that the algae is actually native to the Northeast, not an...
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