Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
NH sees first loon death from avian malaria – but how did we know?
Aubudon has a good story about "bird CSI" and how forensic necropsy work identified the cause of death for the first New Hampshire loon to succumb to avian malaria. (Read it here) It's an interesting blow-by-blow account of how a pathologist figures out what has...
Speaking of electric car charging, what we really need is wireless electric car charging
Plug-in chargers scattered around the place to use for filling up on long trips are part of what's needed to make electric cars go mainstream, but many people argue that the technology really needed is cheap, easy wireless charging for your home. Just park the car...
Blast from the past: The story of N.H.’s famous Unix license plate
One of New Hampshire's most famous geeks, Jon "maddog" Hall of Linux fame, is recovering from a serious cardiac illness. The news is public so I don't mind mentioning it now that he's on the mend. I thought I might wish him well by dusting off a story I wrote on May...
Recent patents in New Hampshire
By Targeted News Service The following patents were recently issued to individuals and companies in New Hampshire. DEKA Products, Manchester, N.H., has been assigned an ornamental design patent (D755,975) developed by David E. Collins, Groveland, Mass., for an...
Report: Kamen teams with Toyota to update his i-Bot standing wheelchari
Back in September 1999 I saw Dean Kamen demonstrate the IBot in the DEKA offices in the Manchester millyard. The IBOT is - was? - a wheelchair that could stand upright and climb stairs using a variation of the technology that two years later fueled the Segway, and it...
Electric car fast charger for the North Country – no, it’s not from Tesla
The new fast-charging system unveiled Friday at a popular campground in Lancaster, in the part of the state known as North of the Notches, is the first such public facility in the North Country and the first non-Tesla Level 3 charger available in the state for the...
Looking at sea rise in a very specific place
Outside/In, a podcast from New Hampshire Public Radio, takes a look at the reality of sea rise and how it will affect coastal communities in its most recent session. The podcast focuses on the extremely vulnerable community of Nahant, Mass. (the aerial photo above...
Let’s bend some metal! Wait, I mean “Let’s deform some metal!”
If you're psyched by "deep drawing, hydroforming, and electromagnetic forming" processes, or finite element analysis modeling or "biaxial tensile testing equipment and portable and non-contact strain measurements using digital imaging correlation" then have I got an...
Who knew that making the right tire for electric cars was hard? (Not me)
Wired has a great story about the difficulty of engineering good tires for electric cars, a subject I'd never thought of. Great-handling tires don’t last. Durable tires are loud. Quiet tires can’t handle. The rubber wrapped around the wheels on every new car is a...
Deer version of ‘mad cow disease’ still isn’t here – but stay away from urine-based lures
New Hampshire’s deer population is still free of a form of mad cow disease that once seemed likely to arrive here, having moved as close as New York state, but to keep us safe the state is asking hunters to give up something useful: Urine-based lures. “While it is...
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