Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Eversource utility backs lab to research better storm-damage models
Eversource, the New England utility that includes what in New Hampshire was formerly called PSNH, is a major backer of a new Technology Park for the University of Connecticut. From UConn Today: "The newest anchor partner for the IPB is the Eversource Energy Center, a...
Subsidized ‘broadband’ for poorer homes isn’t broad enough, say senators
A federally subsidized program called ConnectHome is designed to help low-income families get broadband Internet access, but it's using a speed limit of 4 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up. That has irritated some U.S. senators, including Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and...
TransAtlantic data cable just misses New Hampshire
In case you were wondering, Northern new England isn't the endpoint of any international submarine data cable, according to this interactive map from TeleGeography, an telecom analysis firm. The closest cable to New Hampshire lands at Lynn, Mass. It's owned by...
Electric cars are heavy, creating more tiny pollution from roads & tires
This is just one study and I'm not familiar with the journal it's in, so this isn't definite. File it under "intriguing possibility of another unintended consequence". A researcher says that because electric cars are heavier than their gas-powered counterparts, they...
Even after 10 years of practice, making a hybrid roadster is complicated
I have a (slightly belated - it kept getting bumped by breaking news) story in the Monitor today about last week's 10th annual Formula Hybrid engineering contest at New Hampshire International Speedway, which starts thusly: Electric cars may be the future of...
To make a MOOC, some drawings don’t hurt
My Concord Monitor column today talks about a MOOC (free online class) on introductory engineering (sort of an "engineering for poets" approach) put together by a Dartmouth professor who used a cartoon owl to help students work through problems and understand...
Survey says N.H. has more than 100 bee species – 17 of them previously unrecorded
By UNH News Service: Researchers with the NH Agricultural Experiment Station have completed the first assessment of the state’s native bee population, providing wildlife experts with the first comprehensive list of the Granite State’s more than 100 native bees that...
Recent patents issued in New Hampshire
By Targeted News Service: Hypertherm of Hanover has been assigned a patent (9,326,367) developed by two co-inventors for “devices for gas cooling plasma arc torches and related systems and methods.” The co-inventors are Yu Zhang of Lebanon and Zheng Duan of Hanover....
N.H. gets third public bitcoin machine (take that, Massachusetts)
The Twin Mountain General Store has, according to FreeKeene, set up a public bitcoin machine, the third in New Hampshire. I am dubious about the long-term reality of bitcoin (as compared to the blockchain, which is revoluntionary), but this is still pretty cool....
Anti-virus scan freezes medical software in the middle of a procedure on a beating heart
You know how annoying it is when an anti-virus scan starts while you're doing something on your computer, slowing everything down or even freezing it? Now imagine this scenario: A critical medical equipment crashed during a heart procedure due to a timely scan...
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