Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
A question to ponder from Science Cafe: Do self-driving cars run over squirrels?
Another full house at last night's Science Cafe Concord, with at least 60 people crowding in The Draft Sports Bar to discuss self-driving cars. As moderator, walking around handing a microphone to people in the audience asking questions, I can't take notes, but here...
Tonight at Science Cafe Concord: Self-driving cars
The world may not have the flying cars people expected when The Jetsons was our vision of the future, but we’re awfully close to a technology that in many ways seems more difficult to achieve: the self-driving car. If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, in fact,...
The three-intertwined-gears graphics error strikes again!
Three interconnected gears can't move, but three interconnected gears look cool, which is why graphics designers love to use them as a symbol for engineering - much to the frustration of engineers. I see it all the time - most recently in the above graphic, Tweeted...
How about a summer camp that goes back a couple millennia
If you could go back in time, would you go back 2,000 years or 200? That’s a trick question: you can’t go back in time. Alas! But you can come close by participating in the state’s annual archaeological field schools, helping excavations at a Native American site in...
Living off the grid gets tougher when you get old
Really interesting story in the Portland Press-Herald about some hippy types who went off the grid decades ago, and are finding the lifestyle harder to maintain as they hit their 70s. (The whole piece is here) Forget harvesting wood, even loading the wood stove...
Recent patents in New Hampshire
By Targeted News Service Recent patents issued to people or companies in New Hampshire include: Allegro Microsystems, Worcester, Massachusetts, has been assigned a patent (9,291,876) developed by two co-inventors for a "system and method for controlling a motor." The...
MIT is going to recalibrate the Smoot! (Wait – what day is today?)
This is the best news story for today's date: Nearly 60 years after the smoot first appeared on the Mass. Ave. bridge, the MIT-borne unit of measurement will be recalibrated to the exact measurements of its namesake, Oliver Smoot ’62. members of the MIT community...
AC/DC played really loud helps anti-cancer drugs work – honest
Vibrations caused by rock music have been found to increase a drug’s therapeutic window by creating a Teflon-like coating over the micro particles used in drug delivery. Researchers from the University of South Australia used AC/DC’s Thunderstruck to cause porous...
We have a weapon against robot overlords: Faded road paint
Reuters has a fun story about autonomous cars failing because they can't handle crappy roads. Shoddy infrastructure has become a roadblock to the development of self-driving cars, vexing engineers and adding time and cost. Poor markings and uneven signage on the 3...
How long can Zika virus survive in my private parts (and other questions from Science Cafe)
If you missed the March 16 Science Cafe NH in Nashua, here's a write up by a volunteer named Benjamin DiZoglio, released by Dan Marcek, who moderates the discussion: On Wednesday, March 16th, NH’s Science Café brought citizens and experts to Killarney's Irish Pub for...
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