Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
The least useful public document I’ve seen in a long time
I'm looking through proposals for wind and solar projects (and transmission lines) to provide "clean energy" to southern New England, seeing if any of them are near me. The proposals are redacted - a fancy legal term meaning "we hid stuff based on a whim, although we...
How the biggest prime number was found (and how you can do it, too)
Numberphile, an excellent video podcast about mathematics, explains how the biggest prime number was found, and how you can participate in the citizen-science project known as GIMP to find the next one. Check it out here. Bonus: Matt Parker has a great Australia...
Efficiency instead of expensive new power line for Nantucket
We've been told for ages that efficiency is the (buzzword alert) "low-hanging fruit" of energy, and that it will save us money as well as save the planet blah blah blah. Because the savings require always-suspect predictions, however, this can be hard to believe. But...
Dutch police train eagles to take down drones – yes, eagles
Any news about drones is interesting. Any news about raptors is interesting. Any news about a government body approaching a difficult problem in thinking-out-of-the-box ways in interesting. So this story hits the trifecta: Dutch Police Training Eagles To Take Down...
If you’re going to electrify vehicles, Chicago buses are a good place to start
The Chicago Transit Authority* has tested electric buses and found that they work great, and is ordered a couple dozen with 300-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery packs, which the CTA says provides a range of 80 miles. It claims overnight charging takes just 3 to 5...
Tomorrow night: “Bitcoin & Beyond” at Science Cafe Concord
Want to escape the Iowa caucus results tomorrow night? Come to The Draft Sports Bar for Science Cafe Concord, a Q&A session titled Bitcoin & Beyond - discussing not just the confused state of the cyber-currency, but the incredible promise in its underlying...
If the skeeters don’t get him then …
Today I am writing stories about the Zika virus and tainted city drinking water, so a variant of the chorus from the cheezy song "Everglades" is stuck in my head: "If the skeeters don't get him then the lead-pipes will." (No, I don't have anything good to put in the...
The long-term effects of the Challenger disaster, 30 years on
Today is the 30th anniversary of the Challenger shuttle explosion, which was a sad and painful moment for Americans, for space fans, and for Christa McAuliffe's home town of Concord. The Concord Monitor has a package of stories about that day and what has happened...
GMO-labeling discussion even got into Jewish dietary restrictions
The most surprising, to me, part of my story today about a law proposing GMO labeling was the final bit: The most unusual argument in favor of the bill came from Rabbi Robin Nafshi of Temple Beth Jacob in Concord, who discussed concern that eating genetically modified...
Humanity is doomed: A.I. can even beat us at Go
Chess : checkers :: Go : chess That statement ("chess is to checkers as Go is to chess") is a succinct, if arrogant, expression of the belief held by many that the east Asian board game of Go is far deeper than the western board game of chess. (I'm crappy at both but...
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