Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Devastated by PFAS, Maine farm purchased for research
A Maine farm that made national news when PFAS contamination shut it down has been purchased by the nonprofit Maine Farmland Trust, which says it is looking for partners to study the so-called “forever chemicals” on the property. Full story from the Bangor News is...
After 3 1/2 years my COVID luck (skill?) runs out
There is such a thing as a reporter getting too close to a story and, alas, I have done that with COVID-19. After 3 ½ years of reporting on the pandemic, I have finally had to face the dreaded pink line on my home COVID test. I got infected last week, presumably...
Evolution is a bitch, invasive-aquatic-weed division
Aquatic weeds that choke waterways are an increasing plague as we humans spread them willy-nilly. Sometimes natural selection contributes to the problem, as this story from the Hartford Courant reports: What scientists have found in Selden Cove and everywhere else...
Converting buildings into housing is hard, thanks to people
The Union-Leader covered a conference on housing and Mike Cousineau has a good article (here it is) about the reality of converting buildings into housing: If you change a building’s use, the owner must comply with the regulations for the new use. That may mean more...
It doesn’t take a positronic brain to realize A.I. needs a Code of Ethics
Take a look at the state’s brand-new Code of Ethics For Generative Artificial Intelligence. If you have certain literary preferences, which you probably do if you’re reading this column, something will look familiar. “I’m so glad you mentioned that,” said Ken...
Electric aircraft manufacturing plant opens in Vermont
It's kind of irritating how all the big manufacturing facilities spurred by the IRA and other green legislation are happening down south, where the anti-greenies are rampant. Cheap labor and cheap land prevail over politics. So it's nice that a company which hopes to...
Another invasive – spiny water flea – makes N.H. home
From New Hampshire Bulletin: State biologists have discovered a new invasive aquatic species in New Hampshire – deep at the bottom of Lake Winnipesaukee. The spiny water flea is a microscopic water animal that does not harm humans but can affect fish, according to the...
N.H. patents through Oct. 1
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number or inventor’s name.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through Oct. 1. *** Packaged Current Sensor Integrated Circuit ALLEGRO...
Power lines and wildfires don’t mix well. We haven’t had to worry about that until recently
It says something about New Hampshire’s climate that the annual sustainability report from our largest electric utility discusses ice storms, tornadoes, floods and even microbursts, but doesn’t mention wildfires It says something else that this may change. “We look at...
Can A.I. make single-sort recycling work?
A startup with one of those weird-capitalization names, rStream, is running a pilot program at the UMass Amherst campus to see if it can use A.I. to help sort through single-stream recycling and make it work in the way that it never has, although we used to think it...
Return to the Concord Monitor