Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Analog clocks are gorgeous technology, especially when they’re really big
Considering they sit at the top of the tallest buildings around and are designed to be easily visible, the hundreds of big town hall and church clocks around New England face an odd problem. “They’re out of sight, out of mind,” is how Philip D’Avanza puts it. D’Avanza...
A COVID response that’s as free as the air
If you should make lemonade when life hands you lemons, what should you do when life hands your big project a pandemic lockdown? Make ventilation. “We had broken ground and one week later everything shut down. We literally put up a (construction) fence and a week...
I wore a mask when I went into a store today … *sigh*
You don’t want to hear this, I know, but there are signs that we’re headed for something of a COVID resurgence. On Thursday, the New Hampshire Hospital Association reported more COVID-19 patients than at any time since April. Alice Peck Day Hospital in Lebanon...
Biocontrol won’t keep our mature ash from dying but they might help the next generation regrow
NHPR took a look at the wasp being released in New Hampshire and elsewhere to attack the emerald ash borer, which is in the process of basically wiping out a couple of species of ash from North America. As with all biocontrols, the wasps can kill off the pest but may...
Enjoy winter snow while you can, southern New England
I have mostly stopped writing about "here's another thing that climate change is damaging" studies because they're too numerous and depressing. I try to focus these days on things being done to respond to the climate emergency. But here's a reminder that the emergency...
Offshore wind turbines are cool, sure, but an offshore substation is cooler
You can't move large amounts of electricity without substations to control the voltage, so it's significant that America's first offshore wind substation has been built. It will serve Vineyard Wind 1 south of Cape Cod, which will have a capacity of 806 MW (about 75%...
NH gets its first zero-waste grocery store
I'm leery about giving too much attention to ways for consumers to shop in a "green" fashion because our pollution problems are much too big for individual actions to solve them. Emphasizing personal responsibility has become a way for corporations and governments to...
A.I. has our political biases because it’s echoing us
AI language models are, at heart, statistical echoes of what humans have written in the past. Human writing inherently has political slant so it's no surprise that ChatGPT and the like have political slant - they're just echoing us. But the slant differs among models,...
College students with disabilities are more food insecure
From NH Agricultural Esperiment Station: New England is one of the least food insecure regions in the United States, with New Hampshire consistently ranking among the most food secure. However, averages can obscure significant variability that can occur among...
N.H. patents through Aug. 6
(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 Aug. 6. *** Networking Module for Instrumentation and Control Devices...
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