Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
How did UNH become a space-weather hotbed?
I posted the press release about the latest NASA award to UNH last week. This is my follow-up column in the Monitor. New Hampshire is known for a lot of things: Mt. Washington, the presidential primary, our slightly alarming motto. And then there’s heliophysics...
Science on Tap: Hurricanes
Science on Tap, the Manchester science cafe series, will discuss hurricanes at their next session on Tuesday, Nov. 12. The ‘official’ hurricane season is coming to a close. Join us to discuss how this season stacked up to predictions and what new insights it has...
NH patents through Nov. 3
(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 Nov. 3. *** Autonomous Underwater Beacon Locator AJC INNOVATIONS, LLC,...
NH: In utility solar, we’re No. 2! (from the bottom)
One-half of one percent of New Hampshire's front-of-meter electricity generation came from utility solar last year, which is the second-lowest of any state (even lower than Alaska!) according to Canary Media. Only Nebraska, which doesn't have any utility-scale solar...
US first floating offshore wind lease is in Gulf of Maine
It still seems weird to me that you can build some of those gigantic wind turbines and have them float in the ocean without getting blown over - but what do I know? The Biden administration on Tuesday completed its sixth offshore wind lease sale with the first...
Deep in space, UNH to help monitor solar explosions
The University of New Hampshire was awarded $24.3 million to build sensors for a high-priority alert system that will monitor the effects of space weather and the solar wind—caused by explosions on the sun—for potential interruptions to satellite communications,...
The seamy side of those fun ‘ballot selfies’
Eleven years ago an amusing little controversy arose around New Hampshire elections: Whether the novel act of posting “selfies” online (this was 2013, remember) could legally be applied to pictures of your completed ballot inside the voting booth. The issue went to...
Warming oceans are supercharging the storms we are used to seeing
UNH Today has an essay (here it is) telling what most Granite Geek readers already know, but it's a good reminder: “The same thing that’s happening to hurricanes is happening to nor’easters – warmer ocean temps are pumping more heat and water into the storms, so they...
NH patents through Oct. 27
(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. 27. *** Batch Processing Signal Acquisition BAE SYSTEMS INFORMATION...
After some disasters, it’s easier to charge EVs than to get gasoline
Electric vehicles are so new that we have questions about how they'll react to some situations, such as recovering from the weather disasters that increasingly hit in these climate-emergency days. After Hurricane Milton in Florida, despite wide ranging power outages,...
Return to the Concord Monitor