Sci/tech tidbits in and around New Hampshire
Earliest mud season ever? Maybe
You’re not imagining it: Mud season has arrived and it’s early, maybe the earliest ever. On Friday the state began posting weight limits on roads to keep heavy vehicles from damaging pavement as it thaws and buckles. The N.H. Department of Transportation makes this...
To spot COVID, we probably need repeat rapid tests
COVID is still around (close to 100 people are hospitalized with COVID in NH every day and that figure is not going down, as my chart shows) and we're still learning how to deal with it. The feds have issued new guidelines (yeah, I know, but they're the best we've...
Genetically altered trees planted in the wild – but they’re not chestnuts
I've reported many time on efforts to restore the American chestnut with a genetically modified version that isn't affected by the blight. (Here's a story from last June.) If approved by regulators, it was going to be the first GMO tree released in the wild. Or not....
A ‘tiny home’ development in Dover
WMUR has a quick story about a development of "tiny homes" - under 400 sq. ft. - in Dover. Here it is. When seacoastonline did a story, they called them "cottage homes" which is less sexy and probably worse for SEO but maybe more accurate. NH Business Review had a...
What secrets lurk in New Hampshire’s bat poop?
When you start a scientific research project, you never know what you’re going to find. Here’s one thing that Devon O’Rourke found during his Ph.D. work at UNH: “I did not suspect that so many folks were going to be that excited about picking up bat guano.” This...
‘Duck curve days’ are growing in N.E. as rooftop solar expands
From ISO New England: (whole release is here) On a sunny, mild Sunday afternoon last spring, demand for electricity from the region’s power grid fell to the lowest level ever seen by ISO New England’s system operators. May 1 was a day for the record books,...
A sobering takedown of blockchain & crypto
When bitcoin and blockchain appeared on the scene I, like a lot of non-technical people, was fascinated. That fascination translated into positive reporting - to be honest, "naive" isn't too strong a word for some of my stories - about bitcoin ATMs and "smart...
N.H. patents through Feb. 12
(Links to each patent can be found here, using the patent number.) By Targeted News Service WASHINGTON – The following federal patents were assigned in New Hampshire through Feb. 12. *** Watch Band Changing Cradles for Smart Watches SURFS UP, LLC, Rye, New Hampshire...
Can we really waste less food? It won’t be easy
One of the many (seemingly endless) ways that humans are damaging the atmosphere, land and water is by growing lots of food and then wasting a lot of it, as much as a third in the U.S., by some estimates. This is not only stupid but harmful and a lot of people are...
Burning oil kept our lights on during that cold snap
During the brutal cold that hit last weekend (my house got down to minus-19, coldest in my three decades here), the dirtiest fuels were important in keeping the New England grid going, says the US Energy Information Agency. To help meet demand, grid operators called...
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