Search Results

Keyword search: Granite Geek

By DAVID BROOKS

Scientists like to say that their work usually proceeds two steps forward and one step back. But sometimes that’s optimistic.Case in point: A scientific effort I’ve been writing about since 2010, the work to bring back the American chestnut tree to...

By DAVID BROOKS

Paying taxes will be less complicated for some people this year in New Hampshire, one of 12 states where a new, free government tax-filing system will soon be available.The system, called DirectFile, is being beta-tested by the IRS and should be...

By DAVID BROOKS

Small companies are encouraged to start up near potential customers. So why is Rotor, which hopes to turn small helicopters into autonomous crop-dusting machines for big farms out west, based at Nashua Airport and testing prototypes from a private...

By DAVID BROOKS

Whenever I read an online discussion about building devices to remove carbon from the air, somebody will always pop up to comment, “That technology already exists – they’re called trees!” and then high-five themselves for being clever.They never stick...

By DAVID BROOKS

A new medication to reverse drug overdoses is rolling out to pharmacies in the state, the latest step in the struggle against opioids and other addictive drugs.The drug, called nalmefene, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as a...

By DAVID BROOKS

There’s almost no money involved and the issue that prompted the court case disappeared long ago but even so, the recent legal win over social media giant Meta by the owner of the Teatotaller cafes might have big repercussions.That’s because the Dec....

By DAVID BROOKS

Colebrook is a nice little town alongside the Connecticut River not far from Quebec that has about 2,000 residents. On April 8, however, it will be a nice little town of … well, nobody really knows.“Are we going to have 2,000 more people or 10,000?...

By DAVID BROOKS

Any business that’s been around for eight decades will have seen both highs and lows, and Concord radio station WKXL is no exception.The station began in 1948 in Eagle Square, and its highs started soon afterward as its active news teams gave the AM...

By DAVID BROOKS

As mythological metaphors go, the one that SNHU Professor David Humphreys gave during a recent talk about the eruption of technologies known as artificial intelligence wasn’t terribly reassuring.“We’ve opened a Pandora’s box,” he told two dozen...

By DAVID BROOKS

Robert Thorson, a professor of Earth sciences at the University of Connecticut, has been thinking for many years about stone walls, those iconic structures that fill the woods of New England. This thinking has led him to what sounds like a ridiculous...

By DAVID BROOKS

The financial benefit seen by communities who are part of the Community Power Coalition will be reduced this year because all New Hampshire utilities have cut their electric rates.Things are different, however, for four towns that are doing community...

Monitor staff

The Concord region felt the second small earthquake in 10 days on Wednesday. A temblor registering 2.0 on the Richter scale and centered in Loudon struck around 2:50 p.m. That follows a 2.7 quake that hit Dec. 23 near the Steeplegate Mall in...

By DAVID BROOKS

New England’s wild turkey population seems to have avoided the population declines that are being seen in other parts of the country, and officials are asking for some citizen science help this winter to confirm our status.“We have not been...

By DAVID BROOKS

As the region’s aviation community anxiously awaits the annual yes-or-no decision about whether the Alton Bay Ice Runway will open, here’s a tidbit to consider: Keeping Cessnas and Beechcraft from crashing through as they land isn’t why officials have...

By PAUL MARINO

In October, the Canadian Forest Service sent a research officer to Maine and New Hampshire to see firsthand an invasive insect that could take a huge toll on Canadian forests if we accidentally send it north.Red pine scale (RPS) is a slow-moving...

By DAVID BROOKS

As I listen to hand-wringing about empty office towers due to people’s continued preference to work from home instead of commuting to a cubicle (those ungrateful swine!), a Christmas thought comes to mind: How is Santa’s workshop doing?I imagine that...

By DAVID BROOKS

In my career, I’ve encountered several non-traditional ways to build a home, from stacking hay bales to rolling out plastic tubes to using 3D-printed concrete. They’ve been fun to talk about but never made the slightest dent in the industry. The...

By DAVID BROOKS

It’s not a surprise that the New Hampshire project that won $2 million in funding in the latest federal conservation program involves saving our salt marshes from a host of threats.“The projects are heavy on watershed restoration – riverways, coastal...

By DAVID BROOKSMonitor staffA federal judge has rejected a lawsuit saying that the Merrimack Station coal-fired power plant in Bow was releasing too much hot water into the Merrimack River, violating its operating permit.The ruling by Judge Joseph...

By DAVID BROOKS

I went to a vaccine conference at Dartmouth last week to learn more about the most depressing piece of research I’ve ever encountered. Amazingly, I came away a tiny bit more optimistic.The ongoing research by Brendan Nyhan, a professor of government...