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By DAVID BROOKS

In 1929, American writers Willie and Katie Seabrook took time off from palling around with Ernest Hemingway in France to visit West Africa, where they gathered material for his travel book and her children’s books.While they were being escorted by...

When it comes to medical breakthroughs, my mind has always taken a techno-futuristic turn, as you would expect from the name of this column.We need swallowable robot pills! 3D-printed human tissue! Manipulated DNA! Then everything will be better.This...

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...

By DAVID BROOKS

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...

By DAVID BROOKS

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...

By DAVID BROOKS

Add New England farmer’s markets to the list of things caught in America’s cultural divide.A UNH survey released this week found that almost two-thirds of people who were surveyed agreed with the question “Do you think there is a certain type of...

By DAVID BROOKS

Eleven years ago in the basement of the Barley House in downtown Concord, a trio of people including a handsome, debonair host (that would be me) put on the first Science Cafe New Hampshire.  The idea was to establish a Granite State version of events...

By DAVID BROOKS

For many years, farmers in New Hampshire have had problems getting their cows, pigs and sheep slaughtered and processed due to a shortage of facilities in the region.Turns out that deer farmers have that problem, too.“Getting a USDA slaughter plant...

By DAVID BROOKS

They don’t look much like the dancing co-star of “Wizard of Oz,” but the clunky robots at the heart of a new program at Plymouth State University actually are scarecrows. Or used to be, before they broke down.“They had been working on and off. It’s...

I’m sure you’d like to hear a little bit of good news these days, so how about this: At a time when pedestrian deaths are soaring in this country, New Hampshire has the best record of any state by a pretty good margin.Don’t get too carried away with...

If it seemed that July was an extra wet month in Concord, you’re right: Total rainfall measured at the city airport was 63% higher than the long-term average for the month – 5.66 inches compared to 3.62.But western New Hampshire is not impressed. By...

By DAVID BROOKS

As Concord’s makerspace reopens in a smaller space after leaving its previous home in Penacook, it is making a virtue out of necessity by specializing.“Woodworking equipment was far and away the most used,” said Sandra May, a member of Concord...

By DAVID BROOKS

With massive floods to the west of us, huge wildfires to the north and continuing sea-level rise to the east, New Hampshire homeowners would be wise to prepare for the worst. They can start by checking their home insurance.That’s the message from the...

By DAVID BROOKS

One hundred and fifty years ago, something odd was taking place on Mount Moosilauke.Poles 12 to 15 feet tall were being carried to the peaks and set upright, topped with a nail keg painted black and secured from “being moved by winds, cattle, or any...

By DAVID BROOKS

We might be in the era of satellite imagery, drone videos and cell phones, but keeping an eye out for wildfires still requires people sitting in small buildings atop mountains all day, looking for smoke.“They’re still important, certainly,” said...

By DAVID BROOKS

For years I have written enthusiastically about programs to remove the thousands of outdated dams in New England, freeing up rivers to let fish swim free and ecosystems recover.But then came the recent floods and the promise (or should I say threat?)...

By DAVID BROOKS

At a time when parts of the country are limiting access to public libraries, the University System of New Hampshire is opening theirs up.People have long been able to use campus library space such as reading rooms and resources like microfiche...

By DAVID BROOKS

To make financial sense when burning wood for a large housing development, I have recently learned, you need to do something that sounds kind of crazy: Use it to cool yourself.“That’s the key. … District heating with wood is not a new thing, it’s use...

By DAVID BROOKS

If you can’t buy an electric version of your company’s vehicle, maybe you can take the vehicle and retrofit it to become electric.That’s the route Breezeline has taken in what they say is the first conversion of a bucket truck to electricity, both the...

By DAVID BROOKS

Brutal heat combined with a sudden shortfall in imported electricity caused the operators of New England’s power grid to fire up extra generators for a half hour on Wednesday.The shortfall in electricity production versus demand, known as a capacity...