The push to make ethanol out of things that grow well in temperate climates (i.e., not sugarcane) is a perfect target for Bostons’ biotech hodgepodge - as the Globe reports.
Of course, as regular GraniteGeek readers know, there are researchers in New Hampshire who are doing the same thing.

Can I promo my own story? Sure why not - Tuckerman Ravine is one of New Hampshire geological wonders, and geology is geeky! Make sure you watch the video all the way to the end.

Thirty years after a huge anti-Seabrook demonstration, David Tirrell-Wysoki of the Associated Press bureau in Concord demonstrates why it’s good to have reporters cover one place for a long time: They bring perspective. In this case, the dormant anti-nuclear-power crowd is being revitalized along with the nuclear-power industry, as nukes are cited as a way [...]

Unquestionably the big winners out of abrupt climate change will be insects, because they evolve so much faster than any other macro-sized living thing. (Bacteria, viruses and other microscopic beasties are another matter.) The Globe has a good story today about a non-biting mosquito in Maine that has altered its hibernation pattern and benefitted from [...]

So asks this N.Y. Times story, which caught my eye because "buying individual offsets" does, indeed, strike me as a gimmick - painless pseudo-green activity that removes the guilt which is, alas, necessary for many of us to change our lifestyle. Writing a little check is easier than driving a lot less (probably the biggest, [...]

The Boston Globe saw a demonstration of the latest "$100 laptop" (costing $175 at the moment) designed to bring computing to the world’s poor children. It has a crank handle and photovoltaic panel as well as a power cord, and runs Red Hat, a version of the Linux operating system.

Hundreds are being tested by [...]

AS the Washington Post reports, Stephen Hawking made it up in the "vomit comet," a Boeing 727 on a parabolic arc, to experience 25-second bursts of weightlessness. The article says he loved it, and still wants to visit the space station.

New Hampshire was the only New England state without an "energy portfolio" requiring a certain percentage of electricity to come from renewables. That should soon end, since the House passed a bill requiring such a portfolio and the Senate agreed today; Gov. Lynch is likely to sign it. Here’s part of a press release from [...]

The number of private pilots - people who learn to fly just for the fun of it - is falling sharply, says the New York Times: "The number of student pilots is down by about a third since 1990, from129,000 to 88,000. The number of private pilots is down from 299,000 to236,000, according to statistics [...]

That’s a quick summary of the AEA’s Cyberstates 2007 study, as reported by this handsome, intelligent fellow. (New Hampshire Business Review has a story, too.) Unfortunately the chart that ran in the print paper didn’t make it online, and the report itself costs $250 so they don’t have it online - so here’s a couple [...]

There’s no NH connection, but this is too good to overlook: Snopes.com says it’s true that an Arkansas newspaper ran a letter to the editor earlier this year saying that the early start to Daylight Saving Time this year was contributing to global warming because of the extra daylight it created - a possible [...]

Grab those 3-D specs, because the Christa McAuliffePlanetarium is offering a rare chance to see new, high definition,three-dimensional images of the sun taken by NASA’s STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) mission.. The images are being shown on thePlanetarium’s 52-inch plasma screen, and visitors will begiven 3-D glasses, postcards, and posters. Read on for more [...]

It’ll give you better parking at Logan Airport! And if you’re a cabbie who drives a hybrid, you can jump to the front of the taxicab line!
Who needs tax breaks with benefits like that?

Lonza, the Swiss contract manufacturer of pharmaceuticals, plans to expand its already large facility at Pease, says the Union-Leader. Plans call for expansion to 330,000 square feet - that’s 7 1/2 acres! - and expansion of the workforce from 650 to 1,000.

The NY Times has a report today on scientists meeting near Washington D.C. to discuss the missing-bee problem. No answers, alas.
Here’s a lovely bit: "People have blamed genetically modified crops, cellular phone towersand high-voltage transmission lines for the disappearances. Or was it asecret plot by Russia or Osama bin Laden to bring down American [...]