A study headed out of New York State Museum analyzed the genetic history of 686 coyotes in the Northeast and concluded that most are coyote-wolf hybrids. Here’s the press release. Some highlights:
This new study of eastern coyote genetics and skull morphology shows that remnant wolf populations in Canada hybridized with coyotes expanding north of the [...]

Tux Turkel of the Portland Press-Herald, who has (a) the second-best byline in New England* and (b) a long history of reporting intelligently about alternative energy in Maine, writes a good piece in the Sunday paper about one town’s decision to place restrictive zoning on wind power after a few turbines had gone up. This [...]

I haven’t read any of the deluge of material taken from the hacked servers at the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in England, which is ramping up the invective in the supercharged climate-change field, so I don’t have much useful comment, particularly on the question of: Is the science still believable, [...]

A couple of weeks ago I had a dream that included an editor who left the Telegraph about a decade ago. I don’t remember anything about the dream except that she was in the newsroom. The next morning I thought it was odd because I hadn’t thought about this editor for ages - no event [...]

As noted on its blog (here you go), NPR’s “Science Friday” will broadcast an edited version of the Ig Nobel Awards, which were held last month at Harvard.

This was the first Ig Nobels in 15 years that I didn’t attend, due to family stuff, so I guess I’d better listen (Except that I’m at work … thank goodness for podcasts.)

I’ve been told by attendees that it was the best ceremony in several years, which is saying something.

There’s nothing to swipe online except stories about - ugh - shopping on Black Friday, which is of zero interest to geeky types, so instead let’s take note of an anniversary that is of interest: The first “Rocky & Bullwinkle Show” cartoon aired 50 years ago. It was one of the first cartoons to entertain [...]

In April I posted about an intriguing idea from a company called Grid Solar, which wanted to put large-ish (2 MW) solar arrays throughout Maine, using land under or alongside existing power lines to avoid the difficulty of getting space.This plan, which would have required about 25 acres per site, put it somewhere between the [...]

My Telegraph column this week revisits an article from last year, in which I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation about the number of “peepable” leaves that exist in New Hampshire. But it has a news hook: When I redid my calculations, I decided that my results were off by a factor of 1,000, apparently thanks to [...]

A group that thinks states should make it as easy as possible for homeowners and business to generate their own solar/wind/whatever electricity has graded all the states on net metering and interconnection, which are the two systems that let you connect to the grid and sell excess power, rather than being an “off-the-grid” extremist. Net [...]

Although ClimateEmailGate has roiled the whole debate over human effects on climate change - politics raises its ugly head in science - there’s no debate that climate is changing, and it will effect us here. If you want to learn more (and maybe get really depressed, which is a drawback of learning more about a [...]

Sound the global warming panic bells! Check this statement from the Mount Washington Observatory:
As of this past Saturday, Mount Washington was a staggering 7.4 degrees (F) warmer than the average November, 6.71 inches of liquid precipitation dryer then the average November and a whopping three feet of snow behind  where we should [...]

University of New Hampshire microbiologist Louis Tisa has received two grants totaling $498,115 to advance understanding of the actinorhizal plants, widespread woody plants with potential to enrich nutrient-poor and contaminated soils.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded Tisa, a professor of molecular, cellular and biomedical sciences, $399,000 to explore the symbiotic relationship between the [...]

The site “InformationIsBeautiful.net” has created a lovely info-graphic listing and shredding various silly ideas associated with 2012, the Mayan calendar, galactic arrangements and whatnot. You can see it here, and certainly should. It lists lots of ridiculous ideas that I didn’t know existed, even beyond the obvious errors in astronomical calculations and ethnography (Mayans and [...]

I was in Boston this weekend, and on Sunday morning attended the Gospel Brunch at the House of Blues. I wasn’t expecting much, but it was fabulous, with a Boston-area trio of women called “Test-a-Mony” who are everything an R&B/gospel trio should be - lots of personality, lots of energy, and all three can sing [...]

A couple of Maine towns that installed wind turbines early have been disappointed with the results, and are on the financial hook now that the installer has declared bankruptcy, reports the Portland Press-Herald. First-mover advantage isn’t always an advantage.
Speaking of disappointment, it’s too bad that an article this well done confused kilowatts and kilowatt-hours, as [...]