HANOVER, New Hampshire, July 23 -- Dartmouth College issued the following news release: A citizen science program that began over a decade ago has confirmed the use of dragonflies to measure mercury pollution, according to a study in Environmental Science & Technology. The national research effort, which grew from a regional project to collect dragonfly larvae, found that the young form of the insect predator can be used as a "biosentinel" to indicate the amount of mercury that is present in f  more

HANOVER, New Hampshire, July 24 -- Dartmouth College issued the following news release: Bzz! It's mosquito season in Greenland. June and July marks the period when Arctic mosquitoes (Aedes nigripes) are in peak abundance, buzzing about the tundra. While Arctic mosquitoes serve as an important food source to other animals, they are notorious for their role as pests to humans and wildlife, including caribou, whose populations can be affected by their attacks. Yet, these mosquitoes spend most of t  more

HANOVER, New Hampshire, July 24 -- Dartmouth College issued the following news release: Researchers at Dartmouth, in collaboration with industry partners, have developed software techniques that make lighting in computer-generated images look more realistic. The research will be presented at the upcoming ACM SIGGRAPH conference, the premier venue for research in computer graphics. The new techniques focus on "real time" graphics which need to maintain the illusion of interactivity as scenes ch  more

DARTMOUTH, New Hampshire, July 18 -- The Dartmouth College Geisel School of Medicine issued the following news release: A $328,000 National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant will enable researchers at Dartmouth's and Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) to investigate one of the mechanisms that may be responsible for the body's inability to fight COVID-19. COVID-19 is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Antibodies produced by a patient can pot  more

WASHINGTON, July 23 -- The Democratic Governors Association issued the following news: The Democratic Governors Association released a new video, "Superspreader". Republican Governor Chris Sununu allowed Donald Trump to schedule a giant superspreader rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire without implementing any necessary public health measures. It has been widely reported (https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2020/07/10/trump-new-hampshire-rally-postponed) that Trump is specifically picking stat  more

CONCORD, New Hampshire, July 21 -- The New Hampshire Department of Education issued the following news release: The New Hampshire Department of Education has launched its 5th Annual Backpack Drive. The Department is seeking donations of new backpacks for students of all ages from now through August 18. New backpacks can be dropped off at the Department of Education, 101 Pleasant Street in Concord. The backpacks will be given to school nurses, law enforcement, and PPE stations across the state  more

CONCORD, New Hampshire, July 21 -- The New Hampshire Department of Education issued the following news release: The New Hampshire Department of Education has published the results of four stakeholder surveys conducted as part of the School Transition, Reopening, and Redesign Task Force (STRRT). "Through its Stakeholder Surveys, STRRT listened to the concerns of more than 56,000 Granite Staters, including roughly half of our state's educators," said Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut. "Thi  more

CONCORD, New Hampshire, July 21 -- The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services issued the following news release: The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Division for Economic and Housing Stability (DEHS) has received approval from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to participate in a pilot program that allows recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to purchase and pay for groceries online. The SNAP Online Purchasin  more

CONCORD, New Hampshire, July 21 -- The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services issued the following news release: A cyanobacterial bloom has been observed at Forest Lake in Whitefield and Dalton, NH. Samples collected on 7/18, 7/19 and 7/20 exceeded the state threshold of 70,000 cells/ml of cyanobacteria in lake water. The water contained at least 1 million cells/ml of Anabaena (Dolichospermum) from samples collected on July 18. Samples also contained Microcystis and Aphanizomenon. T  more

CONCORD, New Hampshire, July 23 -- Gov. Christopher T. Sununu, R-New Hampshire, issued the following news release: Governor Chris Sununu, Deborah Scher, Executive Advisor to the Secretary, Secretary's Center for Strategic Partnerships, Office of the Secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Dean Kamen, and local VA officials, greeted a FedEx cargo plane carrying 400,000 gowns to be shipped to VA hospitals across the country on the tarmac of the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport. "New Ha  more

CONCORD, New Hampshire, July 23 -- The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission issued the following water order (No. 26,381) involving HAMPSTEAD AREA WATER COMPANY, INC. Petition to Expand Franchise - Sandown: Order Nisi Approving Limited Franchise Expansion This order approves an expansion of Hampstead Area Water Company's franchise to serve the Kelly Green development in the Town of Sandown and to charge its consolidated rate to the new customers within the expanded franchise. This order a  more

CONCORD, New Hampshire, July 24 -- The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission issued the following letter (No. IR 15-296): Re: Electric Distribution Utilities Investigation into Grid Modernization Suspension of Order No. 26,358 To the Parties: On June 22, 2020, Public Service Company of New Hampshire d/b/a Eversource Energy (Eversource) filed a motion for reconsideration and/or clarification of Order No. 26,358, which the Commission issued on May 22, 2020. Unitil Energy Systems, Inc. file  more

CONCORD, New Hampshire, July 24 -- The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission issued the following letter (No. DM 20-114): To: Tim Booth, General Manager, Convenient Venture, LLC d/b/a EnergyObjective, 415 Norway Street, York, PA 17403 Re: Convenient Venture, LLC d/b/a EnergyObjective Application to Renew Registration as a Provider of Electric Aggregation Service Dear Mr. Booth: On July 20, 2020, Convenient Venture, LLC d/b/a EnergyObjective (EnergyObjective) submitted an application with  more

CONCORD, New Hampshire, July 24 -- The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission issued the following letter (No. DM 20-113): To: Timothy Roache, Executive Director, Rockingham Planning Commission, 156 Water Street, Exeter, NH 03833 Re: Rockingham Planning Commission Application to Renew Registration as a Provider of Electric Aggregation Service Dear Mr. Roache: On July 16, 2020, Rockingham Planning Commission (Rockingham) submitted an application with the Commission to renew its registratio  more

CONCORD, New Hampshire, July 24 -- The New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission issued the following letter (No. DW 08-095): To: Peter Newman, Commissioner, Warner Village Water District, P.O. Box 252, Warner, NH 03278 Re: Warner Village Water District Petition to Discontinue Water Service and Modification of Franchise Boundaries Approval of Staff Recommendation and Docket Closure Dear Mr. Newman: On July 13, 2020, Commission Staff (Staff) filed a recommendation stating that the Warner Vill  more

DURHAM, New Hampshire, July 22 -- The University of New Hampshire issued the following news release: Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have identified new pathways in an RNA-based virus where inhibitors, like medical treatments, unbind. The finding could be beneficial in understanding how these inhibitors react and potentially help develop a new generation of drugs to target viruses with high death rates, like HIV-1, Zika, Ebola and SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19. "When  more

DURHAM, New Hampshire, July 21 -- The University of New Hampshire issued the following news release: Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have identified a quicker and less expensive way to count sperm in lobsters that could help scientists looking at any animal better understand mating, a key aspect of species survival. "Scientists used to have to do this using a very tedious or expensive method so it was rarely attempted," said Win Watson, professor emeritus of marine biology. "Now  more