Stories
Artificial Intelligence Could Help Scientists Predict Where And When Toxic Algae Will Bloom
Climate-driven change in the Gulf of Maine is raising new threats that “red tides” will become more frequent and prolonged. But at the same time, powerful new data collection techniques and artificial intelligence are providing more precise ways to predict where and when toxic algae will bloom. One of those new machine learning prediction models…
Read MoreScattered around a couple dozen homes in Redding, Connecticut, researchers placed black plastic rodent-sized shelters. “They’re usually used to hold rodenticide for rats,” says Kirby Stafford, an entomologist with the Connecticut Agricultural Experimental Station. But for this experiment, each of the structures housed rodent food laced not with poison but with a Lyme disease vaccine – for…
Read MoreHow would an extra $12,000 a year change your lifestyle? Your life? The centerpiece of Andrew Yang’s presidential campaign is something he dubs the Freedom Dividend: a payment of $1,000, every month, to every adult in America. Outside of some small-scale trials, universal basic incomes like the Freedom Dividend don’t have much proof of concept.…
Read MoreIn homes in which a family member has autism, day-to-day tasks can be challenging. One family is now trying to solve some of those issues, by pairing up with engineering students from the University of Connecticut. In the autism community, there’s a saying: If you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with…
Read MoreAfter A 3-Year Stint In A Sanitarium, This 102-Year-Old Woman Learned To Always Look To The Future
Alfreda Dumond of Fort Kent is 102 years old. She remembers the Acadian culture and rural lifestyle that defined her childhood in Aroostook County. But as the world around her has changed, Dumond chooses to look ahead instead of focusing on the past. Dumond doesn’t have any secrets for longevity. At 102, draped with a…
Read MoreOn a freezing night in December, about a dozen climate activists stood on the train tracks in a wooded section of West Boylston, Mass. They huddled together, headlamps and flashlights pointing south towards an approaching coal train. The light from the train’s headlights got brighter, and the horns blared louder and longer, but the activists…
Read MoreOn a freezing night in December, about a dozen climate activists stood on the train tracks in a wooded section of West Boylston, Mass. They huddled together, headlamps and flashlights pointing south towards an approaching coal train. The light from the train’s headlights got brighter, and the horns blared louder and longer, but the activists…
Read MoreFor These ‘Three Dots,’ 100 Years Of Friendship, Fellowship And Fun
And now for a story about three Dots. Not an ellipsis or a new discovery in the solar system or a location on a map. No, this is a story about three women named Dorothy, all born in 1919, who grew up together in the same hometown, celebrated their 100th birthdays this year and who…
Read MoreMillions Of Tons Of Plastic Are Dumped In The Ocean Every Year. We Don’t Know Where Most Of It Ends Up
Some scientists suspect that many microplastics may not be floating on the surface or sinking to the bottom of the oceans. Some evidence hints that they’re hiding somewhere in between, in a potentially critical part of the ocean ecosystem.
‘A Little Ukrainian Soul’ Brings New Life To Historic Barre Bakery
A Barre bakery that was once at the center of a strong labor movement in the early 1900s is back in business. The bakery, now owned by the Barre Historical Society, turned out its first loaf of hand-baked bread in 1913. It served generations of immigrant quarry workers and stone carvers who toiled in the…
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