Author: nick

We Should Not ‘Integrate’ Our Military With Any Foreign Nation!

Geopolitics & War

[ad_1] Not since the notorious 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) provided for indefinite detention of American citizens, has the annual funding bill been as misused as this year. Embedded in the bill is an insult to every American who values our national sovereignty. The NDAA’s Section 224, the “United States-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” would “integrate” the Israeli military with our own, fusing technology, production, intelligence-sharing, and more. As Ben Freeman wrote last week in Responsible Statecraft: “The US and Israel already work together heavily on missile defense, but this provision would greatly expand coordination to seemingly every area…

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The best way to keep data centers from driving up electricity costs

Political Spin

[ad_1] Public backlash to data centers is growing. About 70 percent of Americans would not want a new data center built near their homes, according to a new poll from Heatmap News. A majority, 55 percent, said they would “strongly oppose” it. The same poll asked respondents why they thought electricity prices were rising, and 53 percent—up from 28 percent last August—blamed “the construction of new data centers.” Fear over data centers’ energy use, and to a lesser extent water use, is driving a broad backlash to their buildout. While it’s simply untrue that any big data center anywhere is…

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Study: AI, Crypto Data Centers Could Raise Electricity Costs Up to 57% in Some Regions

Conspiracy Theories

[ad_1] A new modeling study by researchers at North Carolina State University and Carnegie Mellon University projects that the rapid expansion of data centers supporting artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency mining could raise wholesale electricity costs by as much as 57% in some U.S. regions by 2030. The study, published in Environmental Research Letters, also estimates that power-sector carbon dioxide emissions could be up to 28% higher compared to a future without new data center growth. The findings highlight localized pressure points, particularly in Northern Virginia, where a concentration of data centers already strains the grid. Data Center Electricity Demand Projected…

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New embryo editing technique takes us closer to designing babies without disease

Politics & Policy

[ad_1] Gene-editing human embryos—the sci-fi scenario that many have feared and many others have cheered—may now be a reality. Columbia University scientists say they have found an “efficient and precise” way to edit human embryos. Unlike earlier methods using CRISPR alone, this method works without introducing chromosomal abnormalities into the embryo or deleting large sequences of DNA. You are reading Sex & Tech, from Elizabeth Nolan Brown. Get more of Elizabeth’s sex, tech, bodily autonomy, law, and online culture coverage. In their study, the scientists used a technique called base editing to repair “DNA nicks and mismatches” in human embryos,…

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Image of a blue-haired person does not show ‘California voter’ committing fraud; it’s AI-generated

Fact Check & Misinformation

[ad_1] Amid unsubstantiated claims of a rigged California primary, amplified by President Donald Trump, social media users shared an image of a blue-haired person in an all-black outfit, holding multiple pieces of folded paper in front of a ballot box. “Do you still not believe California is using people to ballot harvest?” read a June 5 X post featuring the image. The same day, another X post said the image was taken at a ballot box in Glendale, California; and posts on  Facebook and Threads with the image said it showed a “California voter” who “identifies” as many “different people.” …

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