Ice collapsing into the water at Perito Moreno Glacier in Los Glaciares National Park, ArgentinaR.M. Nunes/AlamyEven a few years delay in reaching net-zero emissions will have repercussions for hundreds or even thousands of years, leading to warmer oceans, more extensive ice loss in Antarctica and higher temperatures around the world.Nations around the world have collectively promised to prevent more than 2C of global warming, a goal that can only be achieved by reaching net-zero emissions effectively ending almost all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions before the end of the century. But once that hugely challenging goal

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. What Africa needs to do to become a major AI player Africa is still early in the process of adopting AI technologies. But researchers say the continent is uniquely hospitable to it for several reasons, including a relatively young and increasingly well-educated population, a rapidly growing ecosystem of AI startups, and lots of potential consumers. However, ambitious efforts to develop AI tools that answer the needs of Africans face numerous hurdles. The biggest are inadequate funding and poor infrastructure. Limited internet access and a scarcity of domestic data centers also mean that developers might not be able to deploy cutting-edge AI capabilities. Complicating this further is a lack of overarching policies or strategies for harnessing AIs immense benefitsand regulating its downsides. Taken together, researchers worry, these issues will hold Africas AI sector back and hamper its efforts to pave its own pathway in the global AI race. Read the full story. Abdullahi Tsanni Science and technology stories in the age of Trump Mat Honan Ive spent most of this year being pretty convinced that Donald Trump would be the 47th president of the United States. Even so, like most people, I was completely surprised by the scope of his victory. This level of victory will certainly provide the political capital to usher in a broad sweep of policy changes. Some of these changes will be well outside our lane as a publication. But very many of President-elect Trumps stated policy goals will have direct impacts on science and technology. So I thought I would share some of my remarks from our edit meeting on Wednesday morning, when we woke up to find out that the world had indeed changed. Read the full story. This story is from The Debrief, the weekly newsletter from our editor in chief Mat Honan. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Friday. The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Canada has recorded its first known bird flu case in a human Officials are investigating how the teenager was exposed to the virus. (NPR)+ Canada insists that the risk to the public remains low. (Reuters)+ Why virologists are getting increasingly nervous about bird flu. (MIT Technology Review)2 How MAGA became a rallying call for young men The Republicans online strategy tapped into the desires of disillusioned Gen Z men. (WP $)+ Elon Musk is assembling a list of favorable would-be Trump advisors. (FT $) 3 Trumps victory is a win for the US defense industry Palmer Luckeys Anduril is anticipating a lucrative next four years. (Insider $)+ Heres what Luckey has to say about the Pentagons future of mixed reality. (MIT Technology Review)+ Traditional weapons are being given AI upgrades. (Wired $)4 This year is highly likely to be the hottest on recordThis weeks Cop29 climate summit will thrash out future policies. (The Guardian) + A little-understood contributor to the weather? Microplastics. (Wired $)+ Trumps win is a tragic loss for climate progress. (MIT Technology Review)5 Ukraine is scrambling to repair its power stations Workers are dismantling plants to repair other stations hit by Russian attacks. (WSJ $)+ Meet the radio-obsessed civilian shaping Ukraines drone defense. (MIT Technology Review)6 We need better ways to evaluate LLMs Tech giants are coming up with better methods of measuring these systems. (FT $)+ The improvements in the tech behind ChatGPT appear to be slowing. (The Information $)+ AI hype is built on high test scores. Those tests are flawed. (MIT Technology Review)7 FTX is suing crypto exchange BinanceIt claims Sam Bankman-Fried fraudulently transferred close to $1.8 billion to Binance in 2021. (Bloomberg $) + Meanwhile, bitcoin is surging to new record heights. (Reuters)8 What we know about tech and lonelinessWhile theres little evidence tech directly makes us lonely, theres a strong correlation between the two. (NYT $) 9 Whats next for space policy in the US If one persons interested in the cosmos, its Elon Musk. (Ars Technica)10 Could you save the Earth from a killer asteroid? Its a game thats part strategy, part luck. (New Scientist $)+ Earth is probably safe from a killer asteroid for 1,000 years. (MIT Technology Review) Quote of the day Conflict of interest seems rather quaint. Gita Johar, a professor at Columbia Business School, tells the Guardian about Donald Trump and Elon Musks openly transactional relationship. The big story Quartz, cobalt, and the waste we leave behind May 2024 It is easy to convince ourselves that we now live in a dematerialized ethereal world, ruled by digital startups, artificial intelligence, and financial services. Yet there is little evidence that we have decoupled our economy from its churning hunger for resources. We are still reliant on the products of geological processes like coal and quartz, a mineral thats a rich source of the silicon used to build computer chips, to power our world. Three recent books aim to reconnect readers with the physical reality that underpins the global economy. Each one fills in dark secrets about the places, processes, and lived realities that make the economy tick, and reveals just how tragic a toll the materials we rely on take for humans and the environment. Read the full story. Matthew Ponsford We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)+ Oscars buzz has already begun, and this years early contenders are an interesting bunch.+ This sweet art project shows how toys age with love + Who doesnt love pretzels? Heres how to make sure they end up with the perfect fluffy interior and a glossy, chewy crust.+ These images of plankton are really quite something.

Rather than analyzing the news this week, I thought Id lift the hood a bit on how we make it. Ive spent most of this year being pretty convinced that Donald Trump would be the 47th president of the United States. Even so, like most people, I was completely surprised by the scope of his victory. By taking the lions share not just in the Electoral College but also the popular vote, coupled with the wins in the Senate (and, as I write this, seemingly the House) and ongoing control of the courts, Trump has done far more than simply eke out a win. This level of victory will certainly provide the political capital to usher in a broad sweep of policy changes. Some of these changes will be well outside our lane as a publication. But very many of President-elect Trumps stated policy goals will have direct impacts on science and technology. Some of the proposed changes would have profound effects on the industries and innovations weve covered regularly, and for years. When he talks about his intention toend EV subsidies, hit the brakes on FTC enforcement actions on Big Tech, ease the rules on crypto, or impose a 60 percent tariff on goods from China, these are squarely in our strike zone and we would be remiss not to explore the policies and their impact in detail. And so I thought I would share some of my remarks from our edit meeting on Wednesday morning, when we woke up to find out that the world had indeed changed. I think its helpful for our audience if we are transparent and upfront about how we intend to operate, especially over the next several months that will likely be, well, chaotic. This is a moment when our jobs are more important than ever. There will be so much noise and heat out there in the coming weeks and months, and maybe even years. The next six months in particular will be a confusing time for a lot of people. We should strive to be the signal in that noise. We have extremely important stories to write about the role of science and technology in the new administration. There are obvious stories for us to take on in regards to climate, energy, vaccines, womens health, IVF, food safety, chips, China, and Im sure a lot more, that people are going to have all sorts of questions about. Lets start by making a list of questions we have ourselves. Some of the people and technologies we cover will be ascendant in all sorts of ways. We should interrogate that power. Its important that we take care in those stories not to be speculative or presumptive. To always have the facts buttoned up. To speak the truth and be unassailable in doing so. Do we drop everything and only cover this? No. But it will certainly be a massive story that affects nearly all others. This election will be a transformative moment for society and the world. Trump didnt just win, he won a mandate. And hes going to change the country and the global order as a result. The next few weeks will see so much speculation as to what it all means. So much fear, uncertainty, and doubt. There is an enormous amount of bullshit headed down the line. People will be hungry for sources they can trust. We should be there for that. Lets leverage our credibility, not squander it. We are not the resistance. We just want to tell the truth. So lets take a breath, and then go out there and do our jobs. I like to tell our reporters and editors that our coverage should be free from either hype or cynicism. I think thats especially true now. Im also very interested to hear from our readers: What questions do you have? What are the policy changes or staffing decisions you are curious about? Please drop me a line atmat.honan@technologyreview.comIm eager to hear from you. If someone forwarded you this edition of The Debrief, you cansubscribe here. Now read the rest of The Debrief The News Palmer Luckey, who was ousted from Facebook over his support for the last Trump administration and went into defense contracting, is poised to grow in influence under a second administration. He recently talked to MIT Technology Review about how the Pentagon is using mixed reality. What does Donald Trumps relationship with Elon Musk mean for the global EV industry? The Biden administration was perceived as hostile to crypto. The industry can likely expect friendlier waters under Trump Some counter-programming: Life seeking robots could punch through Europas icy surface And for one more big take thats not related to the election: AI vs quantum. AI could solve some of the most interesting scientific problems before big quantum computers become a reality The Chat Every week Ill talk to one of MIT Technology Reviews reporters or editors to find out more about what theyve been working on. This week, I chatted with Melissa Heikkil about her story on how ChatGPT search paves the way for AI agents. Mat: Melissa, OpenAI rolled out web search for ChatGPT last week. It seems pretty cool. But you got at a really interesting bigger picture point about it paving the way for agents. What does that mean? Melissa: Microsoft tried to chip away at Googles search monopoly with Bing, and that didnt really work. Its unlikely OpenAI will be able to make much difference either. Their best bet is try to get users used to a new way of finding information and browsing the web through virtual assistants that can do complex tasks. Tech companies call these agents. ChatGPTs usefulness is limited by the fact that it cant access the internet and doesnt have the most up to date information. By integrating a really powerful search engine into the chatbot, suddenly you have a tool that can help you plan things and find information in a far more comprehensive and immersive way than traditional search, and this is a key feature of the next generation of AI assistants. Mat: What will agents be able to do? Melissa: AI agents can complete complex tasks autonomously and the vision is that they will work as a human assistant would book your flights, reschedule your meetings, help with research, you name it. But I wouldnt get too excited yet. The cutting-edge of AI tech can retrieve information and generate stuff, but it still lacks the reasoning and long-term planning skills to be really useful. AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude also cant interact with computer interfaces, like clicking at stuff, very well. They also need to become a lot more reliable and stop making stuff up, which is still a massive problem with AI. So were still a long way away from the vision becoming reality! I wrote anexplainer on agentsa little while ago with more details. Mat: Is search as we know it going away? Are we just moving to a world of agents that not only answer questions but also accomplish tasks? Melissa: Its really hard to say. We are so used to using online search, and its surprisingly hard to change peoples behaviors. Unless agents become super reliable and powerful, I dont think search is going to go away. Mat: By the way, I know you are in the UK. Did you hear we had an election over here in the US? Melissa: LOL The Recommendation Im just back from a family vacation in New York City, where I was in town to run the marathon. (I get to point this out for like one or two more weeks before the bragging gets tedious, I think.) While there, we went to see The Outsiders. Chat, it was incredible. (Which maybe should go without saying given that it won the Tony for best musical.) But wow. I loved the book and the movie as a kid. But this hit me on an entirely other level. Im not really a cries-at-movies (or especially at musicals) kind of person but I was wiping my eyes for much of the second act. So were very many people sitting around me. Anyway. If youre in New York, or if it comes to your city, go see it. And until then, the soundtrack is pretty amazing on its own. (Heres a great example.)

Kessel Okinga-Koumu paced around a crowded hallway. It was her first time presenting at the Deep Learning Indaba, she told the crowd gathered to hear her, filled with researchers from Africas machine-learning community. The annual weeklong conference (Indaba is a Zulu word for gathering), was held most recently in September at Amadou Mahtar Mbow University in Dakar, Senegal. It attracted over 700 attendees to hear aboutand debatethe potential of Africa-centric AI and how its being deployed in agriculture, education, health care, and other critical sectors of the continents economy. A 28-year-old computer science student at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa, Okinga-Koumu spoke about how shes tackling a common problem: the lack of lab equipment at her university. Lecturers have long been forced to use chalkboards or printed 2D representations of equipment to simulate practical lessons that need microscopes, centrifuges, or other expensive tools. In some cases, they even ask students to draw the equipment during practical lessons, she lamented. Okinga-Koumu pulled a phone from the pocket of her blue jeans and opened a prototype web app shes built. Using VR and AI features, the app allows students to simulate using the necessary lab equipmentexploring 3D models of the tools in a real-world setting, like a classroom or lab. Students could have detailed VR of lab equipment, making their hands-on experience more effective, she said. Established in 2017, the Deep Learning Indaba now has chapters in 47 of the 55 African nations and aims to boost AI development across the continent by providing training and resources to African AI researchers like Okinga-Koumu. Africa is still early in the process of adopting AI technologies, but organizers say the continent is uniquely hospitable to it for several reasons, including a relatively young and increasingly well-educated population, a rapidly growing ecosystem of AI startups, and lots of potential consumers. The building and ownership of AI solutions tailored to local contexts is crucial for equitable development, says Shakir Mohamed, a senior research scientist at Google DeepMind and cofounder of the organization sponsoring the conference. Africa, more than other continents in the world, can address specific challenges with AI and will benefit immensely from its young talent, he says: There is amazing expertise everywhere across the continent. However, researchers ambitious efforts to develop AI tools that answer the needs of Africans face numerous hurdles. The biggest are inadequate funding and poor infrastructure. Not only is it very expensive to build AI systems, but research to provide AI training data in original African languages has been hamstrung by poor financing of linguistics departments at many African universities and the fact that citizens increasingly don't speak or write local languages themselves. Limited internet access and a scarcity of domestic data centers also mean that developers might not be able to deploy cutting-edge AI capabilities. DEEP LEARNING INDABA 2024 Complicating this further is a lack of overarching policies or strategies for harnessing AIs immense benefitsand regulating its downsides. While there are various draft policy documents, researchers are in conflict over a continent-wide strategy. And they disagree about which policies would most benefit Africa, not the wealthy Western governments and corporations that have often funded technological innovation. Taken together, researchers worry, these issues will hold Africas AI sector back and hamper its efforts to pave its own pathway in the global AI race. On the cusp of change Africas researchers are already making the most of generative AIs impressive capabilities. In South Africa, for instance, to help address the HIV epidemic, scientists have designed an app called Your Choice, powered by an LLM-based chatbot that interacts with people to obtain their sexual history without stigma or discrimination. In Kenya, farmers are using AI apps to diagnose diseases in crops and increase productivity. And in Nigeria, Awarri, a newly minted AI startup, is trying to build the countrys first large language model, with the endorsement of the government, so that Nigerian languages can be integrated into AI tools. The Deep Learning Indaba is another sign of how Africas AI research scene is starting to flourish. At the Dakar meeting, researchers presented 150 posters and 62 papers. Of those, 30 will be published in top-tier journals, according to Mohamed. Meanwhile, an analysis of 1,646 publications in AI between 2013 and 2022 found a significant increase in publications from Africa. And Masakhane, a cousin organization to Deep Learning Indaba that pushes for natural-language-processing research in African languages, has released over 400 open-source models and 20 African-language data sets since it was founded in 2018. These metrics speak a lot to the capacity building that's happening, says Kathleen Siminyu, a computer scientist from Kenya, who researches NLP tools for her native Kiswahili. Were starting to see a critical mass of people having basic foundational skills. They then go on to specialize. She adds: Its like a wave that cannot be stopped. Khadija Ba, a Senegalese entrepreneur and investor at the pan-African VC fund P1 Ventures who was at this years conference, says that she sees African AI startups as particularly attractive because their local approaches have potential to be scaled for the global market. African startups often build solutions in the absence of robust infrastructure, yet these innovations work efficiently, making them adaptable to other regions facing similar challenges, she says. In recent years, funding in Africas tech ecosystem has picked up: VC investment totaled $4.5 billion last year, more than double what it was just five years ago, according to a report by the African Private Capital Association. And this October, Google announced a $5.8 million commitment to support AI training initiatives in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. But researchers say local funding remains sluggish. Take the Google-backed fund rolled out, also in October, in Nigeria, Africas most populous country. It will pay out $6,000 each to 10 AI startupsnot even enough to purchase the equipment needed to power their systems. Lilian Wanzare, a lecturer and NLP researcher at Maseno University in Kisumu, Kenya, bridles at African governments lackadaisical support for local AI initiatives and complains as well that the government charges exorbitant fees for access to publicly generated data, hindering data sharing and collaboration. [We] researchers are just blocked, she says. The government is saying theyre willing to support us, but the structures have not been put in place for us. Language barriers Researchers who want to make Africa-centric AI dont face just insufficient local investment and inaccessible data. There are major linguistic challenges, too. During one discussion at the Indaba, Ife Adebara, a Nigerian computational linguist, posed a question: How many people can write a bachelors thesis in their native African language? Zero hands went up. Then the audience disintegrated into laughter. Africans want AI to speak their local languages, but many Africans cannot speak and write in these languages themselves, Adebara said. Although Africa accounts for one-third of all languages in the world, many oral languages are slowly disappearing, their population of native speakers declining. And LLMs developed by Western-based tech companies fail to serve African languages; they dont understand locally relevant context and culture. For Adebara and others researching NLP tools, the lack of people who have the ability to read and write in African languages poses a major hurdle to development of bespoke AI-enabled technologies. Without literacy in our local languages, the future of AI in Africa is not as bright as we think, she says. On top of all that, theres little machine-readable data for African languages. One reason is that linguistic departments in public universities are poorly funded, Adebara says, limiting linguists participation in work that could create such data and benefit AI development. This year, she and her colleagues established EqualyzAI, a for-profit company seeking to preserve African languages through digital technology. They have built voice tools and AI models, covering about 517 African languages. Lelapa AI, a software company thats building data sets and NLP tools for African languages, is also trying to address these language-specific challenges. Its cofounders met in 2017 at the first Deep Learning Indaba and launched the company in 2022. In 2023, it released its first AI tool, Vulavula, a speech-to-text program that recognizes several languages spoken in South Africa. This year, Lelapa AI released InkubaLM, a first-of-its-kind small language model that currently supports a range of African languages: IsiXhosa, Yoruba, Swahili, IsiZulu, and Hausa. InkubaLM can answer questions and perform tasks like English translation and sentiment analysis. In tests, it performed as well as some larger models. But its still in early stages. The hope is that InkubaLM will someday power Vulavula, says Jade Abbott, cofounder and chief operating officer of Lelapa AI. Its the first iteration of us really expressing our long-term vision of what we want, and where we see African AI in the future, Abbott says. What were really building is a small language model that punches above its weight. InkubaLM is trained on two open-source data sets with 1.9 billion tokens, built and curated by Masakhane and other African developers who worked with real people in local communities. They paid native speakers of languages to attend writing workshops to create data for their model. Fundamentally, this approach will always be better, says Wanzare, because its informed by people who represent the language and culture. A clash over strategy Another issue that came up again and again at the Indaba was that Africas AI scene lacks the sort of regulation and support from governments that you find elsewhere in the worldin Europe, the US, China, and, increasingly, the Middle East. Of the 55 African nations, only sevenSenegal, Egypt, Mauritius, Rwanda, Algeria, Nigeria, and Beninhave developed their own formal AI strategies. And many of those are still in the early stages. A major point of tension at the Indaba, though, was the regulatory framework that will govern the approach to AI across the entire continent. In March, the African Union Development Agency published a white paper, developed over a three-year period, that lays out this strategy. The 200-page document includes recommendations for industry codes and practices, standards to assess and benchmark AI systems, and a blueprint of AI regulations for African nations to adopt. The hope is that it will be endorsed by the heads of African governments in February 2025 and eventually passed by the African Union. But in July, the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, another African governing body that wields more power than the development agency, released a rival continental AI strategya 66-page document that diverges from the initial white paper. Its unclear whats behind the second strategy, but Seydina Ndiaye, a program director at the Cheikh Hamidou Kane Digital University in Dakar who helped draft the development agencys white paper, claims it was drafted by a tech lobbyist from Switzerland. The commissions strategy calls for African Union member states to declare AI a national priority, promote AI startups, and develop regulatory frameworks to address safety and security challenges. But Ndiaye expressed concerns that the document does not reflect the perspectives, aspirations, knowledge, and work of grassroots African AI communities. Its a copy-paste of whats going on outside the continent, he says. Vukosi Marivate, a computer scientist at the University of Pretoria in South Africa who helped found the Deep Learning Indaba and is known as an advocate for the African machine-learning movement, expressed fury over this turn of events at the conference. These are things we shouldnt accept, he declared. The room full of data wonks, linguists, and international funders brimmed with frustration. But Marivate encouraged the group to forge ahead with building AI that benefits Africans: We dont have to wait for the rules to act right, he said. Barbara Glover, a program manager for the African Union Development Agency, acknowledges that AI researchers are angry and frustrated. Theres been a push to harmonize the two continental AI strategies, but she says the process has been fractious: That engagement didnt go as envisioned. Her agency plans to keep its own version of the continental AI strategy, Glover says, adding that it was developed by African experts rather than outsiders. We are capable, as Africans, of driving our own AI agenda, she says. DEEP LEARNING INDABA 2024 This all speaks to a broader tension over foreign influence in the African AI scene, one that goes beyond any single strategic document. Mirroring the skepticism toward the African Union Commission strategy, critics say the Deep Learning Indaba is tainted by its reliance on funding from big foreign tech companies; roughly 50% of its $500,000 annual budget comes from international donors and the rest from corporations like Google DeepMind, Apple, Open AI, and Meta. They argue that this cash could pollute the Indabas activities and influence the topics and speakers chosen for discussion. But Mohamed, the Indaba cofounder who is a researcher at Google DeepMind, says that almost all that goes back to our beneficiaries across the continent, and the organization helps connect them to training opportunities in tech companies. He says it benefits from some of its cofounders ties with these companies but that they do not set the agenda. Ndiaye says that the funding is necessary to keep the conference going. But we need to have more African governments involved, he says. To Timnit Gebru, founder and executive director at the nonprofit Distributed AI Research Institute (DAIR), which supports equitable AI research in Africa, the angst about foreign funding for AI development comes down to skepticism of exploitative, profit-driven international tech companies. Africans [need] to do something different and not replicate the same issues were fighting against, Gebru says. She warns about the pressure to adopt AI for everything in Africa, adding that theres a lot of push from international development organizations to use AI as an antidote for all Africas challenges. Siminyu, who is also a researcher at DAIR, agrees with that view. She hopes that African governments will fund and work with people in Africa to build AI tools that reach underrepresented communitiestools that can be used in positive ways and in a context that works for Africans. We should be afforded the dignity of having AI tools in a way that others do, she says.

The "Saturday Night Live" post-election episode did not land well with fans of the show or Elon Musk.Fans called Bill Burr, this week's host, racist and sexist after his controversial opening monologue.Musk criticized the show after Dana Carvey did an impression of him. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. The "Saturday Night Live" post-election episode was criticized by people across the political spectrum, including Elon Musk.The show featured a controversial monologue by comedian Bill Burr, and a skit featuring SNL alumnus Dana Carvey doing an impression of Musk.In 2016 and 2020, when Donald Trump and Joe Biden won the presidential races, respectively, Dave Chappelle hosted the first post-election episodes. It's unclear why he wasn't chosen this year, but in recent years he has been criticized for jokes viewed as antisemitic and transphobic. Burr took over this year, and joked that Asian people spread COVID-19 and that women should "whore it up" to become president."Listen, I know a lot of ugly women, feminists I mean, don't want to hear this message. But just tease him a little bit. Make a farmer feel like he's got a shot," Burr advised future female presidential candidates after Kamala Harris lost to Trump last week.Some fans called Burr's jokes racist and sexist.Other defended the jokes, saying that critics were being too sensitive.Later in the monologue, Burr turned his attention to Trump, calling him an "orange bigot" and "lunatic," but those jokes appear to have been overshadowed by his previous comments. Burr is known for being controversial, with his last appearance on SNL in 2020 receiving a similarly mixed response from fans after he made jokes about white women, anti-maskers, and Pride month.Before Burr's monologue, the show opened with the "Saturday Night Live" cast standing together onstage saying that they have always been Trump supporters, in an apparent joke about companies currying favor with the president-elect. Some fans said the joke wasn't funny.Later in the skit, James Austin Johnson, a cast member who usually impersonates Trump, appeared as a "Hot Jacked Trump," while Carvey sent up Musk, who was instrumental to Trump's election campaign.On Sunday, Musk, who has previously hosted the show, replied to three different X users to criticize the show.NBC and Burr's representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The app's design felt simple and user-friendly. I selected a few interests, including concerts and museums. Pie Social; Gia Yetikyel Downloading and signing up for the app was incredibly straightforward and free.I made an account with my phone number, checked off a few prewritten interests (cafs, concerts, dance parties, museums and galleries, and park hangs), and added a picture of myself. I also had the option to add my Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, city, and bio to my profile.Aside from my profile, the app is split into four other pages: Invites, Your Plans, Friends, and Chats. There was also the option to create an event of my own using the "+" at the bottom of the app. There weren't many event options at first.More event options seemed to appear the more I interacted with the app. Gia Yetikyel The core of Pie is its list of local events created by others (groups or individuals) that users can sign up for.Pie doesn't have its own events. Instead, the app relies on people in the community to create meetups and offers incentives for those who do with the Pie Creator Fund.Event creators can apply to it to receive payment for hosting they're paid based on the number of RSVP responses to their events on the app.A few events were already on my Invites page, including a coding meetup and a silent book club.I could RSVP "Yes," "Maybe," or "No" on Pie, though some events had limited spots and required I leave the app to get a ticket or use an additional RSVP link.Once I said "yes" to an event, it got added to my plans and I could message other attendees.I noticed few events at first, especially for a lively city like Chicago. There was an average of one per day, and if I didn't seem interested in it, I'd have to look at another date for more options.Maybe it was a coincidence, but it seemed that the more I used the app, the more new events popped up. I first attended a field-day event, even though it was a little out of my element.I took the bus up to Waveland Picnic Field in Lakeview. Gia Yetikyel The first event I attended was the Chicago Picnic Club at Waveland Picnic Field, hosted by the social groupLet's Do Fun Things Chicagoand events companyThe Friendwork Collective.The free event was on a sunny Saturday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and included a yoga class, volleyball, and pizza.Let's Do Fun Things is a Chicago-based meetup organization that started this summer and seems to list many events on the Pie app. Its founder, Sam Mahafzah, was a popular name among the attendees.Upon arriving at the grassy field, he greeted me and waved for me to sit among the people talking and eating pizza under the trees. I liked how the event pushed me out of my comfort zone.I don't usually seek out yoga classes or outdoor games, but I had fun at this event. Gia Yetikyel I'm not one for yoga, but I brought a mat and did my best not to collapse while doing a downward-facing dog. After, the event creator broke out a colorful parachute, reminiscent of elementary school gym class, and called people over to grab onto a loop and run in circles.There was something absolutely freeing about screaming the lyrics to Natasha Bedingfield's "Unwritten" while sitting underneath a parachute with a bunch of strangers. Silly, yes, but thoroughly fun.My social skills were definitely on the stiffer side, but I managed to enjoy myself and exchange Instagram handles with two women before leaving.This didn't feel like the start of some beautiful friendship, and I'm not certain we'll connect later, but it's nice knowing I might see them at future gatherings.A field day isn't the first way I'd think of spending a Saturday, which made me a little anxious, especially with the added element of strangers. But the event allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and Pie made it easier for me to seize that opportunity.Notably, though, no one I spoke to at this meetup mentioned Pie. The second event I attended was a crafting meetup.I had previously attended Chicago Craft Club meetups, but I found out about this one on Pie. Gia Yetikyel The next event I attended was hosted by theChicago Craft Club, which, on its Instagram page, describes itself as "a community for adult creatives of all ages." I was already familiar with the club as I had attended a couple of their events in the past that I'd found on TikTok and liked the vibes overall.For this one, I RSVP'd on the Pie app and through Chicago Craft Club's separate link so I could receive a QR code I could use to get in.This free, two-hour afternoon meetup was hosted at the immersive art experience, the WNDR Museum, in a large room with tables and folding chairs. For those who didn't bring a craft, there was an area with crayons, markers, and paper. I loved the crafting crowd.I had a nice time at the Chicago Craft Club. Gia Yetikyel After writing my name tag, I took a seat at the nearest table, which had four other people already knitting and drawing.The room was lush with positive energy a lot of the crowd was knitting, sharing encouragement and advice about stitches.I opted to doodle with crayons as I got to know my table with the usual small talk that weaved its way from where we grew up to our favorite musicals. As the knitters fell into focus, the rest of us followed in a comfortable silence, sometimes asking a question or telling a funny story.The group told me they'd learned about the Chicago Craft Club and its events from Instagram. Again, no one mentioned Pie.Although I didn't exchange contact information with the group, I departed with the promise of seeing them at the next meetup. Next time, I'll cut out the middleman and skip Pie since the club's events are listed online, and I had to RSVP elsewhere anyway. The third event I attended was a bachata class.I brought my friend to the bachata class. Gia Yetikyel For my third meetup, I looked for a meetup unlike the others, which led me to Salsa on a School Night.Once again, this event was hosted by Let's Do Fun Things Chicago. The beginner-friendly bachata lesson was free with an RSVP, and attendees could bring a friend if they wished.I brought a friend who was down because she'd previously attended similar meetups in Chicago that she found on Instagram. When we arrived at Barcocina Lakeview, I noticed that the back room was predominantly full of men, with a few familiar faces from the field-day event.The first half hour was filled with mingling among the crowd. Once again, event host Mahafzah was there to greet attendees. I asked him how to make friends at events like this, and he immediately introduced us to two other women.During our small talk, one of the women mentioned she used Pie to find events like this the first time I heard the app mentioned in real life. She said she enjoyed using it. The host's extroverted energy made all the difference.The room was filled with people learning the steps to bachata. Gia Yetikyel At around 8:30 p.m., the bachata instructor climbed up on a table and gave step-by-step instructions on dancing. Over the next half hour, to the sounds of the rhythmic music, attendees spun, stepped, and shook their hips to the instructor's guidance.When asked to pair with the opposite gender, I danced with Mahafzah, who cackled in delight as attendees shuffled with each other.Later, when asked, Mahafzah told BI he started as a community organizer using the creator fund but is now a "Creator in Residence" at Pie, meaning he has equity in the company and is "embedded in the team part-time."As Mahafzah went off to create content for the event, it was evident that his keen hosting skills played a large part in its overall success. He greeted nearly every attendee and spent all night introducing strangers to one another. I liked Pie as a concept, but it's not particularly groundbreaking.Andy Dunn's goal with Pie is nice, but I'm not sure the app is as helpful as he'd hoped. Daniel Boczarski/Getty Images for Bonobos; Spencer Platt/Getty Images; Rebecca Zisser/Insider Although Pie isn't revolutionary, its goals are noble people in their 20s and 30s crave genuine platonic connections, especially since the pandemic.Pie does a decent job of gathering events for those who don't know where to begin, but it's akin to an application that organizes your subscriptions for you.Unfortunately, I don't believe it's the groundbreaking connection-creator young adults have been looking for. It doesn't eliminate awkward lulls in conversation or uncertainty about potential future hangouts that come with making strangers into friends.The app mostly just highlights the community-building work people are already doing in Chicago, whether it's free yoga classes in the West Loop or crafting sessions at a Logan Square brewery.I found fun events on Pie, but I could've found and attended them without using the app at all after all, that's what just about everyone I spoke to did.Even so, I do think this app has the potential to be a useful tool for making friendships. I'd use Pie again when my social-media algorithms get stale and I want to explore new social circles. If you're new to Chicago, though, it's a decent tool for making the seemingly overwhelming task of building a community that much more attainable.Pie did not respond to a request for comment.

Look around: Does it seem like everyone has been pouring little packages of electrolyte into their beverages lately? Pre-workout, post-workout, without a workout at all? Powders and tablets like LMNT, Liquid I.V., and Nuun are everywhere, from TikTok ads to your office snack counter.The concept of hardcore hydration isnt new athletes have been adding stuff to their water for millennia. And electrolyte-filled drinks like Gatorade have been mainstays in sports culture for decades.But todays electrolyte supplements arent just for football players or ultramarathoners. Companies like Nuun market their tablets for everyone from aspiring endurance athletes to regular people going to yoga classes during their lunch breaks.These brands are playing into peoples perception of what is healthy, said Samantha Coogan, a nutrition sciences educator at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. And it seems to be working: According to Precedence Research, the global electrolyte drinks market is worth over $40 billion and is expected to grow to nearly $75 billion in the next decade.The concept of hydration has become a point of fixation in wellness culture, even though experts still dont entirely agree on how much hydration we need or the ideal way to get there. With electrolytes making their way from the world of endurance athletes to brunch cocktails, its tempting to believe that they might indeed be a magic cure for everything from leg cramps to hangovers. While electrolyte supplements are great for athletes and lifesaving for cholera patients, theyre not magic. Heres what you need to know about what electrolytes can and cant do, and whether you need them. What is an electrolyte, anyway?Our bodies need to maintain a certain balance of essential minerals to function properly: sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, chloride, phosphate, and bicarbonate.These minerals are all electrolytes, substances that carry electricity through the body, controlling fluid balance, muscle function, and communication between the brain and the body. The electro in electrolytes comes from the electric charge produced when theyre dissolved in a fluid like blood. Without electrolytes, these electrical signals get disrupted, causing muscle spasms and cramps, headaches, and trouble thinking clearly. Sodium in particular is an important electrolyte because it aids in controlling the amount of water in your blood. Electrolytes like sodium basically help water in the body go where its supposed to go, said Holley Samuel, a registered sports dietitian who works with endurance athletes. When we sweat, we lose a lot of sodium and chloride (a.k.a. salt). But if a person profusely sweating only chugs water without also replenishing the salt, it throws off the balance of sodium and water in the body, pushing too much fluid inside of cells. This can eventually make those cells swell like raisins soaking in water, a potentially dangerous condition called hyponatremia. When you drink water with electrolytes, that water is better able to stick around inside your body where its needed. Electrolytes like sodium basically help water in the body go where its supposed to go.Its important to note that electrolytes dont exist only in a magic packet, said Stavros Kavouras, director of the Hydration Science Lab at Arizona State University. Beyond tablets, packets, and powders, electrolytes exist in regular foods we eat all the time, like bananas (potassium), cheese and crackers (sodium and calcium), and spinach (magnesium). Electrolytes as pre-packaged water supplements, as we think of them today, have only been around for a few decades. In the 1960s, assistant coach Dewayne Douglas noticed that his University of Florida football players were struggling to recover after practices in the swampy Gainesville heat. Athletes shed weight Douglas recalled losing up to 18 pounds per game himself, when he played but barely felt the need to pee.After conducting studies with UF first-year football players as subjects, kidney disease specialist J. Robert Cade found that players felt terrible because in addition to experiencing low blood sugar after working out, they were sweating out tons of electrolytes, especially sodium and potassium. So he created a new sports recovery drink for the Florida Gators, called Gatorade: basically water, salt, sugar, and lemon juice for taste. The sodium-enriched drink helps athletes retain water while sweating, and the results were remarkable. One Lil Swig of That Kickapoo Juice and Biff, Bam, Sock Its Gators, 8-2, the Florida Times-Union celebrated in December 1966, after Gatorades first season with the team.Sports drinks took off, and other companies began capitalizing on Gatorades success. All sports drinks are variations on Gatorades theme: Water for hydration, sugar for energy, and electrolytes to aid in fluid absorption, as well as flavoring to get it down. Sports drinks act as one magic bullet for athletes, Kavouras said. You take one thing, and it has everything in there. This formula is so effective its recommended by the World Health Organization for rehydrating people, especially cholera patients or children experiencing diarrhea.At first, these beverages were primarily marketed to professional athletes. Today, Powerade and Gatorade are advertised as soft drinks for anyone. In 2024, the year of the giant water bottle, there are also a bunch of new-wave electrolyte supplements like Nuun, LMNT, and Liquid I.V. in grocery and convenience store aisles, which swap sugar for alternative sweeteners like stevia leaf extract or allulose to target consumers who dont want to drink too many extra calories. These supplements market themselves as hydration superfoods: something to help athletes, sure, but also a hangover cure and overall vibe-booster for regular, health-conscious people. Coogan said, if youre eating a balanced diet and arent training for a marathon, you probably shouldnt be pounding back electrolyte packets.If your body needs extra electrolytes, supplements whether a Gatorade or a Nuun can be an efficient way to rehydrate. But, Coogan said, if youre eating a balanced diet and arent training for a marathon, you probably shouldnt be pounding back electrolyte packets. Too much of a good thing is not always a good thing, Coogan said.Okay, but what about hangovers? Pedialyte, an oral electrolyte solution meant for babies and children, has become the go-to hangover cure for young adults at music festivals and fraternity parties. College students are even trying to sidestep the consequences of binge drinking by swapping beers for BORGs (blackout rage gallons): a half-gallon of water mixed with a bottle of liquor and an electrolyte additive.Alas, electrolytes are not a magic hangover cure trying to undo a night out with electrolyte supplements is just going to be an uphill battle, Coogan said. While pre-hydrating with an electrolyte supplement before a night out might help mitigate some of the consequences of the impending alcohol-fueled dehydration, the only real hangover cure is time.MIAMI, FLORIDA - JUNE 15: Ms+ by Messi, a new beverage made with a blend of electrolytes, vitamins, and minerals, and created by global soccer icon Lionel Messi, hits shelves for the first time. (Photo by Rodrigo Varela/Getty Images for Ms+ by Messi) Getty Images for Ms+ by MessiElectrolytes are great for super-sweaty times. Otherwise, meh.The best time to consume extra electrolytes is when youve been sweating a lot, or otherwise losing a lot of fluids through something like food poisoning. Training for a long-distance run? Working on a construction site on a summer day in a place like Phoenix? Experts say electrolyte supplements are definitely a good call.Many people (myself included) fall somewhere in between couch potato and ultramarathoner. I asked experts how I should think about electrolytes, as someone who spends most of the day sitting in front of my computer, then goes to a CrossFit or pole dancing class after work. Samuel says that for casual gym rats and recreational athletes, how you should rehydrate largely depends on how much you sweat, and what your sweat is made of.Some people go to do a spin class and theyre on the bike for five minutes, and theres a puddle around them, Samuel said. If thats you, youre a heavy sweater. Sodium levels in sweat can also vary anywhere from 200 milligrams per liter to 2,000, depending on the person. If your sweat tends to sting your eyes or leave white streaks or crystals on your skin and clothes, you might be a salty sweater.For casual gym rats and recreational athletes, how you should rehydrate largely depends on how much you sweat, and what your sweat is made of.Both heavy sweaters and salty sweaters should consider electrolyte supplements before, during, and after working out. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends consuming at least 300 milligrams of sodium per hour if youre going to be out sweating for more than an hour, whether youre participating in a sport or simply working outside on a hot day. Read labels, too: Try to stay below 14 grams of sugar per 8 ounces of fluid (thats about half of the amount in a Gatorade Thirst Quencher). Make sure to check the sodium content on the label of your electrolyte supplement, though: Some popular supplements, like Liquid I.V., contain 500 mg of sodium, which is more than whats necessary for all but the sweatiest endurance athletes. Those athletes usually need to consume more sodium than other people, Samuel said. For everyone else, supplements with more moderate levels of sodium (around 200 to 300 mg), should be enough to rehydrate. About one-third of otherwise healthy people are sensitive to salt, meaning that consuming high amounts of sodium causes an increase in blood pressure. Thats why you have heard that a high sodium diet can lead to hypertension and cardiovascular disease, Kavouras said. If youre sensitive to salt, youll want to be careful. The FDA recommends Americans limit their sodium intake to 2,300 mg per day. Nevertheless, for most people, its next to impossible to consume a dangerous amount of electrolytes. If you eat more carbs, fat, or protein than your body needs, they get stored as fat. But electrolytes arent stored theyre eliminated. If you drink too much sodium, Kavouras said, you will be peeing more sodium.You dont necessarily need an electrolyte supplement after your workout. Low-fat milk (or soy milk, for lactose-intolerant and plant-based athletes) offer enough electrolytes, carbs, and protein to rehydrate, repair muscles, and stabilize blood sugar, and smoothies can incorporate protein and fats in addition to electrolyte-rich foods like bananas, dates, leafy greens, and coconut water.Electrolytes have another counterintuitive benefit: making you thirstier. Electrolytes help in maintaining the thirst drive for a longer period of time, Kavouras said. This can be helpful for those who struggle to drink enough water, because they arent thirsty enough to reach for it or because they dont like the taste of water. If it tastes better, and if it drives thirst longer, you will be drinking more on your own, Kavouras said.While drinking an electrolyte supplement when you dont really need one is rarely dangerous, Samuel cautioned that consuming extra sodium without enough extra water (or sweating it out) is dehydrating say pouring two LMNT packets into one regular-sized water bottle, although that would taste pretty bad. Youre basically creating jerky out of yourself by salting too much, she said. We want to be a nice, hydrated steak.You dont need them all the time, but electrolytes can help rebalance a sweaty body and make drinking water a little more fun. Just remember that theyre hardly magic theyre salts. Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

The US nuclear industry has been struggling to hold its ground for decades as it contends with rising costs, an aging fleet, a shrinking workforce, and stiff competition from natural gas and renewable power. The most recent US nuclear reactors to come online, units 3 and 4 at Plant Vogtle in Georgia, started up in 2023. It was years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget. Meanwhile, more than a dozen reactors have shut down since 2013. Several companies developing advanced reactors and small modular reactors, promising greater safety and lower costs, have seen their projects and their businesses collapse.Nuclear power has been holding fairly steady for decades. Energy Information AdministrationBut in the past year, some big tech companies have taken steps toward a revival. Amazon has signed a $500 million deal with X-energy to deploy 5 gigawatts worth of small modular reactors (SMRs) in Washington state. The company is also investigating new nuclear projects in Virginia. Google and nuclear startup Kairos Power agreed to develop molten salt-cooled nuclear reactors, an approach that promises greater efficiency and lower costs. Microsoft has made advanced nuclear energy, including technologies like SMRs and fusion, a part of its energy strategy. These tech firms are looking to meet their climate goals while sating energy appetites that have exploded with the push for artificial intelligence. Last year, new data center power demand grew 26 percent to more than 5 gigawatts in North America. The case to lean into nuclear power at this moment is compelling. It could generate massive quantities of electricity, day or night, rain or shine, without emitting greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. Nuclear fission is also one of the safest energy sources. Coal kills more than 32 people per terawatt-hour of electricity produced while nuclear kills about 0.03. But building a new nuclear power plant from scratch, especially a new design, is an arduous, expensive process that can span decades. At the same time, old, carbon dioxide- and soot-spewing coal power plants are also shutting down. Many states are looking to fill the void while also trying to meet their goals to decarbonize their power grids.Thats why tech companies are also looking to revive shuttered nuclear plants. Progress is underway to resurrect reactors at three nuclear power plants that were slated for dismantling and could restart as soon as next year. Its a stunning and unprecedented development for the nuclear industry. If you told me we wouldve been talking about this 10 years ago, I wouldve laughed at you, said Patrick OBrien, head of government affairs and communications at Holtec International, a nuclear services company that until recently specialized in shutting nuclear plants down. Three plants are on the resuscitation list. The 800-megawatt reactor at the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant in Michigan, which shut down in 2022, is slated to revive by the end of 2025; Holtec bought the Palisades plant in 2022 and is now leading its restart. Microsoft signed a deal with Constellation to resuscitate the 835-megawatt Unit 1 reactor at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, which initially turned off in 2019 and could power up by 2028. NextEra Energy is mulling breathing life back into the 600-megawatt Duane Arnold nuclear power plant in Iowa. The plant closed in 2020 after sustaining damage during a derecho, a fast, powerful thunderstorm. Restarting these plants is a critical test for nuclear power in the US, and how they fare will bolster or erode confidence in broader ambitions for a new generation of nuclear deployment.But whether they will help keep global warming in check depends on how much they will displace dirtier energy sources as opposed to merely enabling new demand. How to restart a nuclear reactorAlas, restarting a nuclear power plant doesnt involve flipping a comically large circuit breaker. The reality is much more tedious. For a would-be nuclear resurrectionist, the main tasks are appeasing the regulators and reinvigorating the hardware. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the federal agency in charge of commercial nuclear reactors, says the reason these power plants Palisades, Three Mile Island, Duane Arnold are eligible to be restarted is that, from the regulators perspective, theyre only mostly dead. When a reactor first gains approval from the NRC, its initial operating license runs for 40 years. At the end of the first license, the operator can then seek a 20-year extension. The key to all of these restart efforts is the fact that the licenses that are involved have not yet hit their expiration date, said Scott Burnell, a spokesman for the NRC. These reactors were shut down ahead of schedule not for technical problems but because the business wasnt panning out. After shutting down a plant, operators remove fuel from the reactors and place it in spent fuel pools. They disassemble pipes and machinery. They drain coolants and lubricants to prevent contamination. A complete decommissioning can cost up to $2 billion and take 20 years. But the three plants under restart consideration havent gotten far along in the disassembly process. Until recently, no one has sought to bring back a plant already slated for retirement, so there isnt an established rulebook for how to go about it. Theres never been a case up to this point where a company has come back and said, Well, Ive changed my mind, Burnell said. The first thing someone seeking to resuscitate a nuclear reactor must do is seek an exemption from the current rules that make shutting down a one-way street, which requires an enormous amount of paperwork. The operator then has to put a safety plan in place and bring the plant back up to the original requirements under its operating license. Therein lies the next undertaking. Palisades, Three Mile Island, and Duane Arnold shut down relatively recently, but theyve still been offline for years. Imagine letting a car sit in your driveway unused for a couple of years and then trying to fire it up. Odds are, it wont start on the first try. The motor may have seized, the fuel may have separated, the battery may have discharged completely. Even sitting unused, components like rubber hoses, gaskets, and tires can oxidize and turn brittle with time. Metal parts can rust. A shuttered nuclear power plant faces similar concerns, albeit with significantly higher consequences. Nuclear operators have to first meticulously investigate all the parts of their offline facilities before they get the thumbs-up to power up again. However, this shutdown, inspection, and resuscitation process can also be an opportunity. Holtecs OBrien noted that operating nuclear power plants have regularly scheduled downtime lasting a month or so to conduct maintenance and refuel. But a longer outage gives the operator more time to do more extensive upgrades and restoration. We have parts of the turbine that have been sent out to North Carolina for refurbishment thatll be gone for a year with the work being done, OBrien said. You couldnt have done that when youre an [actively] operating plant.The other challenge is the workforce. Running a nuclear power plant requires highly specialized personnel, and since the US has been so slow in building reactors, many veteran staffers have retired or left the industry while fewer new graduates are rising to replace them. Palisades employed 600 workers when operating and brought in 1,000 more during refueling and maintenance periods.When a plant is slated for shutdown, many of those workers leave the area or retire. So to restart a nuclear facility, operators need to get their teams back together, sometimes bringing workers out of retirement while recruiting and training new ones. Nuclear revivals still have to prove their economicsThe biggest challenge for nuclear restarts may not be the hardware or the regulations, but competition. According to a 2021 report from the Congressional Research Service, The US nuclear power industry in recent years has been facing economic and financial challenges, particularly plants located in competitive power markets where natural gas and renewable power generators influence wholesale electricity prices.Related:Why nuclear plants are shutting downThe reactor revivers say they can overcome what killed these power plants in the first place. With Palisades, Holtec is securing a power purchasing agreement with Wolverine Power Cooperative, a nonprofit that provides electricity to 280,000 homes and businesses in rural Michigan. Rather than competing head-to-head with other generators, this guarantees the plant can sell a given amount of electricity at a fixed rate. OBrien said Holtec is putting up $500 million of its own money. The company also received $300 million in grants from the state of Michigan and a $1.52 billion loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy for its effort. Holtec is also aiming to use the Palisades site to deploy two 300-megawatt small modular reactors, essentially becoming its own first customer for these reactors and demonstrating them for future clients. Since the site is already certified to be a nuclear power plant, it cuts out a lot of the development costs that come with building a plant on fresh soil. Holtec is aiming to have its first SMR up by 2030. While a lot of the recent activity around nuclear power has been fueled by the energy-hungry tech industry, Michigan has set its own ambitious climate goals that make Palisades an even more attractive option. The state is aiming to phase out all of its coal-fired power plants by 2030. Coal currently provides more than 22 percent of the states electricity. Thats a big hole to fill in over the next six years. Like many states, Michigan is experiencing growing electricity demand, particularly as hotter summers increase cooling needs. The rise of electric cars and switching from natural gas heating to electric heat pumps is increasing energy appetites as well. The state also sees an opportunity to get a piece of the AI action and is instituting tax breaks for new data centers.Revived plants like Palisades cant keep running forever though. In a car, regular oil changes, tire replacements, and inspections can keep it on the road for a long time. But if the engine block starts to wear down, its usually not worth the time or money to replace it. Similarly, with a nuclear power plant, ongoing fueling and maintenance can keep it operational, but if its equivalent of an engine block the reactor pressure vessel around the reactor core becomes brittle over time as neutrons from nuclear fission bombard it, that can be expensive and difficult to replace. Its integrity is often the main determinant of the overall lifespan of a nuclear plant. Palisades was already 50 years old when it went offline, and the NRCs current regulations are set up to allow for two 20-year renewals after an initial 40-year license for a nuclear power plant. Weve had several plants that have come in for a second renewal, which would allow them to run essentially for 80 years, Burnell said. A plant could theoretically push that further, but no one has tried yet. And all nuclear plants have to deal with rising costs. Maintaining a nuclear workforce is getting more expensive, and safety regulations continue to ratchet up. Inflation is making materials more pricey and higher interest rates are increasing financing expenses. At the same time, photovoltaic solar panels and wind turbines have experienced extraordinary price drops and explosive growth around the world.The nuclear industrys challenges remain immense, but concerns about climate change might end up being the most compelling driver for new nuclear power. When it comes to ample, around-the-clock, zero-emissions power, nuclear is a strong contender in the competition. But nuclear energy is now facing another curveball. Donald Trumps reelection to the White House likely means that addressing climate change will become a lower priority, as it did during his first term. How much the federal government will continue backing nuclear restarts and new companies is unclear, and the industry might need to figure out a new pitch for more public investment. Youve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Nintendo is being a big tease (Reuters)As the world awaits news on the Switch 2, Nintendo continues to troll fans with another Direct presentation on something completely unrelated.Ever since Nintendo confirmed its next console will be shown at some point before April 2025, every new announcement from the company has come with added anticipation.Nintendo has resorted to putting disclaimers on subsequent Direct presentations to control expectations, but theres been a string of surprises in recent months which has bordered on troll behaviour including a museum, the Alarmo clock, a new music app, and a Switch port of Xenoblade Chronicles X.The company has now announced a Direct presentation for something else completely separate from Nintendos Switch successor: a new area in the Super Nintendo World theme park.When is the next Nintendo Direct? The Super Nintendo World Direct is set to be streamed live today and will showcase the new Donkey Kong Country expansion coming to the theme park at Universal Studios Japan. It will span roughly 10 minutes, with the disclaimer that no game information will be featured.Youll be able to watch the stream live through Nintendos YouTube channels on Monday, November 11 at 10pm GMT in the UK, which translates to 2pm PT/5pm ET in the US.The Donkey Kong Country expansion was originally slated to open in spring this year, but it was delayed to late 2024 with no specific date. As such, its very likely this presentation will reveal an opening date, potentially for this month.While this is focused on Universal Studios Japan, Donkey Kong Country and its Mine-Cart Madness ride will debut in the West at the upcoming Super Nintendo World park at Universal Orlando, which is set to open next year.Theres currently no confirmation that itll be part of the Universal Studios park in Los Angeles, which is more pushed for space.This is Nintendos third Direct presentation since August, following a Nintendo Museum broadcast and a joint Indie World and Partner Showcase.Is there a Zelda surprise coming in 2024? While it looks increasingly unlikely that well see any news about the Switch 2 this year, rumours suggest Nintendo isnt quite done with surprise announcements.Insider Samus Hunter, who teased the Donkey Kong Country showcase ahead of its reveal and correctly predicted the Xenoblade Chronicles X remaster, has hinted that something Zelda-related is also coming this winter.In a post on X, the insider states it is not a hint for a Zelda game and is more like a riddle, with the picture showing Link playing the ocarina from Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. Many have suggested it could be related to additional Zelda songs for the Nintendo Music app, which makes sense considering there are barely any songs on it. With the musical theme, a Zelda concert of sorts might also be a possibility. Well have to wait and see if a Zelda announcement does materialise, but just dont expect the long rumoured Wind Waker and Twilight Princess remasters to make a sudden appearance.Donkey Kongs expansion is coming to Super Nintendo World in Orlando too (Nintendo)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.MORE : Nintendo Switch 2 will run current Switch games but unveil is likely till 2025MORE : The Nintendo 3DS is finally dead as its last player is forced offlineMORE : Yes, someone has got THAT game running on Nintendos Alarmo clockSign up to all the exclusive gaming content, latest releases before they're seen on the site.Privacy Policy This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

The iRobot Roomba Combo i5+ is a self-emptying robot vacuum and mop, and its currently available at an impressive discount of 46%, bringing the price down to $299 from its original list price of $549.99. This deal is part of Amazons early Black Friday sales which have begun ahead of the official shopping holiday. The Roomba Combo i5+ is not just a vacuum: it also functions as a mop and makes it a great addition to any home cleaning arsenal.See at AmazonThis robot vacuum features a powerful 4-Stage Cleaning System that effectively pulls in everyday dirt and debris. Its unique dual multi surface rubber brushes are designed to adapt to various floor types for a thorough clean without the hassle of tangling with pet hair. One of the very much appreciated features of the Roomba Combo i5+ is its self-emptying capability: it can automatically empty its bin for up to 60 days.Empty Bin For Up to 60 DaysThe Roomba Combo i5+ is equipped with smart mapping technology which allows it to learn the layout of your home. This feature enables you to direct the robot to clean specific rooms at your convenience, whether on a set schedule or in real-time. Additionally, its patented dirt detect technology identifies dirtier areas in your home and cleans them more thoroughly when the vacuum bin is installed. This ensures that high-traffic areas receive the attention they need for a cleaner living space.Moreover, this model doubles as both a vacuum and a mop: with a simple switch of the bin, you can convert it from an all-floor vacuum into a wet mopping robot. The microfiber mop pad is designed for effective cleaning of footprints, dirt and dust on hard floors. Users can fill the Roomba bins tank with their choice of compatible cleaning solution or just water for customizable cleaning options that leave your home fresh and spotless.The integration with smart home devices enhances its usability: you can pair the Roomba Combo i5+ with Alexa, Siri or Google Assistant-enabled devices. You can use voice commands to instruct the robot to clean specific rooms or areas in your home for a seamless cleaning experience without manual intervention.As part of Amazons early Black Friday deals, this offer not only provides significant savings but also comes with an extended return policy: items purchased between November 1 and December 25, 2024, can be returned until January 31, 2025, or within 30 days from receiptwhichever is later. This ensures that customers can shop with confidence during the holiday season.See at Amazon