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April 14, 2025—Data centers are energy (and water and raw material) consuming beasts. Plus, three crucial NASA satellites are about to go dark, and scientists get a mass measurement on the elusive neutrino. —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | A scientific instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite helps show the spread of carbon monoxide plumes from California wildfires in September 2020. NASA/JPL-Caltech | | - Three NASA satellites, which provide crucial data for monitoring Earth's surface temperature, forests, clouds, glaciers and oceans, are likely going out of commission within the year, with no plans to replace them. | 5 min read
- The KATRIN experiment in Germany has successfully measured the upper mass of a neutrino to a mere 0.45 electron volts. It's a landmark in physicists' decades-long quest to gauge the neutrino's mass. | 5 min read
- Google is developing a Large Language Model that could help us communicate with dolphins (great video at the link). | 4 min read
- These are the areas of science research and U.S. states being hit hardest by Trump's cuts to the National Institutes of Health (with helpful charts). | 6 min read
- Andrea Evangelina Rodríguez Perozo was born into poverty and abandoned by her parents. But she put herself through school and became the first Dominican woman to graduate from medical school. Listen to this five-part podcast series on her life.
| | Data centers are projected to more than double their electricity consumption by 2030, according to a report from the International Energy Agency last week. Why? Increased power consumption by generative AI on Internet browsers, and Large Language Models like ChatGPT. Although two-thirds of planned electricity capacity to power data centers is set to come from renewable sources, the IEA reports that new gas-fired plants in the U.S. will play a large role as well. Technology companies like Microsoft are investing in nuclear power to fuel their digital tools. The IEA report finds that the U.S., Europe and China are collectively responsible for 85 percent of data centers' current energy consumption. In the near future, the U.S. and China will account for 80 percent of growing electricity demand, as shown in this graphic from our sister publication Nature. | | | | |
Nature; Source: IEA (CC BY 4.0) | | Why this matters: "The technology's seemingly insatiable need for energy remains concerning," write the editors of Scientific American. Commercial energy demand continues to grow, and people are already seeing higher residential energy prices in some regions where thirsty technologies such as AI are taxing the grid. And while data centers may help push forward clean energy projects, the overall usage of the Internet will continue to rise, contributing to even more energy usage. Energy usage feeds global warming. Other impacts: Generative AI applications alone could add 1.2 million to five million metric tons of hazardous e-waste to the planet by 2030; AI processing rapidly churns through physical data-storage devices, plus the graphics-processing units and other high-performance components. Data centers also require massive amounts of water for liquid cooling systems to absorb and dissipate the heat generated by servers. By 2027 the amount of water AI uses in one year worldwide is projected to be on par with what a small European nation consumes. What can be done: "While technology companies push AI, we need to push them for not just small innovations in efficiency but big ones that keep the energy footprint of the U.S. reined in," the editors say. Harvesting rainwater could be a useful tactic to reduce data centers' water demands. And companies could be required to minimize e-waste; Microsoft and Google have pledged to reach net zero waste and net zero emissions, respectively, by 2030. | | | | |
- Pharmaceutical companies are reaching legal settlements with states and municipalities for the companies' role in opioid deaths in this country. While opioid deaths have declined slightly since 2023, steep racial disparities in opioid deaths, particularly among Black people, remain, writes Jerel Ezell, an assistant professor of community health sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. "To rectify this, money from the settlements should be used to help these deeply affected communities," he says. | 6 min read
| | The Jevons paradox posits that making a technological tool more efficient can actually increase its use, and hence its resource consumption (we might otherwise expect that increases in efficiency lower resource usage). It will be interesting to see how AI transforms Internet usage in the coming years. Yes, people now spend more time online than ever. But some experts anticipate a future where digital AI representatives operate on your behalf in the digital realm, pre-screening potential romantic partners or buying books it knows you'll like. Such AI tools might give us humans time to actually live in the real world, not the virtual one. | | —Andrea Gawrylewski, Chief Newsletter Editor | | | | |
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