Within the excessive desert east of Reno, Nevada, building crews are flattening the golden foothills of the Virginia Vary, laying the foundations of a knowledge middle metropolis.
Google, Tract, Change, EdgeCore, Novva, Vantage, and PowerHouse are all working, constructing, or increasing big services close by. In the meantime, Microsoft has acquired greater than 225 acres of undeveloped property, and Apple is increasing its present information middle simply throughout the Truckee River from the economic park.
The company race to amass computing sources to coach and run synthetic intelligence fashions and retailer info within the cloud has sparked a knowledge middle increase within the desert—and it’s simply far sufficient away from Nevada’s communities to elude huge discover and, some worry, satisfactory scrutiny. Learn the complete story.
—James Temple
This story is a part of Energy Hungry: AI and our vitality future—our new collection shining a light-weight on the vitality calls for and carbon prices of the synthetic intelligence revolution. Try the remainder of the bundle right here.
A brand new atomic clock in area might assist us measure elevations on Earth
In 2003, engineers from Germany and Switzerland started constructing a bridge throughout the Rhine River concurrently from either side. Months into building, they discovered that the 2 sides didn’t meet. The German facet hovered 54 centimeters above the Swiss one.
The misalignment occurred as a result of they measured elevation from sea degree otherwise. To forestall such expensive building errors, in 2015 scientists within the Worldwide Affiliation of Geodesy voted to undertake the Worldwide Peak Reference Body, or IHRF, a worldwide customary for elevation.
Now, a decade after its adoption, scientists need to replace the usual—by utilizing essentially the most exact clock ever to fly in area. Learn the complete story.