Technology
Data centers in Oregon might be helping to drive an increase in cancer and miscarriages
Morrow County, Oregon is home to mega farms and food processing plants. But it’s also home to several Amazon data centers. And now, some experts believe, that combination is leading to an alarmingly high concentration of nitrates in the drinking water that is driving up cancer and miscarriage rates in the area.
Rolling Stone’s exposé details how Amazon, despite not using any dangerous nitrates to cool its data centers, is accelerating the contamination of the Lower Umatilla Basin aquifer, which residents rely on for drinking water. It’s a combination of poor wastewater management, sandy soil, and good old physics that has led to nitrate concentrations in drinking water as high as 73 ppm (parts per million) in some wells, which is 10 times the state limit of 7 ppm and seven times the federal limit.
According to Rolling Stone, “experts say Amazon’s arrival supercharged this process. The data centers suck up tens of millions of gallons of water from the aquifer each year to cool their computer equipment, which then gets funneled to the Port’s wastewater system.” The result is that more nitrate-laden wastewater gets pumped onto area farms. But the porous soil saturates quickly and more nitrates make their way into the aquifer.
This is exacerbated when Amazon then pulls this contaminated water, which is already over federal legal limits for nitrates, up to cool its data centers:
When that tainted water moves through the data centers to absorb heat from the server systems, some of the water is evaporated, but the nitrates remain, increasing the concentration. That means that when the polluted water has moved through the data centers and back into the wastewater system, it’s even more contaminated, sometimes averaging as high as 56 ppm, eight times Oregon’s safety limit.
Amazon, of course, disputes this narrative. Spokesperson Lisa Levandowski told Rolling Stone that, the story was “misleading and inaccurate,” and that, “the volume of water our facilities use and return represents only a very small fraction of the overall water system — not enough to have any meaningful impact on water quality.”
Levandowski also said that the area’s groundwater problems “significantly predate AWS’ (Amazon Web Services) presence.” Though, if Amazon was aware of the area’s challenges in securing enough safe drinking water for its residents, it raises questions about why the company hasn’t done more to mitigate its impact or why it even chose Morrow County in the first place.
The rise in nitrates in the drinking water has been linked to a surge in rare cancers and miscarriages. But efforts to limit further contamination and provide residents with safe, clean drinking water have been slow to materialize. The limited scope of the response and the fact that 40 percent of the county’s residents live below the poverty line has drawn comparisons to the crisis in Flint, Michigan. Kristin Ostrom, executive director of Oregon Rural Action (ORA), a water rights advocacy group, told Rolling Stone, “These are people who have no political or economic power, and very little knowledge of the risk.”
Technology
Hoto’s 25-bit electric screwdriver is 40 percent off during Prime Day
You knew there’d be a Hoto deal, right? Whether you’re moving into a new apartment or tackling a growing list of small repairs around the house, a good electric screwdriver can save you time and effort. Hoto’s 3.6V Electric Screwdriver Kit Pro is one we love to recommend, especially because it’s on sale for $28.49 ($21.50 off) at Amazon and Walmart during Prime Day, which is just $5 shy of its all-time low price.
Unlike a big power drill, the Hoto is small and lightweight enough to keep in a drawer or car trunk, yet it’s powerful enough to tackle a number of common household tasks. The kit includes 25 interchangeable steel bits along with an extension bar, making it well suited to everything from assembling furniture to making small appliance repairs, or working on scooters and bikes.
The Hoto offers three torque settings, allowing you to apply less force when working with delicate electronics and more when putting together furniture. The rechargeable 1,500mAh battery charges via USB-C and can handle dozens of small projects on a single charge. As a convenience, there’s a built-in LED light that makes it easier to see what you’re doing, which is especially handy when working behind a TV stand or under a desk.
Technology
Nvidia says its AI data center design runs hotter to use a lot less water
Public pushback against data centers has emphasized their water and energy consumption, and now Nvidia is highlighting its claim that the Rubin generation reference design for a fully liquid-cooled data center has “eliminated massive amounts of power usage and pretty much all water usage.” Still, it doesn’t address all of the concerns around AI data centers, including during their construction, and for the power generation requirements of the massive facilities. Also, as Gizmodo points out, Nvidia’s blog post doesn’t mention the cost of building this style of data center vs. one using less efficient air cooling, but claims that “every cloud provider and data center operator building for [Rubin] is making the transition.”
The efficiency gains are partly due to running AI servers hotter, as high as 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius). In a recent report, Amazon similarly touted higher heat tolerances as part of making its mostly air-cooled data centers more efficient.
With Nvidia’s system, “heat is captured directly at the chip and transported through liquid loops operating at much higher temperatures, allowing outdoor dry coolers to reject heat efficiently for much of the year,” with much more flexibility when it comes to the ambient air temperature.
According to Nvidia’s head of sustainability, Josh Parker, the reference design takes water use “from roughly 2.6 million gallons per megawatt per year for conventional cooling-tower-based systems to near zero — up to a 100 percent reduction.”
Technology
Google invests in A24 to build AI movie tools
Google’s DeepMind AI lab is teaming up with A24 to develop new movie production technologies that aim to help future filmmakers “expand their storytelling possibilities.” As part of this new research and development collaboration, The Wall Street Journal reports that Google is investing “around $75 million” into A24, marking the first time the search giant has taken a stake in a film studio.
“The collaboration pairs a world-leading research lab with the industry’s most filmmaker-forward studio to help artists develop new workflows and techniques,” Google said in its announcement blog. “This ensures the tools of the future are shaped by the creators who use them.”
The partnership is expected to span across “multiple projects over time” according to Google, though the announcement doesn’t mention any specific movies that Google will be involved with. WSJ reports that Google and A24 are aiming to create new tools for movie production and distribution, something that Google alluded to in its own announcement, saying the “initial focus is on bridging the gap between cutting-edge technology and next generation entertainment.”
The multiyear deal is non-exclusive, according to WSJ, and doesn’t allow Google to access A24’s film and television library data. Still, the partnership is likely to raise some eyebrows in the film industry, given that Google’s AI models are trained on publicly available internet data, and how ferociously other movie studios like Disney, Universal, and Warner Bros have fought AI companies for alleged copyright violations.
WSJ also reports that Google and A24 are hoping to include the movie studio’s existing roster of artists in the deal, such as YouTube creator and Backrooms director, Kane Parsons. In an interview with The Australian earlier this month, Parsons said that “generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot,” and that he gets “no enjoyment” out of using the technology on any project.
According to Scott Belsky — an A24 partner who was previously Adobe’s chief strategy officer — the tools that Google and A24 are developing “won’t look anything like the prompted generation type of AI that people feel uncomfortable with.” In his statement to WSJ, Belsky said “there are better uses that preserve creative control and support risk-taking.”
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