All posts tagged: Drove

Data Centers Drove Half Of All Growth In US Electricity Use In 2025

Data Centers Drove Half Of All Growth In US Electricity Use In 2025

Published by Jenni Sidey

Global electricity demand rose by 3% in 2025, with growth nearly triple compared to the 1.3% increase in total energy consumption, as data centers and electric vehicles continued to push power use higher, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report on Monday. Overall global energy demand growth slowed to 1.3% in 2025, slightly below the previous decade’s average of 1.4% and significantly lower than in 2024, as global economic growth slowed and cooling demand in Asia was lower than in 2024, the IEA found in its annual Global Energy Review report published today. While total energy demand growth cooled, electricity demand continued to grow strongly, with an annual rise of 3% last year, the IEA found.  The growth rate dropped from 4.4% in 2024, when intense heat waves in India and Southeast Asia had boosted electricity consumption. Still, the 2025 growth rate in electricity demand remained above the 2.8% annual average between 2014 and 2024 and was also well over twice the 1.3% rate of overall global energy demand growth in 2025. The global numbers …

Bachelorette contestant from canceled season drove car in wreck that paralyzed Madison Cawthorn

Bachelorette contestant from canceled season drove car in wreck that paralyzed Madison Cawthorn

Published by Sam Flores

One of the 22 men vying for reality star Taylor Frankie Paul’s heart on the now-cancelled season of ABC’s “The Bachelorette” was the driver in a 2014 crash that left former Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) paralyzed. Brad Ledford, 29, was set to appear in the franchise’s 22nd season, which ABC shelved last week following domestic… Source link

AI scams drove UK reports of fraud to record 444,000 last year | Scams

AI scams drove UK reports of fraud to record 444,000 last year | Scams

Published by Sam Flores

Criminals are increasingly exploiting AI technology to take over people’s mobile, banking and online shopping accounts, the UK’s leading anti-fraud body has warned. Last year, a record number of scams were reported to the national fraud database, fuelled by AI, which allows for large-scale deception on “industrialised” levels, according to Cifas, the fraud prevention organisation. Its report showed 444,000 cases of fraud were reported by its members last year – a 6% increase on 2024. The tactics of criminals are shifting towards account takeovers, where they take control using stolen data and make unauthorised transactions. Most of the account takeover scams reported last year were for mobiles, online shopping, and personal credit cards, according to the Fraudscape report. The Cifas chief executive, Mike Haley, said the data showed fraud was becoming increasingly advanced and organised, and operated seamlessly across borders. Criminals often sell kits – “fraud as a service” – that enable others to commit the crime, while fake profiles are now able to be produced on a large scale. “Our assessment suggests that online …

New analysis shows ideology, not science, drove the global prohibition of psychedelics

New analysis shows ideology, not science, drove the global prohibition of psychedelics

Published by José Betancourt

A recent study published in Contemporary Drug Problems argues that the strict global prohibition of psychedelic drugs was driven more by political ideology and media panic than by scientific evidence of medical harm. The historical analysis reveals that the 1971 United Nations decision to heavily restrict these substances relied on cultural anxieties rather than genuine public health risks. These findings suggest that current international drug laws may need to be reevaluated to remove unnecessary barriers to modern medical research. Psychedelics are a diverse class of substances that alter a person’s perception, mood, and cognitive processes. This category includes naturally occurring compounds found in certain plants and mushrooms, like psilocybin and mescaline, as well as synthetic drugs like lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD. Medical professionals generally consider these substances to be physiologically safe, and they tend to have a very low risk of causing addiction. The United Nations is an international organization founded to maintain global peace, security, and cooperation, which includes creating treaties to regulate the global trade of various drugs. In 1971, …

How Smarsh built an AI front door for regulated industries — and drove 59% self-service adoption

How Smarsh built an AI front door for regulated industries — and drove 59% self-service adoption

Published by skeptic

Presented by Salesforce Smarsh, a global provider of cloud-native, AI-driven solutions that capture, archive, and analyze communications data and intelligence for highly regulated industries, set an ambitious goal: use AI to scale its workforce and increase productivity by 30%. But its customer service team had already identified the real challenge — customers were navigating a maze of products, documentation, and compliance requirements. The solution wasn’t just more automation. It was a single, intelligent entry point into support. “At the team level we asked ourselves, how can we become a better support organization for our regulated industry customers given that we keep on acquiring companies and have so many products to support?” says Rohit Khanna, Smarsh chief customer officer. “How do we harness the knowledge we have internally and present that to these customers in a way that makes our teams more efficient, and customer service more effective?” In practice, that meant building an intelligent, human-centric “front door” trained on Smarsh’s proprietary knowledge. The system centralizes the support journey, distilling complex AI infrastructure into a simple, …

NASA Drove Its Mars Rover Using AI for the First Time. Here’s How It Went

NASA Drove Its Mars Rover Using AI for the First Time. Here’s How It Went

Published by skeptic

On Earth, we can punch an address into Google Maps and be on our way in seconds. But plotting a course for NASA’s Perseverance rover, 140 million miles away on Mars, is significantly more difficult. The rover’s course is usually plotted by a team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, who take into account terrain, obstacles and potential hazards. For the first time, NASA’s JPL used AI to plot a course for Perseverance, and it seems to have worked out.  The two demonstrations, which took place on Dec. 8 and Dec. 10, were plotted by Anthropic’s Claude AI models and double-checked by JPL to ensure that the AI didn’t accidentally drive the rover into a ditch. Perseverance drove just under 1,500 feet across the two drives with no documented issues.  NASA took a similar approach with plotting the waypoints as it would with human operators. Claude was fed the same satellite imagery and data from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that JPL scientists would use, and then asked to plot waypoints that Perseverance could handle safely.  The resulting path …

Study warns gambling ads drove soccer betting during 2022 World Cup despite UK safeguards

Study warns gambling ads drove soccer betting during 2022 World Cup despite UK safeguards

Published by skeptic

New research from the University of Sheffield suggests that existing UK gambling ad rules may not go far enough to protect soccer fans and vulnerable viewers from gambling ads and increased betting, especially as attention builds ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The study, published in Addictive Behaviors Reports and titled “The effect of television advertising on gambling behaviour: a quasi-experimental study during the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup,” analyzed betting behaviour among 365 men aged 18–45 in England during the 2022 tournament. According to the paper’s abstract, “Frequency of betting on football was 16% to 24% higher during games televised on a channel with gambling advertising compared to one without.” It also found that “participants were 22% to 33% more likely to place a soccer bet during games that contained television gambling advertising.” The quasi-experimental study found that even with industry-led safeguards in place, such as the voluntary “whistle-to-whistle” ban designed to limit exposure during live matches, televised gambling ads were still closely linked to higher levels of betting activity. Researchers say gambling …

Kia’s EV hatch drove 250 miles, recharged in 33 mins in frigid cold

Kia’s EV hatch drove 250 miles, recharged in 33 mins in frigid cold

Published by skeptic

The EV4, Kia’s electric hatchback, proved its prowess in the El Prix Winter Test, driving almost 250 miles (390 km) in temperatures as low as –31°C (-23.8 °F). It also recharged from 10% to 80% in just over 30 minutes. Kia EV4 maintains range and charging speed in the cold Out of 24 electric vehicles that took part in this year’s El Prix Winter Test, Kia’s electric hatch outlasted all but three. The El Prix, held by the Norwegian Automobile Federation (NAF) and Motor Magazine, is the largest and widely regarded as the most brutal EV test. It’s designed to push electric vehicles to the limit in freezing temperatures to assess how official WLTP range figures and charging speeds perform. With temperatures reaching as low as –31°C (-23.8 °F), 2026 was the coldest winter test yet. All vehicles start with a fully charged battery in Oslo, Norway, and travel as far as possible without recharging, crossing mountains, highways, ice-covered roads, cities, and other terrain. Advertisement – scroll for more content Kia’s electric hatch drove 242 …