📌 Google Goes Nuclear, Jupiter’s Ocean Moon, More

Google has signed a “world first” deal to buy energy from mini nuclear reactors to support the rise in artificial intelligence use.

Google has ordered six or seven small nuclear reactors (SMRs) from California’s Kairos Power. The first is due to be completed by 2030, and the rest by 2035. Google hopes the deal will provide a low-carbon solution to power data centers requiring huge volumes of electricity.

Google has agreed to buy 500 megawatts of power from Kairos, founded in 2016 and is building a demonstration reactor in Tennessee, due to be completed in 2027.

Last month, Microsoft struck a deal to take energy from Three Mile Island, activating the plant for the first time in five years. The site, in Pennsylvania, was the location of the most severe meltdown in US history, in March 1979.

Michael Terrell, Google's senior director for energy and climate, said the agreement “helps accelerate a new technology to meet energy needs cleanly and reliably and unlock the full potential of AI for everyone.”

NASA’s largest spacecraft blasted off for Europa Monday to investigate whether the ocean beneath its shell could support life.

Europa Clipper is the first NASA mission dedicated to studying an ocean world beyond Earth. The spacecraft will travel 1.8 billion miles on a trajectory that will leverage the power of gravity assists from Mars and Earth. It will begin orbiting Jupiter in April 2030.

The mission's primary goal is to determine whether Europa has conditions that could support life. Europa is about the size of our moon but shows strong evidence that under its ice lies an enormous, salty ocean with more water than all of Earth’s oceans.

Scientists also have found evidence that Europa may host organic compounds and energy sources under its surface.

Europa Clipper will come as close as 16 miles to the surface with ice-penetrating radar, cameras, and a thermal instrument to look for areas of warmer ice and recent water eruptions. The spacecraft will fly past Europa 49 times.

Europa Clipper carries the largest solar arrays NASA has used to power those instruments in faint sunlight. With arrays extended, the spacecraft spans 100 feet. With fuel loaded, it weighs about 13,000 pounds.

Research finds that social media users are likelier to engage with posts that provoke rather than affirm their political beliefs.

The findings, published in the academic journal “Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes,” shed light on the emotional dynamics that drive online engagement.

One of the study’s authors said they commonly observed “negative sentiments posted by users with ideology-inconsistent views dominated the threads, and we wanted to reconcile this pattern with the well-established finding that people tend to avoid information inconsistent with their beliefs.”

Field studies using Facebook ads showed that users were more likely to click on and comment on posts opposing their political views, providing evidence for the “confrontation effect.”

The confrontation effect is driven by outrage, pushing people to respond to opposing viewpoints. It was judged stronger for personally or socially significant topics, such as Covid vaccines, compared with less important topics like smartphone brands.

The authors say commenting on opposing views can reduce people's emotional distress or outrage, suggesting a possible emotional relief mechanism. The study acknowledges limitations, including the complexity of measuring engagement on different social media platforms and the focus on political content.

A New York judge censured an “expert” witness for using AI to estimate damages inaccurately in a real estate dispute.

Witness Charles Ranson used Copilot for his calculations in a dispute over a $485,000 rental property in the Bahamas included in a trust for a deceased man's son.

The court was asked to assess whether the executrix and trustee— the deceased man's sister — breached her fiduciary duties by delaying the property sale while using it for personal vacations, causing the plaintiff to suffer damages.

It was up to Ranson to calculate how much would be owed to the son had the aunt sold the property in 2008 compared with the actual sale price in 2022. But Ranson, an expert in trust and estate litigation, "had no relevant real estate expertise," the judge said, finding that Ranson's testimony was “entirely speculative.”

Ranson used Copilot but couldn't recall the prompts he used or any sources for the information he took from the chatbot. He admitted he lacked a basic understanding of how Copilot works.

The judge found no breach of fiduciary duty and denied all of the son's objections after calling out Ranson's misuse of the chatbot at length. The judge said Ranson failed to consider obvious facts, such as the pandemic's impact on rental prices or trust expenses like real estate taxes.

Despite nearly one-third of voters affected by disability-related issues, many feel ignored by presidential candidates.

A Rutgers University report estimates there will be 40.2 million eligible disabled voters in the presidential election. Including those who live with them, nearly one-third of the voting population is affected by disability-related issues.

Disabled individuals often receive less political information and face challenges voting in person and by mail, leading to lower participation rates. US Election Assistance Commissioner Benjamin Hovland said his office tries to ensure every eligible voter can vote independently, privately and without restrictions.

The two presidential campaigns could do more, said Holly Latham at #MEAction, which advocates for people with chronic fatigue syndrome. She said ads, fliers and events must be accessible to all disabled people.

Meighan Stone, affected by long Covid, called for candidates to address systemic issues like delays in disability benefits and approval of treatments.

Dom Kelly, the founder and CEO of New Disabled South, said the presidential candidates must address disabled voters’ concerns. “You win or lose because of disabled people, and if you don’t take our community seriously, that will reflect on the outcome of your campaign.”

Canada accused India of “clandestine” and “criminal” activities Monday as senior diplomats were expelled from both countries.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government has “clear and compelling evidence that agents of the government of India have engaged in, and continue to engage in, activities that pose a significant threat to public safety.”

These activities involved clandestine information gathering techniques, coercive behavior, targeting South Asian Canadians and involvement in over a dozen threatening and violent acts, including murder, he said.

Trudeau had earlier accused India of assassinating the prominent Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in the province of British Columbia last year.

In recent months, activists have accused India of a carefully orchestrated campaign of “transnational terrorism” that targets Sikhs.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioner Mike Duheme did not indicate how many killings Indian officials had been linked to in Canada.

India’s foreign ministry strongly rejected the allegations against its diplomats, calling them “ludicrous” and deserving of being “treated with contempt.” It said six top Canadian diplomats would be expelled from New Delhi within five days.

A diver attacked by a shark has turned one of its teeth into an earring and says wearing the “trophy” has given him closure.

Angus Kockott was freediving in the shallow water off a French Polynesian island in May when a 7-foot grey reef shark appeared from behind the coral and clamped its jaws on his arm.

The 20-year-old fought off the shark by stabbing it in the gills with a four-inch knife used for cutting dive lines. Angus managed to swim back to the boat and tied goggles around his arm to create a makeshift tourniquet.

“If I hadn’t blocked the shark with my arm, it could have gone for my neck,” said the sailor from South Africa. “I would’ve been toast.”

He was rushed by military aircraft to a hospital in Tahiti where, during a six-hour surgery, doctors found a tooth in his arm—and now he wears it with pride. Due to the nerve damage, Angus was left with little movement or feeling in his arm, but he hopes with continued treatment and therapy, it will improve.

He said the incident hasn’t deterred him and he’s itching to get back in the ocean.