By CATHY BUSSEWITZ

NEW YORK (AP) — The trouble began around 3 p.m. every day after Cathy Higgins spent 5 or 6 hours observing a series of computer screens at her desk. Her university job as head of research projects included the close examination of figures and details on contracts, applications and budgets.

As they vision became worseHiggins walked around and talked to her staff. She began planning face-to-face meetings for the afternoon. But late at night, after her children had gone to bed, she resumed work on the pc.

“If I continued to work on the blurred vision, the migraines would occur,” Higgins said.

Digital screens are ubiquitous, not only at work but additionally at home. Schools and shops. According to the American Optmetric Association, an estimated 104 million working-age Americans spend greater than seven hours a day in front of screens. All that screen time can take a toll.

Too much screen exposure could cause dry or watery eyes, blurred vision, and headaches. It also can cause nearsightedness or nearsightedness in some people, especially children. Some technicians even describe temporary bouts of dizziness when screens for too long.

Eye strain

One reason for the discomfort is that the muscle that helps eye focus tightens while you stare closely at screens for long periods of time.

“This muscle mustn’t remain tense all day. And while you do, it's like picking up a light-weight weight and attempting to hold it over your head for hours,” said Steven Reed, president of the American Optmetric Association. “It's not difficult to learn. But after a while, your body just gets tired, even if it’s not a hard exercise.”

Fortunately, exposure to blue light from computer screens and devices has not been shown to cause permanent eye damage, according to the American Academy of Opthalmology.

Still, symptoms can interfere with work, family time, and rest. As an optometrist in Mississippi, Reed cares for patients who frequently complain of eye pain, headaches and blurred vision related to computer use. He recommends getting an eye exam and taking frequent breaks.

For Higgins, trying to catch up on work she couldn't do because her eyes were too tired on weekdays cut into the time she spent with her daughters on weekends. “They were playing together, and I couldn't be as involved in what they were doing as I would have liked,” she said.

Here are some tips from ophthalmologists to reduce eye strain caused by devices.

Follow the 20-20-20 rule

Take a break from sitting at the computer every 20 minutes. During the pause, focus your gaze on something about 20 feet away for 20 seconds. Stopping close-up work and looking at something in the distance gives tired and tense muscles time to relax.

“Fortunately, eye strain is only temporary,” said Raj Maturi, an ophthalmologist at the Midwest Eye Institute in Indianapolis and a spokesman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology. “The best approach to avoid these symptoms is to take breaks from our screens or activities near work and use lubricating eye drops as needed.”

People typically blink about 18 to 22 times per minute. But when looking at a screen, the rate drops to three to seven times per minute, according to the Cleveland Clinic. This is where eye drops come into play.

It's good to exercise and get outside, but if you don't have time for a walk outside, taking frequent 20-second breaks can help.

Change your desk configuration

Some people find that using a larger computer monitor helps reduce eye fatigue. You can also increase the font size on your laptop, monitor or smartphone screen.

Higgins did all of this after starting a new job as senior vice president at Stand Up to Cancer. Since she works from home in Midlothian, Virginia, she got a 29-inch monitor and sits about three feet away from it, about a foot further than in most office environments.

The changes helped. She still has occasional blurring issues, but not as frequently. “If I have a longer day, like a 12-hour day, I start having vision problems again,” she said.

According to the American Academy of Opthalmology, sitting an arm's length away from your screen and adjusting it so you're looking slightly downward can also help reduce eye strain.

Be careful with product claims

Some products, such as Some products, such as blue light glasses, are marketed with claims that they reduce digital eye strain, improve sleep, and prevent eye disease. However, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology, several studies have found that the glasses are not very effective. It's really our behavior around digital devices that causes symptoms, not the small amount of blue light emitted from screens, the group said.

Extracurricular optics

After leaving the computer at work, many people read or scroll on their smartphone screen. It's not just workers: kids use laptops, tablets and smart screens at school all day long.

Too much screen time or focusing on nearby objects can accelerate the onset and progression of nearsightedness, especially in children, said Ayesha Malik, a pediatric optometrist in the department of ophthalmology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Anyone who streams shows should do so on a TV instead of a tablet to reduce eye strain, she said.

Children should follow the 20-20-20-2 rule, which includes an extra “2” at the end to encourage outdoor play for 2 hours a day, which is helpful Eye developmentshe said.

“The reality is that most children interact with screens all day at school and at home. It becomes difficult to ascertain the total number of hours,” Malik said. “The goal is to plan no more than 20 minutes during a session.”

Sleep deeply and soundly

The blue light that digital screens emit can increase alertness, allowing you to watch Netflix on an iPad or other devices scroll through Social media feeds in bed could make it difficult get restful sleep.

To give your eyes and brain the remaining they need, doctors recommend turning off your screen one to 2 hours before bed. You also can set devices to “dark mode” within the evening to scale back the consequences of vibrant light. If you're used to streaming videos at night, try listening to an audiobook or podcast as a substitute.

Originally published: January 24, 2025 at 10:48am PST

San Mateo County health officials have announced the primary known case of a severe type of Mpox, which has led to an outbreak of the disease throughout East and Central Africa.

The county health department said Saturday that it’s working with state and native health officials to reply to the case of Clade Impox, which an individual within the county contracted while traveling to Africa. The person appeared to have “mild” symptoms and is isolating and recovering at home, the health authority said.

The case was the primary known case of this particular version of MPOX within the United States, adding to the relatively small but growing number of nations all over the world which have discovered cases of it. A special version of the virus, called clade II, has been circulating within the United States since 2022 and has sickened at the least 108 people within the county and greater than 100,000 people worldwide lately.

The recently discovered version is thought to cause more severe illness and a better mortality rate than the version previously discovered within the United States. Still, local health officials said the danger to the general public from the virus, which might cause a painful rash in addition to fever, chills and muscle aches, was “very low.”

Local health officials are working to succeed in anyone who could have had contact with the infected person, and on this case they’re expected to achieve this, said Preston Merchant, a spokesman for the San Mateo County Health Department.

“There is no concern or evidence that MPox clade I is currently spreading among individuals in San Mateo County or elsewhere in the United States,” the health agency said in a news release Saturday.

The version of the virus discovered in San Mateo County is at the middle of an outbreak that has killed greater than 1,000 people in Central and East Africa this yr, with most of those cases occurring within the Democratic Republic of Congo. The spread of the virus prompted the World Health Organization to declare a public health emergency of international concern in August, particularly because the virus spread to several other neighboring countries in Africa.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, travelers who contracted the virus in Africa tested positive for the version in Germany, India, Kenya, Sweden, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The virus typically spreads through skin-to-skin, intimate and sexual contact, and folks can even grow to be infected with it by directly touching contaminated objects and surfaces utilized by people affected by Mpox, Landes say – and federal officials.

Originally published: November 16, 2024 at 3:32 pm PST

When Christian McCaffrey was out, the 49ers could take comfort in knowing they’d one other versatile and dynamic weapon in Deebo Samuel.

The 49ers shall be without each of them for the following two games because Samuel has suffered a calf strain and coach Kyle Shanahan expects him to be out of motion for 2 weeks.

That means the 49ers will play the Los Angeles Rams on the road after which host the New England Patriots without McCaffrey and Samuel, a serious blow to a team that has struggled to get into the top zone in the primary two games of the season.

“Injuries from the game, just a new one — Deebo pulled a calf at the end,” Shanahan said in the beginning of his conference call with local reporters on Tuesday. “He's probably out for a couple of weeks. That's all.”

That's all?

Samuel led the 49ers with eight catches for 110 yards, including 28 in Sunday's 23-17 road loss to the Minnesota Vikings. He also had two runs that lost 10 yards.

With McCaffrey out for a minimum of three more games and possibly longer with Achilles tendinitis, a part of the plan was to back up Samuel in each the passing and running game. That's impossible now.

“He told me he thinks he did it on the third-to-last play, they had a blitz in the red zone, he caught the hot route on the break, he says he thinks he did it on that play,” Shanahan said.

Since McCaffrey last arrived in 2022, this shall be the primary time Shanahan has coached a game with each players out.

“It's always tough when you lose really good players, but that happens all over the league,” Shanahan said. “That's a big part of this league and this game. You have to deal with it.”

The 49ers' next opponent, the Los Angeles Rams, learned that they’ve lost wide receiver Cooper Kupp and their other top wide receiver Puka Nacua is already on the injured list. The Rams have plenty of other injuries to key players.

Premature judgments

70 – The variety of offensive snaps played by the 49ers. Every offensive lineman played every snap in a game through which the 49ers allowed six sacks.

54 – The variety of defensive snaps played by the 49ers. Warner, Ji'Ayir Brown and Deommodore Lenoir played every snap. Charvarius Ward had 53 snaps.

46 – The variety of snaps for edge rusher Nick Bosa, essentially the most of any defensive lineman.

26–Snaps of defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos in his 49ers debut. No tackles, one quarterback hit.

20 – The variety of special teams snaps played by linebacker Curtis Robinson, who didn’t play a single down on defense.

Originally published: September 16, 2024 at 3:56 p.m.

WASHINGTON – State and federal health officials are preparing to answer a brand new strain of Mpox – the virus formerly often known as monkeypox – if the brand new strain spreads within the United States.

This time, nevertheless, they’ve fewer resources at their disposal.

Both the MPOX public health emergency declaration and the federal Pandemic Preparedness Act were still in effect in 2022, the last time the United States experienced a large-scale MPOX outbreak. This gave the federal government and state health departments more resources and adaptability to cope with an outbreak than they’ve today.

Last month, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern, the very best level of alert under international health law, over the brand new strain of Mpox. The strain, often known as clade 1b, is spreading rapidly in central Africa and has been detected in Sweden and Thailand.

The latest strain is different from the 2022 global outbreak of the clade IIb mpox strain, which U.S. authorities treated with two doses of the mpox vaccine JYNNEOS. Similar to COVID-19 vaccines, the mpox shot JYNNEOS prevents severe infection, hospitalization and death from mpox, but doesn’t completely prevent transmission, based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Clade 1b is endemic within the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the strain is more widespread than another outbreak. According to the CDC, Clade 1b typically causes a better percentage of individuals with MPOX to grow to be severely ailing and die in comparison with Clade IIb.

Although group 1b has not yet been detected within the United States, state and federal health officials are preparing for a potentially even worse outbreak than in 2022, drawing on the experience of two years ago.

“It's a different game than 2022, in some ways it's better and in some ways it's still to be figured out,” said Jen Kates, senior vice chairman and director of world health and HIV policy at KFF. She noted that unlike in 2022, health authorities today are already equipped with vaccines and coverings for HIV.

Budgeting for vaccines

The U.S. State Department said it has been preparing for the emergence of Class 1b within the United States since December 2023 through increased wastewater monitoring and other surveillance systems. However, for the reason that end of the COVID-19 health emergency, access to public health surveillance systems has been limited.

And the general public health emergency in 2022 allowed the federal government to more easily release resources to provide and distribute vaccines freed from charge to high-risk groups.

The federal government lifted the emergency declaration in 2023, but vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic, JYNNEOS, privatized the vaccine earlier this yr. Now states must order it on the business market. State health officials said budgets are an even bigger problem now that the vaccines are privatized.

Crystal La Tour Rambaud, director of the Pima County Health Department's immunization prevention program in Tucson, Arizona, said the prices of the Mpox vaccine and the brand new RSV vaccine add up.

“There is simply a lot that has been brought to the table in just a few years in which the budget has not changed significantly,” said La Tour Rambaud.

As a result, the Pima County Health Department is reviewing who it offers free vaccinations to and, in some cases, is now offering free vaccinations only to the uninsured. Insured people can get vaccinated at business pharmacies, she said.

Under the present framework, those with statutory and personal insurance can access the Mpox vaccination without cost barriers since the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization has beneficial the vaccine.

But the one way uninsured adults can get the vaccine without spending a dime is that if their jurisdiction has used federal funds to buy the vaccines.

Raynard Washington, director of the Mecklenburg County Health Department in North Carolina, said the department has been capable of use a few of its sexually transmitted disease and HIV funding to fight MPOX, however it remains to be overwhelmed.

The Pandemic Preparedness Act was set to run out in September 2023, but Congress prolonged seven provisions of that law through the top of 2024 through the federal government funding bill passed in March. These included, amongst other things, measures to activate personnel during a public health emergency.

The CDC recommends that health authorities report all MPOX cases to the CDC inside 24 hours and encourage vaccination of their communities. In the event of a declared public health emergency, the federal government may exempt certain powers to simplify disease reporting, for instance by sending funds to appropriate authorities.

While there isn’t a current health emergency, Washington said Mecklenburg's system is “overall probably better prepared than it will be in 2022” since it has handled Mpox before. Health departments have already got vaccines on site and folks locally have already been vaccinated.

The Mecklenburg Health Ministry is pushing for an extension of the federal pandemic preparedness law and to provide the CDC the authority it needs to gather data from each health systems and laboratories with a view to pass this information on to the relevant authorities.

However, since there may be a brand new strain of Mpox, it is feasible that they are going to must change their response.

“Depending on how this all plays out, we could be starting from scratch again,” Washington said.

What parent hasn't felt this manner? It's been an extended day, you continue to need to make dinner, possibly even lunch for tomorrow, and you simply don't have the energy to steer your kids to do a brand new art project or ask them to choose up a book.

Instead, you give in when your child begs for more time on the iPad. Or possibly they promise to get their homework done after watching a couple of more YouTube videos, and it's easier to agree than argue again. Now you're not only exhausted, but you furthermore may feel like a nasty parent.

If this sounds familiar, you will not be alone. Worrying about how and the way much their children use media is a standard source of parental guilt, which is comprehensible given the popularity of screen time as a frivolous waste of time with no intrinsic value. So even when individuals are sitting in front of their screens, for a very good reason – to calm downFor example, or otherwise to administer their moods – they have an inclination to feel guilty about itAnd this guilt undermines any stress-reducing profit They may need enjoyed it otherwise.

But as uncomfortable as these feelings of guilt are, the excellent news is that for those who take heed to them, these feelings can assist you to and your kids make healthier selections.

Parents feel guilty about their child’s screen use

Studies, including my very own Media Research Group, have found that the usage of screen media is one of the vital steadily used tools with which individuals of all ages use to decompresscalm down and have a good time.

However, parents worry about their children’s screen time, and for good reason. Without proper management, screen time can too easily get uncontrolled, resulting in fears of negative consequences, resembling impaired sleepincreased Obesity risk, reduced academic performance And mental health problems.

So here is the dilemma. Well-intentioned Parents set different rules to guard their children from the hazards related to an excessive amount of screen time. But research shows that the majority Parents break these rules. If a toddler is sick, why not allow them to play video games for several hours? Maybe sit your child in front of the TV to maintain them occupied when you sort laundry or make a work-related phone call.

So what happens if you break your individual rules – especially when those rules are designed to guard your kids? You are prepared to feel guilty, and since Guilt is a type of stressThis dynamic creates tension that could be unhealthy for each parents and kids.

The dark side of oldsters’ guilty conscience in front of the screen

The COVID-19 pandemic, through which Media usage of all types increased amongst all populations within the United States and internationally, gave my research team the unique opportunity Investigating parental guilt about their children’s screen use.

Our research examined how the sudden and significant increase in screen use initially of the pandemic affected parents' feelings about their relationship with their children. We surveyed parents in March 2020 and one other group of oldsters in April and May 2020. We asked about their child's screen time, their feelings of guilt about their child's screen use, the stress they felt about it, and the way satisfied they were with their relationship with their child.

We found that 73% of oldsters felt not less than some guilt and 48% felt moderate to strong guilt about their child's screen time, so screen guilt amongst parents was quite common.

We also found that oldsters who felt more guilty about their child's screen use also experienced more stress about that screen use, and that more stress was related to being less satisfied with their relationship with their child. Importantly, parents' initial screen guilt in April predicted higher stress about screen use in May, but initial screen stress in April didn’t predict screen guilt in May. What does this mean? Screen guilt actually increased stress, not the opposite way around.

And what concerning the period of time children spend on screens? Is this the explanation parents feel guilty and stressed? Turns out, probably not. In our research, we found little to no association between the period of time children spend on screens and fogeys' screen guilt, screen stress, or relationship satisfaction. In other words, it was the guilt about children's screen use, whatever the period of time spent on screens, that was problematic for fogeys and, by extension, for his or her children.

Making lemonade out of guilt

So what can parents do? Instead of berating themselves for perceived mistakes or misjudgments in media selection, it will be way more productive to acknowledge the worth and deeper lessons of 1's own screen guilt.

People feel guilt once they see their actions contradicting their internalized belief systems or standards of behavior. And as uncomfortable as guilt could be, that guilt can assist you to repair any harm you are feeling you've caused. especially in relationships.

In other words, screen guilt could be useful information to assist you to reflect on and adjust your individual rules or selections. Was there a very good reason to calm down your usual limits on screen use, resembling if you tried to comfort your child once they were sick? On the opposite hand, is your child suffering negative consequences consequently of your indulgence with screens, resembling not doing their homework or not getting exercise? Or do you just feel like a nasty parent since you've internalized the assumption that good parents don't let their children play in front of screens?

Such reflections could be a possibility to think not only about how your loved ones uses screens, but importantly, what safeguards chances are you’ll must put in place or adjust to support family wellbeing.

Although chances are you’ll not hear this opinion often, not all screen media use is bad. In fact, there may be evidence that using screens and content can result in quite a lot of wonderful outcomes, including Learn, social connection, inspiration and yes, leisure and Stress relief.

Although feelings of guilt might not be nice, taking a moment to know why you are feeling them can assist you to not only create more balanced media consumption and real-world experiences for yourself and your loved ones, but additionally construct more satisfying relationships together with your children.

My colleagues and I even have developed a synthetic intelligence system that helps buildings shift their energy use to times when the facility grid is cleaner.

I’m an engineer who researches and develops intelligent buildingsMy lab has developed Merlin, which learns how people use energy of their homes and adapt energy controls reminiscent of thermostats to their needs while minimizing impact on the grid. The system can learn from a bunch of buildings and occupants and could be deployed in buildings with different control and energy use patterns.

We named it Merlin, after King Arthur's legendary wizard, to reflect the magical nature of the system: it robotically collects data on how people use energy of their homes and detects opportunities to charge and discharge home battery storage, so you usually have power for every thing you would like. So your air con is all the time available, but at the identical time the grid is relieved – for instance during peak demand within the afternoon.

When demand exceeds available generation, utilities typically ask customers to regulate their thermostats and otherwise reduce their loads. If that's not enough, blackouts are possible. That's where Merlin is available in. By managing energy use in homes more intelligently, Merlin helps balance energy supplies and make power grids more stable and reliable. Merlin manages the grid's use of the house's battery while maintaining the house's normal energy use.

Why it will be important

To combat climate change, society must move to using only non-fossil energy sources reminiscent of solar, wind and nuclear power to generate electricity. All household appliances or end-use devices – heating, cooking, drying clothes – must even be electrified. The same shift is happening in cars, where we’re moving from vehicles with combustion engines to battery-powered electric vehicles. However, most renewable energy sources usually are not controllable, meaning that energy suppliers cannot simply switch them on when needed.

This requires a fundamental shift from a centralized energy system, through which one power plant generates all of the electricity needed, to a more decentralized or distributed system. In decentralized systems, electricity is generated at the perimeters of the grid – for instance, in homes with solar panels – and houses and office buildings can store energy in batteries.

Private households and office buildings are also actively trying to cut back or shift their loads to cut back demands on the grid. This means fewer power outages and fewer energy wastage. In addition, more efficient energy use helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

What other research is being carried out

Researchers are working on various ways to make buildings smarter and higher manage their energy consumption. In fact, the U.S. Department of Energy has created a national plan to Development of such network-interactive, efficient buildings to triple the energy efficiency and energy demand flexibility of buildings by 2030. In 2021, the Department funded 10 public-private partnership projects together with his Connected Communities Program to develop and test technologies for network-interactive buildings.

The International Energy Agency supports a lot of programs through which researchers are working to Software applications for smarter constructing operations, Energy-flexible buildings and more recently Network-integrated control of buildings.

All these programs and developments give attention to advanced control systems and promote the adoption of intelligent technologies to optimize energy consumption, just like Merlin.

What happens next?

The next step is to check systems like Merlin in additional communities under real-world conditions and learn how well they work in several locations and conditions. It's essential that we collect feedback on user experiences and incorporate this into our next prototypes to make sure the adoption of AI systems to administer household energy use. Our goal is to make these systems easy to make use of and reasonably priced so that everybody can profit from smarter, greener homes.

The goal is for each neighborhood to have households sharing energy like a team, ensuring there may be all the time enough power for everybody and as little power as possible is used from the grid.

The boom in artificial intelligence has had such a profound impact on the massive technology firms that their energy consumption and hence their CO2 emissions, have increased.

The spectacular success of huge language models akin to ChatGPT has contributed to this increase in energy requirements. At 2.9 watt-hours per ChatGPT query, AI queries require about 10 times as much energy as traditional Google searchesbased on the Electric Power Research Institute, a nonprofit research firm. New AI functions akin to audio and video generation are prone to increase these energy requirements.

The energy requirements of AI are changing the best way energy firms calculate their costs. They are actually exploring previously untenable options, akin to Restarting a nuclear reactor on the Three Mile Island power plant, which has been in infamous disaster in 1979.

Data centers have experienced continuous growth for many years, but the size of growth within the still-young era of huge language models has been extraordinary. AI requires far more computing and data storage resources when data center growth was possible before AI.

AI and the ability grid

Thanks to AI, the ability grid – in lots of places already at capability or vulnerable to stability problems – is under greater pressure than before. There can also be a big lag between computer growth and network growth. Building data centers takes one to 2 years, while feeding recent energy into the network requires over 4 years.

According to a recent report by the Electric Power Research Institute, only 15 states have comprise 80% of knowledge centers within the USASome states – like Virginia, home of Data Center Alley – amazingly, data centers devour over 25% of their electricity. Other parts of the world are seeing similar trends in the expansion of cluster data centers. Ireland, for instance, has Become a knowledge center nation.

In addition to the necessity to increase electricity generation to sustain this growth, just about all countries have decarbonization targets. This signifies that they strive to feed more renewable energy sources into the gridRenewable energies akin to wind and solar are irregular: the wind doesn’t at all times blow and the sun doesn’t at all times shine. Lack of low cost, green and scalable energy storage signifies that the grid faces a good greater problem in balancing supply and demand.

Further challenges to the expansion of knowledge centers are Increasing use of water cooling to extend efficiencywhich puts a strain on the limited freshwater sources. As a result, some communities Push back against recent investments in data centers.

Better technology

The industry is addressing this energy crisis in several ways. First, computer hardware far more energy efficient through the years by way of operations performed per watt consumed. Data center energy efficiency, a metric that shows the ratio of power consumption for computers in comparison with cooling and other infrastructure, has been reduced to 1.5 on averageand in modern facilities even to a formidable 1.2. New data centers have more efficient cooling through water cooling and external cooling air where available.

Unfortunately, efficiency alone won’t solve the sustainability problem. Jevons Paradox shows how efficiency results in Increase in energy consumption in the long run. In addition, efficiency gains in hardware significantly slowed downbecause the industry has reached the bounds of scaling chip technology.

To further improve efficiency, researchers are developing Special hardware akin to acceleratorsrecent integration technologies akin to 3D chipsand recent Chip cooling Techniques.

Researchers are also increasingly investigating and developing Cooling technologies for data centersThe report by the Electric Power Research Institute confirms recent cooling methodsakin to air-assisted liquid cooling and immersion cooling. While liquid cooling has already found its way into data centers, few recent data centers have implemented immersion cooling, which continues to be under development.

Flexible future

A brand new option to construct AI data centers is flexible computing. The basic idea is to do more computing when electricity is cheaper, more available, and more environmentally friendly, and fewer when it’s costlier, scarce, and more polluting.

Data center operators can upgrade their systems to supply a versatile load on the network. Science And Industry have provided early examples of knowledge center demand response, where data centers regulate their power based on the needs of the ability grid. For example, they will schedule certain computing tasks for times of lower utilization.

Achieving broader and greater flexibility in power consumption requires innovations in hardware, software, and network-data center coordination. For AI particularly, there may be a variety of scope for developing recent strategies to optimize the computational load and thus the energy consumption of knowledge centers. For example, data centers can reduce the accuracy to cut back the workload when training AI models.

Achieving this vision requires higher modeling and forecasting. Data centers can try to raised understand and predict their loads and conditions. It can also be essential to predict network load and growth.

The Electric Power Research Institute Load forecasting initiative includes activities to support network planning and operations. Comprehensive monitoring and intelligent analytics – possibly based on artificial intelligence – for each data centers and the network are essential for accurate forecasting.

On the sting

The U.S. is at a critical juncture given the explosive growth of AI. It is immensely difficult to suit a whole bunch of megawatts of power demand into already overburdened grids. It could also be time to rethink the best way the industry builds data centers.

One way is to sustainably construct more edge data centers—smaller, more widely distributed facilities—to bring computing to local communities. Edge data centers also can reliably add computing power to densely populated, urban regions without putting additional strain on the grid. While these smaller centers currently account for 10% of knowledge centers within the U.S., analysts predict that the marketplace for smaller edge data centers will grow by over 20% in the following five years.

In addition to remodeling data centers into flexible and controllable loads, innovations in the sting data center space may help make AI's energy needs significantly more sustainable.

A person in Mexico has died consequently of an infection with a bird flu virus that has never been detected in humans before, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

The virus was detected in a 59-year-old patient hospitalized in Mexico City. The man died per week after developing fever, shortness of breath and diarrhea. It is the primary laboratory-confirmed case of an individual infected with a type of bird flu called H5N2, the WHO said in an announcement, raising questions on a strain that has gone largely unnoticed until now. The current outbreak of bird flu in dairy cows within the United States is brought on by a unique strain – H5N1.

The patient, who lived in central Mexico, had no history of contact with poultry or other animals. The Mexican government doesn’t know where he was exposed to the virus, although the strain of bird flu has been reported in poultry within the Mexican state where the person lived.

According to the WHO, the H5N2 virus currently poses only a low risk to the final population. After an investigation, no further cases have been reported.

The man infected with H5N2 suffered from several pre-existing conditions, including chronic kidney disease, type 2 diabetes and chronic hypertension, the Mexican Health Ministry said on Wednesday. He was bedridden for 3 weeks before acute symptoms appeared in mid-April, the WHO added, citing relatives of the patient. Although the person was hospitalized on April 24, he died the identical day.

Mexican authorities reported the fatal case to the WHO on May 23 after confirming the presence of the virus in a sample from the deceased man.

Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist on the University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, said H5N2 poses a low risk to public health since it just isn’t transmissible from individual to individual. In this context, it’s concerning that the patient had not had contact with animals, that are the most definitely source of disease, she added.

To close the knowledge gaps, stronger monitoring measures are needed, Wallace said.

“It's so crazy we don't know where it came from,” she said.

The Mexican government has begun monitoring wild birds for H5N2 within the Tlahuac wetlands in Mexico City, in addition to in farms, backyards and other areas near the person's home. No infected birds have been identified up to now, the Health Ministry said in an announcement Wednesday.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment.

The H5N1 outbreak in cattle continues to spread within the US. On Wednesday, Iowa announced that it had identified infected cows. This brings the variety of states through which bird flu has been detected in herds to 10. So far this yr, three US farmers have tested positive for bird flu – one in Texas and two in Michigan. They showed symptoms corresponding to eye irritation and one had a cough. There have been no human deaths related to the H5N1 outbreak within the US.

– With support from Madison Muller and Maya Averbuch.

You can find more stories like this on bloomberg.com

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.

Celts

The Boston Celtics might be without their big star for much of their playoff run this spring.

Boston ruled out Kristaps Porzingis for Game 5 against the Miami Heat on Wednesday as a result of a right soleus strain. However, the 7-foot-2 forward is predicted to be sidelined for longer than simply the Celtics' potentially pivotal first-round game.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Tuesday that Porzingis will miss not less than several games due to a strained soleus, a calf injury. The Celtics haven’t provided a selected timeline for when Porzingis is predicted to return to the hardwood.

Porzingis suffered the injury within the second quarter of Boston's 102-88 win over Miami in Game 4 on Monday night. The 28-year-old center appeared to have suffered an injury in the ultimate minutes of the primary half while attempting to pass the ball to Jaylen Brown. Porzingis limped immediately after the play and signaled to the bench to be faraway from the sport with 2:27 left within the quarter.

Kristaps Porzingis actually twisted his ankle and was already limping for just a few possessions before sustaining the non-contact injury. Here is the order: pic.twitter.com/hP6SBlzKok

— Tomek Kordylewski (@Timi_093) April 30, 2024

Porzingis surrendered after Boston's win on the Kaseya Center Although a soleus strain won't put an early end to his quest for a title with Boston, Porzingis is predicted to be in contention for the Celtics' next playoff games.

Good W tonight. DWhite is something special!!

Thank you for all of the support, it’s going to be good

— Kristaps Porzingis (@kporzee) April 30, 2024

The soleus strain is identical injury that has sidelined Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo up to now this postseason, as the previous MVP has been sidelined since April 9.

While Boston should still have the talent to keep up its pursuit of Banner 18 not less than in the subsequent round of the postseason, Porzingis' size, spacing and scoring ability each within the post and beyond the arc might be needed because the postseason lasts until the tip May and June.

“Probably the most important guy on our team for what we're trying to accomplish,” Jayson Tatum told reporters of Porzingis after Boston's Game 3 win at Miami. “I have no doubt that he would have a better game and bounce back, just like he was active on both ends of the floor at the start of the game. When he’s protecting the rim and throwing shots, we’re a whole different team.”