{"id":915489,"date":"2026-06-26T03:12:05","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T08:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/the-download-europes-heat-wave-hits-the-grid-and-ibms-chip-targets-moores-law\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T03:12:05","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T08:12:05","slug":"the-download-europes-heat-wave-hits-the-grid-and-ibms-chip-targets-moores-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/26\/the-download-europes-heat-wave-hits-the-grid-and-ibms-chip-targets-moores-law\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: Europe\u2019s heat wave hits the grid, and IBM\u2019s chip targets Moore\u2019s Law"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Plus: Anthropic says Alibaba \u201cillicitly\u201d extracted Claude\u2019s capabilities\u00a0.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n

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This is today’s edition of <\/em>The Download<\/em><\/a>, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

Europe\u2019s extreme heat is shutting down power plants<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Europe is in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave, and the grid is being pushed to its limits as people turn to fans and air-conditioning to try to stay cool. But some power plants won\u2019t be online to help handle the load.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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The main source of stress is increased demand, largely driven by cooling. And the challenges are only expected to worsen as climate change brings more frequent and intense heat waves.<\/p>\n

Find out how rising temperatures are stretching power supplies\u2014and how utilities can adapt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Casey Crownhart<\/em><\/p>\n

What Europe\u2019s heat wave means for the power grid<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Grid planning in the age of climate change generally means that we need a lot more supply, and quickly. But one interesting facet to this challenge is that in some places, seasonal patterns are shifting, compounding the difficulty of meeting demand.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Europe has historically seen its grid peak in the winter when electric heating is widespread. So some planned outages happen in the spring and into the summer, which is affecting the supply right now. But a growing need for air-conditioning will alter the balance.<\/p>\n

Read the full story on how climate change is reshaping electricity demand<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Casey Crownhart<\/em><\/p>\n

This <\/strong>story<\/strong><\/a> is from The Spark, our weekly newsletter giving you the inside track on all things climate. <\/strong>Sign up<\/strong><\/a> to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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IBM unveils chip technology that could help extend Moore\u2019s Law another decade<\/strong><\/h3>\n

IBM has built a new prototype chip with around 100 billion transistors on an area the size of a fingernail. That\u2019s twice the density of the company\u2019s previous state-of-the-art technology announced in 2021. And the design could pave the way for faster and more energy-efficient computers for years to come.<\/p>\n

In the last fifteen years, transistors have been shrunk close to their limits. They can\u2019t get smaller without their function deteriorating. IBM\u2019s new chip resolves this with an approach familiar to urban planners: building up.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the strategy is bringing new hope to the technology industry<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2014Sophia Chen<\/em><\/p>\n

The must-reads<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve combed the internet to find you today\u2019s most fun\/important\/scary\/fascinating stories about technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

1 Anthropic says Alibaba \u201cillicitly\u201d extracted Claude\u2019s capabilities\u00a0<\/strong>
It claims the Chinese firm ran a \u201cbrazen\u201d campaign to access the model. (BBC<\/a>)
+ It says it\u2019s the \u201clargest known distillation attack\u201d on the company. <\/em>(CNBC<\/a>)
+ The technique trains a weaker model on a stronger one’s outputs. <\/em>(FT<\/a> $)
+ Anthropic previously accused other Chinese rivals of using it.<\/em> (CNN<\/a>)
+ But it\u2019s still feuding with the White House. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

2 NASA has detected possible chemical signatures of ancient life on Mars<\/strong>
The Perseverance rover spotted complex carbon on rocks. (New Scientist<\/a> $)
+ The molecules are typically associated with dead organisms.<\/em> (Guardian<\/a>)
+ The US has lost its lead in the hunt for alien life.<\/em> (MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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3 The EU has joined a US pact to stop relying on Chinese AI<\/strong>
Much of the rest of the world seems to still be a battleground for control. (FT<\/a> $)
+ China is expanding its AI push in the Global South to counter the US.<\/em> (The Wire China<\/a>)
+ Chinese AI experts are freaking out about the AI arms race.<\/em> (Wired<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

4 OpenAI and Broadcom have unveiled their first jointly designed AI chip<\/strong>
Jalape\u00f1o is built to power large-scale AI systems like ChatGPT. (NYT<\/a> $)
+ It\u2019s part of OpenAI\u2019s push to \u201cbuild the full stack.\u201d<\/em> (CNBC<\/a>)<\/p>\n

5 A new report shows ICE has built a vast hi-tech surveillance system<\/strong>
It includes facial recognition, drones, and data scraping.(Guardian<\/a>)
+ Is the Pentagon allowed to surveil citizens with AI? <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

6 Electronics can now be printed onto living tissue<\/strong>
Which could enable smart implants and ingestible diagnostics. (The Economist<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

7 The data center boom is sparking a third wave of inflation\u00a0<\/strong>
Demand for memory chips is pushing prices higher.(WSJ<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

8 Companies are scrambling to curb spending on AI token \u201cchewing\u201d<\/strong>
Accenture data shows non-technical staff are draining budgets. (404 Media<\/a>)<\/p>\n

9 Claude Design is creating a bland wave of website uniformity<\/strong>
The AI tool is homogenizing the internet\u2019s aesthetic. (The New Yorker<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

10 Elon Musk has lost his trillionaire status<\/strong>
Thanks to SpaceX stock coming back to Earth. (Business Insider<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Quote of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTom Brown is not being a weirdo like Dario and can actually engage.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2014A person directly familiar with calls between the Trump administration and Anthropic tells Wired<\/a> that they\u2019ve improved since cofounder Tom Brown replaced CEO Dario Amodei in the talks.<\/p>\n

One More Thing<\/strong><\/p>\n

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TONY LUONG<\/p>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n


The quest to learn if our brain\u2019s mutations affect mental health<\/strong><\/h4>\n

For years, scientists searching for the roots of conditions like schizophrenia, autism, and Alzheimer\u2019s have focused on single genes. But the real source may lie in a more complex genetic puzzle inside the brain.<\/p>\n

Mike McConnell has spent decades exploring the idea that neurons do not all share identical DNA, and that these differences could help explain psychiatric disease. His work has contributed to evidence that brain cells can form a \u201cgenetic mosaic,\u201d with mutations that vary across the brain.<\/p>\n

Discover how this could reshape our understanding of mental illness<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Roxanne Khamsi<\/em><\/p>\n

We can still have nice things<\/strong><\/p>\n

A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? <\/em>Drop me a line<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

+ This classical reimagining of the Super Mario soundtrack<\/a> is exquisite.
+ At long last, we can calculate the fuel efficiency of launching our enemies into the Sun<\/a>.
+ Before CGI, explosions were an art form. This compilation of classic practical effects<\/a> is pure action-movie nostalgia.
+ Cambridge botanists lovingly recreated a 336-year-old garden<\/a> to honor the \u201cfather of natural history.\u201d (Big thanks to reader Peter Ryan for the find!)\u00a0 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Thomas Macaulay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plus: Anthropic says Alibaba \u201cillicitly\u201d extracted Claude\u2019s capabilities\u00a0. This is today’s edition of The Download , our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Europe\u2019s extreme heat is shutting down power plants Europe is in the middle of a record-breaking heat wave, and the grid is<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":915490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24097,27241,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-915489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-download","category-europes","category-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/915490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}