Prince William says wife Kate is 'doing well'
Prince William said on Friday his wife Kate was 'doing well' in a rare public comment about the Princess of Wales as she undergoes preventative chemotherapy for cancer.
As heat waves become more common and extreme due to the effects of climate change, the data centres that provide the backbone for the online services the public relies on are at risk of overheating.
"(Data centres) are responsible for running many of the services that you use. If you have Gmail, your Gmail is stored somewhere. If you have pictures on Instagram, your Instagram photos are stored in a data centre," said Clifford Stein, director of Columbia University's Data Science Institute, in an interview with CTV's Your Morning on Tuesday.
A data centre can have thousands of computers in one room, generating a considerable amount of heat. These computers have to be cooled in order for them to avoid malfunctioning -- a task that becomes far more challenging during extreme heat events, Stein says.
"As the climate heats up, it becomes harder and harder to keep data centres cool," Stein said. "They're constantly generating heat and they're generating it everywhere."
During July’s heat waves in the U.K., where temperatures topped 40 C, Google Cloud reported "cooling related failures" at one of the buildings that houses its data centres in London. Oracle Cloud also blamed "unseasonably high temperatures" after cooling units failed at a data centre in London, resulting in some service outages.
Some companies are opting to set up data centres in colder environments to avoid issues with overheating. Iceland's chamber of commerce is encouraging tech companies to set up more data centres in the country, touting "virtually free cooling all year round" thanks to their cold climate.
In 2020, Microsoft even experimented with storing data centres below the sea off the coast of Scotland, saying underwater data centres are "reliable, practical and use energy sustainably."
However, Stein says these solutions could also result in slower data speeds for users.
"The problem is that you also want your data centre to be near the users," he said. "When you want to get your data, you want to get it fast. So if you put all the data centres in Iceland, it would be easier to cool them, but your data would come much slower."
Watch the full interview about the potential of data centres overheating with Stein at the top of this article.
Prince William said on Friday his wife Kate was 'doing well' in a rare public comment about the Princess of Wales as she undergoes preventative chemotherapy for cancer.
Canadian Blood Services issued an apology on Friday to the LGBTQ2S+ community for what it now admits was a harmful and discriminatory blood donation policy that prevented sexually active men who have sex with men and some trans people from donating blood and plasma.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow says that she is hopeful an announcement could be made soon amid multiple reports that a WNBA team is coming to Toronto in 2026.
A 4.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded west of Vancouver Island early Friday morning.
A provincial coroner will be investigating the death of 68-year-old David Lippert, who suffered a cardiac arrest while waiting in a crowded emergency room in Kitchener, Ont.
Police in Newfoundland say patrol officers were assaulted Thursday by a "very irate male" wielding a block of cheese.
There were some scary moments for several people on a northern Ontario highway caught on video Thursday after a chain reaction following a truck fire.
Average hourly wages among Canadian employees rose to $34.95 on a year-over-year basis in April, a 4.7 per cent increase, according to a Statistics Canada report released Friday morning.
Andy Kim's 'Rock Me Gently' is marking a major milestone, as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
A P.E.I. lighthouse and a New Brunswick river are being honoured in a Canada Post series.