Texas-based startup Quidnet Energy just completed a test showing it can store energy for up to six months by pumping water underground.
Using water to store electricity is hardly a new concept—pumped hydropower storage has been around for over a century. But the company hopes its twist on the technology could help bring cheap, long-duration energy storage to new places. Read the full story.
—Casey Crownhart
What you may have missed about Trump’s AI Action Plan
The executive orders and announcements coming from the White House since Donald Trump returned to office have painted an ambitious vision for America’s AI future, but the details have been sparse.
The White House’s AI Action Plan, released last week, is meant to fix that. Trump wants to boost the buildout of data centers by slashing environmental rules; withhold funding from states that pass “burdensome AI regulations”; and contract only with AI companies whose models are “free from top-down ideological bias.”
But if you dig deeper, certain parts of the plan that didn’t pop up in any headlines reveal more about where the administration’s AI plans are headed. Here are three of the most important issues to watch.
—James O'Donnell