Ancient hot cities were built to withstand scorching summers — maximizing shade and cool air through narrow streets, squares, towering trees and fountains. Yet in the 21st century many cities haven’t retained these aspects. In Seville, CartujaQanat is one firm reinvestigating historic cooling systems reliant on natural techniques and materials, writes Bloomberg.

Cooler streets without the use of planet-warming fossil fuels: Based on Persian-era ‘qanats’ or canals, CartujaQanat’s system runs water through an outside aqueduct at night when the lower temperatures cool the water. When temperatures rise, solar-powered pumps push the same water through small pipes that run in front of fans to produce cold air, which is pushed up through small openings in the floor and steps allowing the cooling current to seep into the square and street, reducing the temperature in the surrounding area by as much as 10 degrees.

Egypt has its own tradition of natural cooling techniques: Architect Hassan Fathy – a pioneer of the practice in modern-times — incorporated traditional Egyptian architectural features such as domed and vaulted roofing and enclosed courtyards together with natural materials to create passive ventilation systems. Karm Architecture Lab, solar-powered utilities firm KarmSolar’s practice, looks to ancient and historic methods and the manipulation of air pressure to retain the movement of cool air. Germany’s Vitra Design Museum is currently hosting The Hot Cities: Lessons from Arab Architecture, presenting how the Middle East region has long dealt with living amidst high temperatures.

Did South Korean scientists crack the case of a room-temperature superconductor? A group of scientists in South Korea say that they have discovered a new material, LK-99, that can act as a superconductor to carry electricity at regular temperatures and without resistance (meaning no energy is lost), according to new research submitted by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Sinéad Griffin. The material was first discovered in 1999 and named after South Korean scientists Sukbae Lee and Ji-Hoon Kim who first synthesized it, the New York Times notes.

What’s the fuss about? First up, superconductors have a broad range of applications, but for materials to become superconductors, they need to do so in very specific circumstances, including very low temperatures. Hence the appeal of LK-99: The material can carry electricity at room temperature with very low resistance. In the absence of resistance, no energy is lost due to heat. “Lossless energy transfer” is then possible, with tremendous potential and revolutionary consequences for physics as we know it, a Big Think article explains. Creating a room-temperature superconductor would land any scientist “a Nobel Prize tomorrow,” one scientist at Waterloo’s Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics tells CBC.

It would be a massive breakthrough — which is why there’s plenty of skepticism: While the research is promising, “it is by no means compelling,” according to the University of Maryland’s Sankar Das Sarma, the director of the Condensed Matter Theory Center, the New York Times adds. The immensity of the alleged discovery means we must approach it with great caution “before we declare victory,” Das Sarma added.

Meta’s banking on AI chatbots to boost engagement and attract new users: Facebook parent company Meta is preparing to launch a range of AI-powered chatbots that exhibit different personalities, or personas, as early as September, Financial Times reports, citing three people with knowledge of the plans. The company hopes that the chatbots, who will actually be named “personas,” will help boost engagement with its social media platforms and attract new users. They anticipate that the personas, one of which is modeled after Abraham Lincoln, will be able to have human-like discussions with users and provide new search functions and recommendations.

…but there are, of course, privacy concerns: The chatbots could help Meta collect more data on users’ interests, which could be used to target them with more relevant content and advertising, and could further be used for “manipulation and nudging,” AI ethics adviser and researcher Ravit Dotan told the salmon-colored paper.

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