The big push to power AI
Programming note: Future Pulse will be off on Monday but back in your inboxes on Tuesday.
DATA DIVE
Data centers — large-scale artificial intelligence server hubs — are a hot topic right now, in Sacramento and beyond. Our POLITICO data team colleagues Catherine Allen, Rosmery Izaguirre and Claudine Hellmuth did a deep dive into the data around data centers.
It comes as Stargate, a joint venture between San Francisco-based OpenAI and other big technology players, is investing $500 billion toward expanding data center infrastructure over the next four years, POLITICO's Technology: California Decoded newsletter reports. California is among 16 states being reviewed for data center sites.
California has the second-largest number of operational data centers in the country after Virginia, and more are underway, the POLITICO analysis found. Nationwide, data centers are projected to double their power consumption by 2026, tightening already limited supplies of water and electricity. At the same time, lawmakers in Sacramento are trying to strike a balance between incentivizing AI investments and environmental goals.
What's next: The Trump administration is moving full steam ahead on data centers, announcing last month that it's eyeing 16 sites for new AI infrastructure.
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A New Jersey hawk is using traffic signals to hunt its prey. The clever predator relied on sound cues from traffic signals to exploit cars for cover, and sneak up on its next meal, according to an editorial in Frontiers in Ethology.
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FORWARD THINKING
Texas is about to launch an initiative to research psychedelics as a potential treatment for mental health conditions.
The state has approved $50 million in funding for clinical trials of ibogaine, a psychedelic drug derived from an African shrub. The move follows the Texas legislature's passage of a bipartisan bill earlier this month to fund a grant program through Texas' Health and Human Services Commission aimed at gaining FDA approval for the psychedelic as a drug therapy.
The $50 million will fund a partnership with an-as-yet-to-be-named drug developer, which will run the trials. Texas will retain a financial stake in any drug successfully developed, with trials likely taking place at a Texas university or hospital system.
One of the Republican co-authors of the bill, state Sen. Tan Parker, has said he sees veterans with opioid dependence, post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries as key beneficiaries of the research bill.
'The opioid crisis has left too many families shattered and too many Veterans without answers,' said his co-author, Republican state Rep. Cody Harris, in a statement.
Why it matters: The first-in-the-nation initiative positions Texas as a hub for ibogaine research and creates a blueprint for other states that may want to replicate Texas' approach.
While the FDA last year rejected drugmaker Lykos Therapeutics' plan to offer a different psychedelic drug, MDMA, alongside therapy as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, advocates are cautiously optimistic about their prospects for advancing psychedelic therapy under the Trump administration.
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