Science & Technology

Science & Technology

Diana Fox Carney, front left, Prime Minister Mark Carney, centre, and Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon visit technology startups at the Vector Institute, in Toronto on Thursday, June 4, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey

Tech industry hopeful about AI strategy but longing for more details

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 3:53 PM CDT

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TORONTO - Canada's tech industry is optimistic about the artificial intelligence strategy Prime Minister Mark Carney launched Thursday morning but say its success will all come down to how he executes the plan.

The 50-page strategy promises funding, training and new support programs to boost AI adoption. It also pledges to create 90,000 jobs connected to the technology and spur $200 billion in GDP gains.

However, the plan doesn't break down how all the initiatives will work nor how quickly they will come, making some in the industry cautious about how much support to throw behind the plan.

"We need to see action," said Laurent Carbonneau, vice-president of policy and advocacy at the Council of Canadian Innovators, a network of more than 170 high-growth businesses focused on tech.

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Environment

FILE - Firefighters are silhouetted amid an operation to control the Sandy Fire, May 19, 2026, in Simi Valley, Calif. (AP Photo/Caroline Brehman, File)

Wildfires are making the US smoggy again, reversing progress on cleaner air, study finds

Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Wildfires are making the US smoggy again, reversing progress on cleaner air, study finds

Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press 6 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 3:41 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — For more than a decade, the United States dramatically reduced its national smog levels, but since 2015 smoke from increasingly larger wildfires is reversing that clean-up trend and making the air dirtier and deadlier, a new study finds.

Scientists say climate change deserves much, but not all, of the blame.

The national smog level dropped by 11% from 2003 to 2015 as strict federal regulations on power plants, cars and diesel engines kicked in. But since then, as wildfires have grown, the nation's average ground level ozone — which is smog — increased by 4%. That means if smoke increases at the current rate, smog will go back up to 2003 levels in 20 years, said study lead author Weizhi Deng, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Iowa.

Thursday's study in the journal Science also estimated an increase in deaths from ozone attacking lungs, using previously established epidemiology studies that compared death rates in clean and dirty air. They calculated an increase of 318 American deaths per year since 2013.

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Updated: Yesterday at 3:41 PM CDT

Science & Technology

The Supreme Court is seen in Washington, Monday, May 18, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Supreme Court sides with Trump administration on federal regulation of telecom companies

Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Supreme Court sides with Trump administration on federal regulation of telecom companies

Lindsay Whitehurst, The Associated Press 3 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 3:36 PM CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration Thursday in upholding the power of federal regulators to enforce data privacy laws on telecommunications companies.

The 8-1 decision preserved one of the Federal Communications Commission's key tools, though the companies also won a concession from the Republican administration that could shift the regulatory landscape.

The appeal from telecommunications giants Verizon and AT&T challenged a combined $100 million in penalties imposed after the agency determined that the companies had failed to safeguard customer location data.

The companies argued that the FCC's process was unconstitutional because it gave them little opportunity to tell their side of the story in front of a jury.

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Updated: Yesterday at 3:36 PM CDT

Environment

Drake University student Harrison Ziegler holds a bottle as he collects a water sample Wednesday, May 6, 2026, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)

Takeaways from how water pollution in Iowa can deflate summer fun

Michael Phillis And Brittany Peterson, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

Takeaways from how water pollution in Iowa can deflate summer fun

Michael Phillis And Brittany Peterson, The Associated Press 5 minute read Yesterday at 8:04 AM CDT

MANCHESTER, Iowa (AP) — Iowa is a particularly stark example of the Midwest’s broader struggle with water pollution.

It’s a leading agricultural state that also has lots of rivers and streams. Runoff from fertilizer and manure on farms contains nitrates and phosphorus that drain into those waters, making Iowa among the leading contributors to an aquatic dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico.

Residents have lived with water pollution for decades. The problem affects not only public health but also people’s ability to enjoy water in the summertime.

Algal blooms can create dangerous conditions at beaches, and soil runoff can make the water just feel gross. Bacteria, sometimes from human sewage, keeps teenagers out of streams. More than half the sections of rivers, streams and lakes the state tracked in 2024 did not meet state standards for swimming, drinking or aquatic life.

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Yesterday at 8:04 AM CDT

Environment

Hannah Ray J Childs kayaks at a whitewater park she helped create on the Maquoketa River Thursday, May 7, 2026, in Manchester, Iowa. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)

In Iowa, water pollution is a health threat that also disrupts summer fun

Michael Phillis And Brittany Peterson, The Associated Press 9 minute read Preview

In Iowa, water pollution is a health threat that also disrupts summer fun

Michael Phillis And Brittany Peterson, The Associated Press 9 minute read Yesterday at 8:02 AM CDT

MANCHESTER, Iowa (AP) — Hannah Ray J Childs propelled her kayak into a rapid on Iowa’s Maquoketa River on a recent afternoon and dipped her paddle in the water to swing the front of her boat into the air.

She loves to spend her days performing whitewater kayaking acrobatics that dunk her body in the water and give her the “feeling of flying,” she said. The water is where she found community — she even first spotted her husband when he was flipping his kayak in violent water. He in turn taught her how.

But she has also gotten sick from the water and now wears nose and ear plugs to minimize risk. Many others question why she spends so much time on the water.

“People's first response when I tell them that I like to kayak and be upside down in the river,” Childs said, “is, ‘Ew, that’s disgusting. Why would you do that?’”

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Yesterday at 8:02 AM CDT

Science & Technology

Prime Minister Mark Carney inspects a pig's lungs during an AI demonstration as he visits Toronto General Hospital on Thursday, June 4 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Quick Quotes: How business, labour and others are reacting to Canada’s AI strategy

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

Quick Quotes: How business, labour and others are reacting to Canada’s AI strategy

David Baxter, The Canadian Press 4 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 1:10 PM CDT

OTTAWA - Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled Canada's new artificial intelligence strategy Thursday and the document drew swift reactions from many different corners.

Here is what the prime minister, business and labour leaders, opposition politicians and others have to say about the strategy.

—

"The question isn't whether AI will transform our lives. It will. AI is already changing how we work, how we learn and how we connect. The question is, will it improve the lives of all Canadians or benefit only a few? And that's why we must take a positive, pragmatic and prudent approach that builds safe, reliable and sovereign AI for workers and businesses, for Canada, and for our allies."

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Updated: Yesterday at 1:10 PM CDT

Science & Technology

People take photos of an AI robot at the All In artificial intelligence conference Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

New $2.3B federal AI strategy looks to close ‘adoption gap,’ build public trust

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Preview

New $2.3B federal AI strategy looks to close ‘adoption gap,’ build public trust

Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press 5 minute read Updated: Yesterday at 4:46 PM CDT

OTTAWA - Ottawa wants to increase Canadians' use of artificial intelligence — and it plans to do so through free AI training and legislation to tackle concerns like surveillance pricing and chatbot safety.

Announcing the government's new AI strategy in Toronto on Thursday, Prime Minister Mark Carney said "globally, Canada ranks near the bottom of countries in AI training, in literacy and trust."

The long-awaited AI strategy says Canada has "a major adoption gap." It says closing the gap in training and literacy "is the foundation on which everything else depends."

A new literacy initiative will offer entry-level AI training to all Canadians and the government will ensure "all post-secondary students have access to trusted AI agents," the document says.

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Updated: Yesterday at 4:46 PM CDT

Books

People take photos of an AI robot at the All In artificial intelligence conference Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023 in Montreal. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

In the news today: AI strategy, B.C. killer discharged, Blue Jays sign Twins pitcher

The Canadian Press 4 minute read Preview

In the news today: AI strategy, B.C. killer discharged, Blue Jays sign Twins pitcher

The Canadian Press 4 minute read Yesterday at 3:16 AM CDT

Here is a roundup of stories from The Canadian Press designed to bring you up to speed …

PM Carney to announce federal artificial intelligence strategy in Toronto today

Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to announce the federal government's strategy on artificial intelligence today in Toronto.

The strategy comes as governments, businesses and civil society navigate the rapid development of machine learning and tools that can process information almost instantly — with varying degrees of accuracy.

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Yesterday at 3:16 AM CDT

Science & Technology

FILE - Elon Musk departs after a welcome ceremony with President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Beijing. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

AI companies are barreling toward huge Wall Street debuts. A look at the biggest players

Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

AI companies are barreling toward huge Wall Street debuts. A look at the biggest players

Barbara Ortutay, The Associated Press 5 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

Some of the leading artificial intelligence companies are moving toward initial public offerings this year at eye-popping valuations. From Anthropic to SpaceX to OpenAI, tech giants are looking to take their shares public to access more capital in the race to shape the technology's future.

The amount of money involved in building and maintaining artificial intelligence models, the pursuit of artificial general intelligence that can surpass humans at many tasks, and widespread AI adoption all have led to an air of excitement around the technology that has helped lift the stock market to record highs.

“These companies are now burning through cash to win the AI race, and public equity is the cheapest source available, particularly in a rising interest rate environment,” said Michael Field, chief equity analyst at Morningstar.

But amid the billions — even trillions — at stake, worries about an AI bubble are looming in the background. Some experts fear tech companies and venture capitalists are pouring too much money into a still-nascent and unproven technology.

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Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

Health

María Inés Barría, a virologist at the Universidad San Sebastián, works at the university, in Santiago, Chile, Wednesday, May 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Tools to fight hantavirus show promise despite limited funding. Now researchers hope to continue

Nayara Batschke And Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press 7 minute read Preview

Tools to fight hantavirus show promise despite limited funding. Now researchers hope to continue

Nayara Batschke And Susan Montoya Bryan, The Associated Press 7 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — When a rare but deadly rodent-borne virus struck passengers on a cruise ship and seemed to be spreading, there were no treatments for those who fell ill and no vaccines to protect others.

That was the case even though it wasn't a novel germ that the world had never seen before, like the virus that caused the coronavirus pandemic. It was a hantavirus, one of a family of viruses that have been known for decades and are thought to exist around the world.

Teams of researchers, including in Chile, Argentina and the United States, have long been trying to find and develop drugs and vaccines. But because the viruses are relatively rare and don't spread easily between people, there hasn't been enough sustained investment by governments, global health groups, or drug companies to pay for the extensive safety and efficacy testing needed to make them available.

Still, there have been some promising developments. Researchers on Wednesday published a hint that a drug used for an autoimmune disease may help hantavirus patients fight off the most deadly symptoms.

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Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

Science & Technology

FILE - A Falcon 9 SpaceX heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

SpaceX’s IPO is set to be the biggest ever and could make Elon Musk a trillionaire

Alex Veiga And Bernard Condon, The Associated Press 5 minute read Preview

SpaceX’s IPO is set to be the biggest ever and could make Elon Musk a trillionaire

Alex Veiga And Bernard Condon, The Associated Press 5 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — SpaceX says it plans to raise up to $75 billion when it goes public this month, setting the stage for the largest-ever stock market debut and putting Elon Musk on course to becoming the world's first trillionaire.

The company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., said Wednesday it will sell 555.6 million shares at $135 a piece in an initial public offering. The estimated proceeds would easily top the $26 billion raised by oil giant Saudi Aramco in 2019. The offering would also give SpaceX a market value of $1.77 trillion. Only six companies in the S&P 500 are currently worth more, with Nvidia tops at $5.2 trillion.

Besides the size of the offering and the expected proceeds, SpaceX’s amended prospectus updates details about how much control of the company Musk will have. As SpaceX’s CEO, chief technical officer and chairman, Musk’s voting power will come primarily through his ownership of 5.22 billion Class B shares, which give the holder 10 votes for every share held. According to the filing, Musk would have 82.4% of the voting power in the company.

Forbes currently values Musk's net worth at $826 billion and his stake in SpaceX at $542 billion. The estimated value of his SpaceX holdings was based on an overall value for the company of $1.25 trillion. Based on those numbers, a $1.77 trillion valuation for SpaceX would boost Musk’s net worth by $223 billion, making him a trillionaire. However, much of Musk's worth is in stock that he has yet to cash in.

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Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

Science & Technology

FILE - This image provided by NASA shows the interstellar comet 3I/Atlas captured by the Hubble Space Telescope on Nov. 30, 2025. (NASA, ESA, STScI, D. Jewitt (UCLA), M.-T. Hui (Shanghai Astronomical Observatory), J. DePasquale (STScI) via AP, File)

Radio scans find no alien tech from the latest interstellar comet

Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press 3 minute read Preview

Radio scans find no alien tech from the latest interstellar comet

Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press 3 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The group leading the charge in the search for extraterrestrial life has given the all clear: An interstellar comet looks to be completely natural and free of any alien tech.

The SETI Institute said Wednesday that extensive radio scans by its telescope in Northern California found no signs of otherworldly technology from our solar system’s latest interstellar visitor.

The object labeled 3I/Atlas was discovered last summer sweeping through our neck of the cosmic woods. Scientists quickly identified it as a comet that migrated from another star, although a few insisted without evidence it might be associated with intelligent life.

It’s only the third known object from a faraway star — all deemed of natural origin — to venture into the sun’s turf.

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Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

Science & Technology

FILE - Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., talks to reporters as House Republicans hold a caucus meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Oct. 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)

Polymarket cuts ties with George Santos as regulators probe trades on rival prediction market

Jake Offenhartz, The Associated Press 4 minute read Preview

Polymarket cuts ties with George Santos as regulators probe trades on rival prediction market

Jake Offenhartz, The Associated Press 4 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

NEW YORK (AP) — The online prediction platform Polymarket is ending its paid relationship with George Santos as federal regulators investigate whether the former congressman illegally bet against his own attendance at President Donald Trump’s State of the Union.

Santos placed the bets on another prediction marketplace, Kalshi, after publicly announcing his intention to be at the Feb. 24 speech, according to a person familiar with the investigation. He later blamed a delayed flight for missing the event.

The suspicious trades were detected by Kalshi and referred to the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, a federal regulator that has opened a probe into Santos for possible insider trading, according to a second person familiar with the investigation.

Both spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

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Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

Science & Technology

This image provided by NASA shows four-in-one photos of Mars taken by NASA's Maven spacecraft that's been orbiting the red planet since 2014? Maven is no more, NASA just declared it dead. (NASA via AP)

NASA declares its Mars Maven spacecraft dead after six months of silence

Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press 2 minute read Preview

NASA declares its Mars Maven spacecraft dead after six months of silence

Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press 2 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — After six months of radio silence, NASA’s Maven spacecraft around Mars has been declared dead.

The space agency confirmed Wednesday that the mission had ended after more than a decade of observations.

“The team really did experience the loss of a loved one with the end of the mission here,” said NASA project manager Mike Moreau.

Launched in 2013 to study the red planet’s atmosphere from orbit, Maven mysteriously fell silent in early December after passing behind Mars. Data indicated the spacecraft went into a fast spin, which disrupted its orbit and drained the onboard batteries.

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Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

Environment

FILE - Meta's Stanton Springs Data Center is visible Jan. 13, 2026, in Newton County, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

Energy, water use and pollution of AI and data centers rival most countries

Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press 6 minute read Preview

Energy, water use and pollution of AI and data centers rival most countries

Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press 6 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

WASHINGTON (AP) — The environmental footprint of data centers already rivals some of the world's largest countries, according to a United Nations University report, which also predicts their water and energy use and pollution will double in just four years as use of artificial intelligence grows.

Last year, global data centers used 448 trillion watt-hours of electricity, more than all but 10 countries of the world, said the report issued Wednesday. That electricity use produced about 208 million tons (189 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide, about the same amount as Argentina, and producing that much energy consumed about 1.2 trillion gallons (4.5 trillion liters) of water, according to the report on the environmental consequences of AI's energy use.

By 2030, data centers will account for nearly 3% of the world's projected electricity use, with 935 trillion watt-hours. If data centers were a country, the country would be projected to rank sixth-highest in power use in 2030. That would produce nearly 440 million tons (399 million metric tons) of carbon dioxide, the report said. The study focused on energy use and didn’t examine the massive amount of water used to cool data centers.

“If you look at these numbers, we're seeing scales comparable to nations,” said study co-author Kaveh Madani, a water scientist and director of the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health in Canada. “The demand is enormous.”

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Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

Science & Technology

Check out counter at the new Zellers store in Edmonton on Wednesday Oct. 30, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

A look back at the history of Zellers

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Preview

A look back at the history of Zellers

Tara Deschamps, The Canadian Press 2 minute read Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

In the almost 100 years since Zellers was founded, the discount department store has died and been revived several times. 

Its current owners are less than a year into their relaunch but say they have national expansion plans. 

Here's a look at the history of Zellers:

1928: Waterloo, Ont., entrepreneur Walter Philip Zeller opens the first Zellers department store, but it is bought by American firm Schulte-United Ltd. within months.

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Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

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