“When Buildings Speak” a February 22, 2026 talk hosted by the Dante Alighieri Society of BC in Vancouver (Canada)

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The Dante Alighieri Society of BC (British Coumbia) in Vancouver January 2026 newsletter highlights an upcoming talk on architecture, Note: Although it’s not obvious in the society’s description for the talk, sound plays a part in Robinson’s approach to architecture,

When Buildings Speak. How Architecture Shapes the Way We Live, Feel, and Connect

A talk by Dr. Sarah Robinson ([Italy-based] architect)

Join architect and author Sarah Robinson for a compelling exploration of how the built world affects our wellbeing and our connections to one another. Inspired by her new book, The Architecture of Resonance (Routledge), Robinson reveals how architecture “acts”—guiding our movements, moods, and interactions in ways we often overlook. From the physics of resonance to the poetry of everyday life, she makes a powerful case for designing environments that support healthier, more meaningful and more sustainable ways of living.

Sunday, Feb 22, 2026

11.00 am-12.00 pm (PDT)

On Zoom – in English

3300-515 West Hastings St., Vancouver

More Info & RSVP

I found a bit more information on the event page, Note: Links have been removed,

FREE EVENT – Voluntary $10 Donation for Non-Members …

Sarah Robinson is an architect, writer, educator and organic farmer whose practice is based in the Langhe region of Piemonte, Italy. She is an Adjunct Professor in the department of Architecture Design and Media Technology at Aalborg University, Denmark and teaches in the NAAD program at IUAV, Venice. She was the founding president of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture board of governors and co-edits the journal Intertwining. Her writing and interdisciplinary research is concerned with understanding the many ways the built environment interacts to shape body, mind and culture in a more-than-human world. Robinson is the author of The Architecture of Resonance: From Objects to Interactions (Routledege), a book that rethinks architecture as an active, lived process.

Getting to the ‘sound’ reason for my interest, from Robinson’s book abstract for The Architecture of Resonance; From Objects to Interactions,

The profound impact that design has on human experience—physically, emotionally, cognitively, or ecologically—is now well established. And while this experiential and affective turn in architecture is gaining momentum, studio time remains primarily dedicated to the creation of buildings as independent objects with minimal regard for the interactions and impacts those buildings may have on their inhabitants and their surroundings.

This book carefully details an alternative for thinking and designing that shifts attention from abstract formalism and object orientation to the creation of dynamic interacting fields of affective, tactile, kinaesthetic, ecological, and social engagement. The book articulates resonance as a model and metaphor for the way we interact with our environments. The word’s literal meaning is to re-sound, implying a surface or receptive body that amplifies and alters the sound [emphasis mine]—an interdependent relation and process occurring in between. Seven kinds of resonance specific to design are detailed theoretically and illustrated with practical and historical examples [emphasis mine]. These design strategies demonstrate the possibilities resulting from shifting attention and resources from the longstanding preoccupation with fixed forms towards structuring and supporting dynamic interactive relationships between the built and the natural and between people and place.

…

Fascinating. One last note: “You can pay for your donations and membership via email Interac at info@dantesocietybc.ca.”

15th-century Inca building constructed for sound

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Carpa uasi. The carpa uasi was the bottom level of this building; it originally ended to the left of the arch (near the right side of the floor level). The 15th-century structure survived because the church built over and around it lent stability. Credit: Stella Nair Courtesy: University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)

This October 21, 2025 University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) news release by Sean Brenner tells a fascinating story about sound and architecture, Note: Links have been removed,

Key takeaways

  • UCLA art history professor Stella Nair is collaborating with an interdisciplinary team analyzing a unique Inca building that dates to the mid-15th century.
  • The building, in the remote town of Huaytará, Peru, appears to have been constructed specifically for the purpose of amplifying music and sound, with three walls and an opening at one end.
  • The study is important in part because scholars tend to focus on visual evidence when analyzing cultures of the past, but understanding the role of sound can create a more three-dimensional picture.

The Inca empire is renowned for its architecture; its buildings were intricately designed and extraordinarily durable.

But this summer, it was another aspect of Inca construction that captured the attention of Stella Nair, a UCLA associate professor of art history whose expertise is Indigenous arts and architecture of the Americas.

Nair spent three weeks in the remote town of Huaytará, Peru, studying a single Inca building that appears to have been created primarily to amplify sound and music. Known as a carpa uasi, the structure was likely built in the mid-15th century.

“We’re learning that sound was incredibly important from the earliest cities on, dating back several thousand years B.C.,” said Nair, who is working on her third book about Andean (in and around the Andes mountains) architecture. “Builders were incredibly sophisticated with their aural architecture, and the Incas are one part of this long, sophisticated tradition of sonic engineering.”

One of a kind

Nair said the structure is the only known carpa uasi in existence, and although scholars have known about it for many years, the building hasn’t been extensively researched — and no previous studies had identified its potential for amplifying sound.

One of its distinctive characteristics is that, because of its intended use, the carpa uasi was built with only three walls, with an opening at one of the gable ends. (The phrase carpa uasi means “tent house,” a reference to that open-ended structure.) Nair and her colleagues theorize that the design would have made it possible for sound — such as drums being used to announce the beginning or end of a battle — to be focused toward the building’s open end and then out to the surrounding environment.

“Many people look at Inca architecture and are impressed with the stonework, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” Nair said. “They were also concerned with the ephemeral, temporary and impermanent, and sound was one of those things.

“Sound was deeply valued and an incredibly important part of Andean and Inca architecture — so much so that the builders allowed some instability in this structure just because of its acoustic potential.” [emphasis mine]

The partially open structure would have made such buildings significantly less stable than most other Inca buildings. Ironically, Nair said, this carpa uasi has survived for centuries because, perhaps at the direction of Spanish settlers, a church was later built on top of it, stabilizing the structure below.

Nair is collaborating on the project with a team of acoustic experts led by Stanford University music professor Jonathan Berger. Nair primarily studied the carpa uasi’s architecture, taking measurements and making drawings and photographs. Next, she will use hand drawings and 3-D modeling to determine what the roof may have looked like and how the building’s overall form influenced its function. Together, the researchers expect to produce a model for how sound would have traveled through and outside the building.

Toward a more complete understanding

“We’re exploring the possibility that the carpa uasi may have amplified low-frequency sounds, such as drumming, with minimal reverberation,” Nair said. “With this research, for the first time, we’ll be able to tell what the Incas valued sonically in this building.”

Investigating the sonic properties of a 600-year-old building in the Andes is much more than an academic exercise for Nair and her collaborators — and not only because it is the only surviving example of its kind.

“Sound studies are really critical, because we tend to emphasize the visual in how we understand the world around us, including our past,” Nair said. “But that’s not how we experience life — all of our senses are critical. So how we understand ourselves and our history changes if you put sound back into the conversation.”

Nair said the project reflects the importance of collaboration across disciplines, institutions and borders. The American scholars also benefited from the cooperation of partners in Peru, including the priest who oversees the Church of San Juan Bautista, the building whose architecture incorporates the carpa uasi, and a local archaeologist.

Nair’s work was funded in part by a grant from the UCLA College Division of Humanities; Berger received funding from the Templeton Religion Trust.

Ella Feldman’s October 30, 2025 article for the Smithsonian magazine enhances the ‘sound’ story with a few more details about the Inca empire. There’s also more about Stella Nair and her work on her UCLA bio webpage.

AI is an energy/water hog. Where is all the power coming from? plus UN defines new “era of global water bankruptcy”

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I’ve touched on the topic of AI (artificial intelligence) and water consumption before, notably in my October 16, 2023 posting “The cost of building ChatGPT” where most of the focus is on the US. I now have some Canadian stories but first, there’s the United Nations University (UNU).

Global water bankruptcy

From a January 20, 2026 United Nations University press release (also on EurekAlert), Note 1: In the front pages, there’s this unexpected link to Canada : “UNU-INWEH [United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health] gratefully acknowledges its host, the Government of Canada, and ongoing financial support from Global Affairs Canada.” Note 2: Links have been removed,

Amid chronic groundwater depletion, water overallocation, land and soil degradation, deforestation, and pollution, all compounded by global heating, a UN report today declared the dawn of an era of global water bankruptcy, inviting world leaders to facilitate “honest, science-based adaptation to a new reality.”

“Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era,” argues that the familiar terms “water stressed” and “water crisis” fail to reflect today’s reality in many places: a post-crisis condition marked by irreversible losses of natural water capital and an inability to bounce back to historic baselines.

“This report tells an uncomfortable truth: many regions are living beyond their hydrological means, and many critical water systems are already bankrupt,” says lead author Kaveh Madani, Director of the UN University’s Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), known as ‘The UN’s Think Tank on Water.’

Expressed in financial terms, the report says many societies have not only overspent their annual renewable water “income” from rivers, soils, and snowpack, they have depleted long-term “savings” in aquifers, glaciers, wetlands, and other natural reservoirs.

This has resulted in a growing list of compacted aquifers, subsided land in deltas and coastal cities, vanished lakes and wetlands, and irreversibly lost biodiversity.

The UNU report is based on a peer-reviewed paper in the journal of Water Resources Management that formally defines water bankruptcy as

1) persistent over-withdrawal from surface and groundwater relative to renewable inflows and safe levels of depletion; and

2) the resulting irreversible or prohibitively costly loss of water-related natural capital.

By contrast:

  • “Water stress” reflects high pressure that remains reversible
  • “Water crisis” describes acute shocks that can be overcome

The report is issued prior to a high-level meeting in Dakar, Senegal (26–27 Jan.) to prepare the 2026 UN Water Conference, to be co-hosted by the United Arab Emirates and Senegal 2-4 Dec. in the UAE. 

While not every basin and country is water-bankrupt, Madani says, “enough critical systems around the world have crossed these thresholds. These systems are interconnected through trade, migration, climate feedbacks, and geopolitical dependencies, so the global risk landscape is now fundamentally altered.”

Madani underlines the following four essential points:

  • Water cannot be protected if we allow the hydrological cycle, the climate, and the underlying natural capital that produces water to be interrupted or damaged. The world has an important and still largely untapped strategic opportunity to act.
  • Water is an issue that crosses traditional political boundaries. It belongs to north and south, and to left and right. For that reason, it can serve as a bridge to create trust and unity between and within nations. In the fragmented world we live in, water can become a powerful focus for cooperation and for aligning national security with international priorities.
  • Investment in water is also investment in mitigating climate change, biodiversity loss, and desertification. Water should not be treated only as a downstream sector affected by other environmental crises. On the contrary, targeted investment in water can address the immediate concerns of communities and nations while also advancing the objectives of the Rio Conventions (climate, biodiversity, desertification).
  • A renewed global emphasis on water could help reaccelerate stalled negotiations and potentially reenergize halted international processes. A practical and cooperative focus on water offers a way to connect urgent local needs with long-term global goals.

Hotspots

In the Middle East and North Africa region, high water stress, climate vulnerability, low agricultural productivity, energy-intensive desalination, and sand and dust storms intersect with complex political economies;

In parts of South Asia, groundwater-dependent agriculture and urbanization have produced chronic declines in water tables and local subsidence; and

In the American Southwest, the Colorado River and its reservoirs have become symbols of over-promised water.

A world in the red

Drawing on global datasets and recent scientific evidence, the report presents a stark statistical overview of trends, the overwhelming majority caused by humans:

50%: Large lakes worldwide that have lost water since the early 1990s (with 25% of humanity directly dependent on those lakes)

50%: Global domestic water now derived from groundwater

40%+: Irrigation water drawn from aquifers being steadily drained

70%: Major aquifers showing long-term decline

410 million hectares: Area ofnatural wetlands – almost equal in size to the entire European Union – erased in the past five decades

30%+: Global glacier mass lost since 1970, with entire low- and mid-latitude mountain ranges expected to lose functional glaciers altogether within decades

Dozens: Major rivers that now fail to reach the sea for parts of the year

50+ years: How long many river basins and aquifers have been overdrawing their accounts

100 million hectares: Cropland damaged by salinization alone

And the human consequences:

75%: Humanity in countries classified as water-insecure or critically water-insecure

2 billion: People living on sinking ground.

25 cm: Annual drop being experienced by some cities

4 billion: People facing severe water scarcity at least one month every year

170 million hectares: Irrigated cropland under high or very high water stress – equivalent to the areas of France, Spain, Germany, and Italy combined

US$5.1 trillion: Annual value of lost wetland ecosystem services

3 billion: People living in areas where total water storage is declining or unstable, with 50%+ of global food produced in those same stressed regions.

1.8 billion: People living under drought conditions in 2022–2023

US$307 billion: Current annual global cost of drought

2.2 billion: People who lack safely managed drinking water, while 3.5 billion lack safely managed sanitation

Says Madani: “Millions of farmers are trying to grow more food from shrinking, polluted, or disappearing water sources. Without rapid transitions toward water-smart agriculture, water bankruptcy will spread rapidly.”

A new diagnosis for a new era

A region can be flooded one year and still be water bankrupt, he adds, if long-term withdrawals exceed replenishment. In that sense, water bankruptcy is not about how wet or dry a place looks, but about balance, accounting, and sustainability.

Says Madani: As with global climate change or pandemics, a declaration of global water bankruptcy does not imply uniform impact everywhere, but that enough systems across regions and income levels have become insolvent and crossed irreversible thresholds to constitute a planetary-scale condition.

“Water bankruptcy is also global because its consequences travel,” Madani explains. “Agriculture accounts for the vast majority of freshwater use, and food systems are tightly interconnected through trade and prices. When water scarcity undermines farming in one region, the effects ripple through global markets, political stability, and food security elsewhere. This makes water bankruptcy not a series of isolated local crises, but a shared global risk that demands a new type of response: Bankruptcy management,  not crisis management.”

A call to reset the global water agenda

The report warns that the current global water agenda – largely focused on drinking water, sanitation, and incremental efficiency improvements – is no longer fit for purpose in many places and calls for a new global water agenda that:

  • Formally recognizes the state of water bankruptcy
  • Recognizes water as both a constraint and an opportunity for meeting climate, biodiversity, and land commitments
  • Elevates water issues in climate, biodiversity, and desertification negotiations, development finance, and peacebuilding processes.
  • Embeds water-bankruptcy monitoring in global frameworks, using Earth observation, AI, and integrated modelling
  • Uses water as a catalyst to accelerate cooperation between the UN Member States

In practical terms, managing water bankruptcy requires governments to focus on the following priorities:

  • Prevent further irreversible damage such as wetland loss, destructive groundwater depletion, and uncontrolled pollution
  • Rebalance rights, claims, and expectations to match degraded carrying capacity
  • Support just transitions for communities whose livelihoods must change
  • Transform water-intensive sectors, including agriculture and industry, through crop shifts, irrigation reforms, and more efficient urban systems
  • Build institutions for continuous adaptation, with monitoring systems linked to threshold-based management

The report underlines that water bankruptcy is not merely a hydrological problem, but a justice issue with deep social and political implications requiring attention at the highest levels of government and multilateral cooperation. The burdens fall disproportionately on smallholder farmers, Indigenous Peoples, low-income urban residents, women and youth while the benefits of overuse often accrued to more powerful actors.

“Water bankruptcy is becoming a driver of fragility, displacement, and conflict,” says UN Under-Secretary-General Tshilidzi Marwala, Rector of UNU. “Managing it fairly – ensuring that vulnerable communities are protected and that unavoidable losses are shared equitably – is now central to maintaining peace, stability, and social cohesion.”

“Bankruptcy management requires honesty, courage, and political will,” Madani adds. “We cannot rebuild vanished glaciers or reinflate acutely compacted aquifers. But we can prevent further loss of our remaining natural capital, and redesign institutions to live within new hydrological limits.”

Upcoming milestones —  the 2026 and 2028 UN Water Conferences, the end of the Water Action Decade in 2028, and the 2030 SDG deadline, for example — provide critical opportunities to implement this shift, he says.

“Despite its warnings, the report is not a statement of hopelessness,” adds Madani. “It is a call for honesty, realism, and transformation.  Declaring bankruptcy is not about giving up — it is about starting fresh. By acknowledging the reality of water bankruptcy, we can finally make the hard choices that will protect people, economies, and ecosystems. The longer we delay, the deeper the deficit grows.”

Here’s a link to and a citation for the report,

Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era (or the PDF) by Kaveh Madani. Contributors: Mir Matin, Aria Farsi, Luying Wang, Amir AghaKouchak, Mohammed Azhar, Jenna Elshurafa, Sogol Jafarzadeh, Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi, Ali Mirchi, Abraham Nunbogu, Mojtaba Sadegh, Robert Sandford, Manoochehr Shirzaei, William Smyth, Hossein Tabari, MJ Tourian, Farshid Vahedifard. 2026, University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, DOI: 10.53328/INR26KAM001

AI data centre building spree in Canada (special emphasis: British Columbia [BC])

An October 18, 2025 article (with embedded videos) by Jonathan Montpetit and Yvette Brend with files from Tara Carman on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) news online website,

On a dry, hot day this summer, Kathryn Barnwell, a retired English professor, marched up the road from her home in Nanaimo, B.C [British Columbia]., to take another crack at the mayor.

Leonard Krog, a longtime friend of Barnwell’s, was standing by the entrance to a parched wooded lot, the proposed site for a data centre Krog has been backing. 

“I really, really enjoin you to think about what this [data centre] could mean for your political career,” Barnwell said, barely looking him in the eye.

Krog, who has been mayor since 2018, sees the project as a chance to modernize the city’s economy.

“The kind of jobs that would be attracted to this kind of facility are the jobs of the future,” he said.

Until three years ago, Barnwell knew little about data centres, which house the computer servers that power much of the online world. But when the plot of land near her home was rezoned for one, she began researching. She’s now one of the loudest opponents of the project in Nanaimo.

Her main concern, shared by other local opponents, is the amount of municipal drinking water the 200,000-square foot data centre would need for its cooling system. In a region beset by drought, Barnwell says similar-sized facilities can churn through 70,000 litres of potable water a day.

“Life on this planet is sustained by water. It is not sustained by data. We don’t need data the way we need water,” Barnwell said. “And we in Canada have been pretty blithe about our natural resources.”

Barnwell sees herself as part of a global resistance movement drawing attention to the environmental impact of data centres, at a moment when the tech industry is spending dizzying sums to build them. 

It’s not just BC according to the October 18, 2025 article, Note: A link has been removed,

…

Canada is poised to join the data centre boom. The federal government, and some provinces, have been actively courting investors, vaunting the country’s cheap electricity (much of it hydro power) and cool climate. 

At least eight projects are underway to build hyperscale data centres in Canada, according to the federal government. But as such projects face greater scrutiny around the world, Canada is jumping into the AI construction race with few mechanisms to protect its water supply.

“There’s barely any regulation in place,” said Geoff White, executive director of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, an Ottawa-based consumer protection group.

…

Microsoft builds out in Canada

Among the big tech companies, Microsoft has taken the lead in building data centres with AI capacity in Canada. The Washington-based corporation purchased seven large tracts of land in 2021, including a golf course near Quebec City and a former department store in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke. 

It’s in the process of turning the sites into data centres capable of powering its AI-enabled products like Azure and Copilot, an investment worth at least $1 billion.

At least two of the Microsoft data centres in Ontario have been cleared by municipal authorities to consume vast amounts of municipal drinking water.

The Etobicoke data centre, dubbed YTO 40, was approved to use up to 39.75 litres of water per second for cooling purposes, according to planning documents submitted to the city. That would be the equivalent of around 1.2 billion litres a year, or 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools. 

A Microsoft data centre complex in nearby Vaughan, a city spokesperson said, is expected to consume 730 million litres of water annually. 

But according to Microsoft, its new Canadian data centres will only use a fraction of that amount, because of design features that allow them to be cooled using outdoor air and recycled rainwater. 

Alistair Speirs, general manager of Microsoft’s Azure global infrastructure, acknowledges traditional industrial cooling has “been a very water-intensive process.” He says the way Microsoft is building its data centres today is “with really that in mind.” 

“One of the great things about building in Canada, and in colder climates, is that we can just use free air cooling from outside air temperatures.”

The company said its data centres will only draw municipal water when outside temperatures are above 29.4 C or when indoor humidity levels drop below five per cent. 

Microsoft has made similar promises elsewhere. The company built a data centre in the northwestern Netherlands despite opposition from local farmers, promising it would only need between 12 and 20 million litres of water annually. 

Dutch media later revealed the data centre was consuming more than four times that — as locals were being asked to limit their own water use. 

In its response to Dutch media, Microsoft said the initial estimate had been based on “consumption at that time,” but did not specify what time period it was referring to.

…

Growing concerns and protests but not so much in Canada, from the October 18, 2025 article, Note: A link has been removed,

…

The new Microsoft data centres in Canada, which are slated to come online in the coming months, have faced no discernible opposition from the public. One Etobicoke city councillor wasn’t even aware of the YTO 40 project before CBC News contacted him.

That’s in stark contrast to communities in the United States, Europe and Latin America, where concerns about water scarcity have sparked protests.

Last month, Google shelved plans to build a $1-billion US data centre in Indianapolis, Ind., after residents organized a months-long campaign against the project. When a lawyer representing Google abruptly announced the decision at a city council meeting, the room erupted in applause that lasted for nearly a minute.

A growing number of jurisdictions in the U.S. and Europe are also seeking to pass regulations that would limit data centre water consumption or force companies to be more transparent about how much they’re using. 

Canada’s federal government has set aside $700 million to fund data centre projects here. But aside from energy regulators, who review data centre applications to connect to power grids, there is little industry oversight.

“If we’re racing ahead and thinking only about the economic benefits, and not thinking about the downstream impacts to our environment, that’s negligent,” said White with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. “I think Canadians ought to be concerned. Our water is highly sought after, and will be as the world gets hotter.”

…

Elsewhere in the October 18, 2025 article, there’s information about water use in data centres,

How much water do chatbots drink?

Data centres are as old as computers and until recently were relatively uncontroversial — boring bits of IT infrastructure tucked away in non-descript office spaces.

But with the advent of cloud computing in the mid-2000s, they dramatically increased in size. 

These data centres — buildings ranging anywhere from 10,000 to 100,000 square feet — required upwards of 100 megawatts of power and millions of litres of water annually for their cooling systems.

…

These demands have only been turbocharged by artificial intelligence, which requires data centres that house thousands of densely packed high-performance chips, operating around the clock — and generating heat.

A study done in 2023 estimated that generating between 10 and 50 medium-sized responses in ChatGPT — the AI-powered chatbot — consumed about 500 millilitres of water. That accounts for both the water required to produce the electricity needed to run the data centre (435 millilitres) and cool it down (the remaining 65 millilitres).

A separate study, conducted by the International Energy Agency, estimated that in 2023, data centres around the world consumed around 140 billion litres of water just for cooling. 

Much of that was potable water pulled from municipal utilities. (Because data centres generally use evaporative cooling systems, untreated water can damage the sensitive computer equipment inside.)

…

If you have time, the October 18, 2025 article is worth reading in its entirety.

This October 15, 2025 article by Amanda Follett Hosgood for The Tyee is focused on BC’s approach to AI water consumption, Note: Links have been removed,

B.C. recently saw its first AI data centres open in Prince George and Kamloops, and more are on the way. AI centres have been touted as a way to grow the economy while ensuring data sovereignty by storing information within our borders.

“AI is everywhere. It’s changing how we work. It’s changing how we learn. It’s changing how we do business,” said Port Moody-Burquitlam MLA Rick Glumac, who this summer became B.C.’s minister of state for artificial intelligence and new technologies. The position comes with a mandate to expand B.C.’s AI sector.

“There’s a lot of good work ahead,” Glumac, who comes from a tech background [emphases mine], told The Tyee.

But there’s a hitch. AI is just one of various potential boom industries vying for a piece of B.C.’s limited electricity supply.

AI data centres are energy intensive, requiring immense amounts of electricity for power and cooling. B.C.’s hydroelectric grid, which is fed almost entirely by renewable sources, offers a clean — but limited — energy source that’s attractive to businesses seeking to market themselves as environmentally conscious.

As the province looks to green the existing economy, transition to electric vehicles and expand industries like LNG using cleaner energy, AI is fast becoming one more customer seeking a piece of the power pie.

…

Glumac’s technical background? From the Rick Glumac Wikipedia entry, Note: Links have been removed,

…

Glumac worked much of his career in the field of computer graphics as a software developer, visual effects artist, and computer graphics supervisor.[8]  He worked on the first computer-animated TV show ReBoot, and later worked for companies such as DreamWorks and Electronic Arts on well-known Hollywood films such as Shrek 2, Madagascar, and Over the Hedge.[8] Following this he developed apps for the iPhone.[7]

That’s a bit of leap for Mr. Glumac. Developing computer graphics is not the same thing as shepherding new and emerging technologies through government regulations and creating new regulations, deaing with public hopes/fears, anticipating energy needs, and dealing with any unintended consequences of the technologies themselves.

Follett Hosgood’s October 15, 2025 article provides an overview of the energy and data centre situation in BC,

B.C. is the first province in Canada to create a cabinet position dedicated to AI. But the province isn’t alone in signalling its interest in the industry.

The federal government created its own minister of artificial intelligence and digital innovation following the spring election, tapping former broadcaster Evan Solomon for the position.

…

B.C.’s parallel cabinet position “gives us the opportunity to really put a focus on this and to partner with the federal government,” Glumac told The Tyee.

In an email, B.C.’s Ministry of Energy and Climate Solutions said the province groups data centres into three categories: conventional data centres, cryptocurrency mining and AI data centres.

It added that there are currently 12 “notable” conventional data centres in the province and three more requesting a power connection. If approved, the combined operations would draw nearly 40 megawatts of power — a small slice of the province’s 12,000-megawatt power supply.

AI data centres, however, can each draw more than 100 megawatts of power.

Two of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies recently announced plans to open AI data centres in B.C.

In May [2025], Bell Canada said it would open an AI “data centre supercluster” that is expected to use upwards of 500 megawatts, or about five per cent of the province’s current power supply.

Its first AI data centre, a seven-megawatt facility in Kamloops, opened in June. A second seven-megawatt facility is slated to open in Merritt by the end of next year.

The company is planning two additional 26-megawatt data centres in the near future, one in partnership with Thompson Rivers University and the other with the Upper Nicola Band. It says another two data centres with a combined capacity of more than 400 megawatts are in “advanced planning stages.”

Bell declined to provide detailed timelines, confirming in an email only that its Kamloops site is currently operational. “We remain on track and more sites will open in the coming months,” a spokesperson wrote.

The company also faces competition.

In April [2025], Telus announced two Canadian data centres, one in B.C., touting the operations as “fully owned, operated and secured on Canadian soil by a Canadian company” — a nod to national concerns over data sovereignty.

The Kamloops operation will be “powered by 99 per cent renewable energy,” Telus said, but how much power it will draw is unclear. The company didn’t respond to The Tyee’s questions about capacity or when it might come online.

Asked about how these data centres will fit into B.C.’s power grid, Glumac said that “BC Hydro is monitoring this very closely and planning accordingly.” The industry is evolving quickly, he added, and he wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the province would need to regulate expansion as it did with cryptocurrency mining.

“We want to make sure that clean energy supports not just data centres but supports the people in British Columbia and supports economic opportunities and job opportunities,” Glumac said. “It’s very important to monitor that and to balance all of that, and BC Hydro is doing that.”

BC Hydro directed The Tyee’s questions to B.C.’s Energy Ministry, which also provided an emailed statement.

“BC Hydro continues to look at how the growth in the industry could impact future demand, and will adjust its forecasts and planning accordingly,” a ministry spokesperson wrote, adding that the province is committed to “balancing energy demand with economic priorities.”

“We recognize that the AI industry is evolving rapidly, and we are closely monitoring how advancements in AI infrastructure may impact future energy needs.”

…

AI data centres don’t have to be a problem

It’s not all doom and gloom, from Follett Hosgood’s October 15, 2025 article,

…

Last year, the province [BC] imported a quarter of its electricity needs, most of it from the United States and Alberta, where it was generated using fossil fuels. In both 2024 and earlier this year, BC Hydro put out calls for power in an effort to make up the shortfall with clean, locally produced power.

Kate Harland is the research lead for clean growth at the Canadian Climate Institute. In an interview with The Tyee, she said that now is the time for governments to plan for the expected spike in energy demand from AI data centres.

“There is a lot of interest right now across Canada in having AI-enabled data centres,” Harland said. But she added that there’s likely to be a “tipping point” where AI’s benefits might not outweigh its demands on the power grid.

“If suddenly data centres are 20 per cent or 30 per cent of your total electricity demand, then you get into a new territory of questions,” she said.

While provinces such as B.C. and Quebec have traditionally taken a “first come, first served” approach to industrial power requests, some jurisdictions are implementing new rules to ensure limited power supply is allocated fairly and for the greatest overall benefit, Harland said.

Last year [2024], Quebec began requiring any projects requesting more than five megawatts of power to get ministerial approval. The approval considers factors such as economic impact, social impact and power requirements.

In 2023, Quebec’s government also signed an agreement with Microsoft as it launched four new data centres in the province. The tech giant agreed to reduce its energy consumption by 30 per cent during times of peak power use.

Harland said the pressure to meet power demand could be approached as an opportunity to build out renewables and increase supply. If data centres become more efficient over time, that would free up renewable power for domestic uses like electric vehicles and heat pumps, she said.

AI is also credited with identifying efficiencies, including in power use, which could help to offset its draw on the grid, Harland said. (Glumac also pointed to a recent study indicating that it could drive $200 billion in productivity improvements nationally.)

The technology’s practical uses tend to set it apart from cryptocurrency in the discussion about which industries get priority to grid access, Harland said.

The potential for data sovereignty is another argument in its favour.

But Harland emphasized that now is the time for governments to be proactive in forming AI policies.

…

If you have the time, do read Follett Hosgood’s October 15, 2025 article in its entirety.

If you have even more time, I provided some detail about the federal government and its new Minister of AI Digital Innovation in an October 17, 2025 posting (scroll down to the Canada and its Minister of AI and Digital Innovation subhead for information about Evan Solomon, the new minister. If you continue further in the posting.

What about local governments?

Municipalities may also have a role to play as data centres become more important in their real estate markets as this January 31, 2026 article by Kenneth Chan for the Daily Hive could be said to hint at, Note: Links have been removed,

Westbank’s major downtown Vancouver office tower project at steam plant site pivots to hotel, residential, and data centre uses

One of downtown Vancouver’s largest office development projects, first planned during the pre-pandemic office market boom, will not proceed as originally approved [emphasis mine], given the prevailing weak office market conditions.

Instead, the office tower project previously approved for 150 West Georgia St. (formerly addressed as 720 Beatty St.) — situated at the southwest corner of Beatty Street and West Georgia Street, immediately adjacent to BC Place Stadium’s northeast corner — is now in the very early stages of being repositioned as a mixed-use hotel and residential tower with a data centre [emphases mine], based on an all-new architectural design concept that also adds density and height.

A number of preliminary conceptual artistic renderings also show this drastic pivot.

All of this will be integrated into the district utility company Creative Energy’s new on-site replacement and expanded steam plant facilities, which have incurred major cost increases and experienced delays, including factors related to local developer Westbank’s liquidity challenges.

…

Pivot to a new tower with hotel, residential, and data centre uses on top of the Creative Energy facility

In October 2020, Vancouver City Council approved Westbank’s original rezoning application for redeveloping this site into an office tower and a standalone entertainment pavilion building, with below-grade parking and a new replacement steam plant.

Moving forward, essentially everything below grade — including the new vehicle parking and the Creative Energy facility — as well as the new entertainment pavilion building, will remain unchanged, while the office tower project above grade will not proceed.

Instead, the previous 264-ft.-tall, 17-storey, bulky, S-shaped office tower concept — designed by Bjarke Ingels Group and HCMA — with 583,000 sq. ft. of office space and 12,000 sq. ft. of additional ground-level retail/restaurant space has been completely scrapped and is now envisioned to become a 450-ft-tall, 48-storey, mixed-use hotel and residential tower with a data centre and ground-level retail/restaurant space, for a total of roughly 700,000 sq. ft. of building floor area.

The significantly increased height for added density is made possible by City Council’s July 2023-approved sweeping city-wide changes [emphasis mine] to the protected mountain view cones. Design revisions for taller heights are also set to occur for the nearby future Plaza of Nations and Concord Landing projects, made possible by these view cone changes.

…

… a Westbank spokesperson previously confirmed to Daily Hive Urbanized that they are looking into adding major data centre uses [emphasis mine] to the 1977-built, six-storey office building at 111 East 5th Ave. This distinctive brick building — part of Westbank’s Main Alley tech campus of new and renovated office buildings in the vicinity of the intersection of Main Street and East 5th Avenue in Mount Pleasant — is perhaps best known for being one of Hootsuite’s office locations since 2014. Westbank noted that at this time, Hootsuite is still the building’s primary tenant.

How will these and future data centres affect Vancouverites’ energy needs and access to water?.Hopefully, someone in Vancouver’s city government is doing some thinking on these matters.

A couple of proposed solutions to AI’s insatiable need for power?

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I have two stories about research into making artificial intelligence (AI) less wasteful of power. One is from the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) and the other from the Politecnico di Milano (Polytechnic of Milan).

International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE)

A September 9, 2025 news item on ScienceDaily announced a more energy efficient AI chip,

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are increasingly central to technology, powering everything from facial recognition to language translation. But as AI models grow more complex, they consume vast amounts of electricity — posing challenges for energy efficiency and sustainability. A new chip developed by researchers at the University of Florida could help address this issue by using light, rather than just electricity, to perform one of AI’s most power-hungry tasks. Their research is reported in Advanced Photonics.

…

A September 8, 2025 SPIE (International Society for Optics and Photonics) press release, which originated the news item, provides more detail about the work, Note: Links have been removed,

The chip is designed to carry out convolution operations, a core function in machine learning that enables AI systems to detect patterns in images, video, and text. These operations typically require significant computing power. By integrating optical components directly onto a silicon chip, the researchers have created a system that performs convolutions using laser light and microscopic lenses—dramatically reducing energy consumption and speeding up processing.

“Performing a key machine learning computation at near zero energy is a leap forward for future AI systems,” said study leader Volker J. Sorger, the Rhines Endowed Professor in Semiconductor Photonics at the University of Florida. “This is critical to keep scaling up AI capabilities in years to come.”

In tests, the prototype chip classified handwritten digits with about 98 percent accuracy, comparable to traditional electronic chips. The system uses two sets of miniature Fresnel lenses—flat, ultrathin versions of the lenses found in lighthouses—fabricated using standard semiconductor manufacturing techniques. These lenses are narrower than a human hair and are etched directly onto the chip.

To perform a convolution, machine learning data is first converted into laser light on the chip. The light passes through the Fresnel lenses, which carry out the mathematical transformation. The result is then converted back into a digital signal to complete the AI task.

…

“This is the first time anyone has put this type of optical computation on a chip and applied it to an AI neural network,” said Hangbo Yang, a research associate professor in Sorger’s group at UF and co-author of the study.

The team also demonstrated that the chip could process multiple data streams simultaneously by using lasers of different colors—a technique known as wavelength multiplexing. “We can have multiple wavelengths, or colors, of light passing through the lens at the same time,” Yang said. “That’s a key advantage of photonics.”

The research was conducted in collaboration with the Florida Semiconductor Institute, UCLA [University of California at Los Angeles], and George Washington University. Sorger noted that chip manufacturers such as NVIDIA already use optical elements in some parts of their AI systems, which could make it easier to integrate this new technology.

“In the near future, chip-based optics will become a key part of every AI chip we use daily,” Sorger said. “And optical AI computing is next.”

…

There’s also a September 8, 2025 University of Florida news release (also on EurekAlert), which is similar to the one issued by SPIE.

The paper has been published on two different sites; the citation for the paper remains the same and there are links to two different sites hosting the paper,

Near-energy-free photonic Fourier transformation for convolution operation acceleration by Hangbo Yang, Nicola Peserico, Shurui Li, Xiaoxuan Ma, Russell L. T. Schwartz, Mostafa Hosseini, Aydin Babakhani, Chee Wei Wong, Puneet Gupta, Volker J. Sorger SPIE Digital library or Advanced Photonics Vol. 7, Issue 5, 056007 (2025) DOI: 10.1117/1.AP.7.5.056007

Both sites offer open access to the paper.

Politecnico di Milano (Polytechnic of Milan)

Caption: The photonic microchip (below) developed for the study on physical neural networks, along with the electronic chip (above, the yellow one) of control. Credit: Politecnico di Milano, DEIB – Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering

A September 12, 2025 Politecnico di Milano (Polytechnic of Milan) press release (also on EurekAlert but published September 9, 2025) announces work into a more energy efficient way to train artificial intelligence, specifically physical neural networks,

Artificial intelligence is now part of our daily lives, with the subsequent pressing need for larger, more complex models. However, the demand for ever-increasing power and computing capacity is rising faster than the performance traditional computers can provide.

To overcome these limitations, research is moving towards innovative technologies such as physical neural networks, analogue circuits that directly exploit the laws of physics (properties of light beams, quantum phenomena) to process information. Their potential is at the heart of the study published by the prestigious journal Nature. It is the outcome of collaboration between several international institutes, including the Politecnico di Milano, the École Polytechnique Fédérale in Lausanne, Stanford University, the University of Cambridge, and the Max Planck Institute.

The article entitled “Training of Physical Neural Networks” discusses the steps of research on training physical neural networks, carried out with the collaboration of Francesco Morichetti, professor at DEIB – Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, and head of the university’s Photonic Devices Lab.

Politecnico di Milano contributed to this study by developing photonic chips for the creation of neural networks, exploiting integrated photonic technologies. Mathematical operations, such as sums and multiplications, can now be performed through light interference mechanisms on silicon microchips barely a few square millimetres in size.

“By eliminating the operations required for the digitisation of information, our photonic chips allow calculations to be carried out with a significant reduction in both energy consumption and processing time,” says Francesco Morichetti. A step forward to make artificial intelligence (which relies on extremely energy-intensive data centres) more sustainable.

The study published in Nature addresses the theme of training, precisely the phase in which the network learns to perform certain tasks. «With our research within the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, we have helped develop an “in-situ” training technique for photonic neural networks, i.e. without going through digital models. The procedure is carried out entirely using light signals. Hence, network training will not only be faster, but also more robust and efficient», adds Morichetti.

The use of photonic chips will allow the development of more sophisticated models for artificial intelligence, or devices capable of processing real-time data directly on site – such as autonomous cars or intelligent sensors integrated into portable devices – without requiring remote processing.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Training of physical neural networks by Ali Momeni, Babak Rahmani, Benjamin Scellier, Logan G. Wright, Peter L. McMahon, Clara C. Wanjura, Yuhang Li, Anas Skalli, Natalia G. Berloff, Tatsuhiro Onodera, Ilker Oguz, Francesco Morichetti, Philipp del Hougne, Manuel Le Gallo, Abu Sebastian, Azalia Mirhoseini, Cheng Zhang, Danijela Marković, Daniel Brunner, Christophe Moser, Sylvain Gigan, Florian Marquardt, Aydogan Ozcan, Julie Grollier, Andrea J. Liu, Demetri Psaltis, Andrea Alù, Romain Fleury. Nature volume 645, pages 53–61 (2025) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09384-2 Published: 03 September 2025 Version of record: 03 September 2025 Issue date: 04 September 2025

This paper is behind a paywall.

Nanomaterial restoration of colossal statues on Mount Nemrut (Türkiye)

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[downloaded from https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/448]

Before getting to the nanomaterial restoration, here’s a little information about the project, Nemrut Dağ, from its UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage List webpage,

Nemrut Dağ

The mausoleum of Antiochus I (69–34 B.C.), who reigned over Commagene, a kingdom founded north of Syria and the Euphrates after the breakup of Alexander’s empire, is one of the most ambitious constructions of the Hellenistic period. The syncretism of its pantheon, and the lineage of its kings, which can be traced back through two sets of legends, Greek and Persian [emphasis mine], is evidence of the dual origin of this kingdom’s culture.

Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0

Outstanding Universal Value

Brief synthesis

Crowning one of the highest peaks of the Eastern Taurus mountain range in south-east Turkey, Nemrut Dağ is the Hierotheseion (temple-tomb and house of the gods) built by the late Hellenistic King Antiochos I of Commagene (69-34 B.C.) as a monument to himself.

With a diameter of 145 m, the 50 m high funerary mound of stone chips is surrounded on three sides by terraces to the east, west and north directions. Two separate antique processional routes radiate from the east and west terraces. Five giant seated limestone statues, identified by their inscriptions as deities, face outwards from the tumulus on the upper level of the east and west terraces. These are flanked by a pair of guardian animal statues – a lion and eagle – at each end. The heads of the statues have fallen off to the lower level, which accommodates two rows of sandstone stelae, mounted on pedestals with an altar in front of each stele. One row carries relief sculptures of Antiochos’ paternal Persian ancestors, the other of his maternal Macedonian ancestors. Inscriptions on the backs of the stelae record the genealogical links. A square altar platform is located at the east side of the east terrace. On the west terrace there is an additional row of stelae representing the particular significance of Nemrut, the handshake scenes (dexiosis) showing Antiochos shaking hands with a deity and the stele with a lion horoscope, believed to be indicating the construction date of the cult area. The north terrace is long, narrow and rectangular in shape, and hosts a series of sandstone pedestals. The stelae lying near the pedestals on the north terrace have no reliefs or inscriptions.

The Hierotheseion of Antiochos I is one of the most ambitious constructions of the Hellenistic period. Its complex design and colossal scale combined to create a project unequalled in the ancient world. A highly developed technology was used to build the colossal statues and orthostats (stelae), the equal of which has not been found anywhere else for this period. The syncretism of its pantheon and the lineage of its kings, which can be traced back through two sets of legends, Greek and Persian, is evidence of the dual origin of this kingdom’s culture.

Criterion (i): The tomb of Antiochos I of Commagene is a unique artistic achievement. The landscaping of the natural site of Nemrut Dağ is one of the most colossal undertakings of the Hellenistic period (some of the stone blocks used weigh up to nine tons).

Criterion (iii): The tomb or the Hierotheseion of Nemrut Dağ bears unique testimony to the civilization of the kingdom of Commagene. Antiochos I is represented in this monument as a descendant of Darius by his father Mithridates, and a descendant of Alexander by his mother Laodice. This semi-legendary ancestry translates in genealogical terms the ambition of a dynasty that sought to remain independent of the powers of both the East and the West.

Criterion (iv): More so than the tombs at Karakus and Eski Kahta, the tumulus at Nemrut Dağ illustrates, through the liberal syncretism of a very original pantheon, a significant, historical period. The assimilation of Zeus with Oromasdes (the Iranian god Ahuramazda), and Heracles with Artagnes (the Iranian god Verathragna) finds its artistic equivalent in an intimate mixture of Greek, Persian and Anatolian aesthetics in the statuary and the bas-reliefs.

Integrity

Nemrut Dağ is largely intact and truthfully and credibly expresses it Outstanding Universal Value. The important cult areas of Commagene still exist, the structures are the original ones and their original interrelations can still be observed and perceived.  Although the property boundary contains the tumulus and the east, west and north terraces, it does not include the full extent of the ceremonial routes. The greatest threat to the integrity of the property is the material damage caused by environmental conditions such as serious seasonal and daily temperature variations, freezing and thawing cycles, wind, snow accumulation, and sun exposure.  The height of the tumulus is now reduced from its estimated original 60 m due to weathering, previous uncontrolled research investigations and climbing by visitors. Furthermore, the Nemrut property is located within a first degree earthquake zone and is very close to the East Anatolian Fault, which is seismically active. Therefore, the tumulus, statues and stelae are vulnerable to earthquakes.

Authenticity

Nemrut Dağ retains its authenticity in terms of form, materials and design as one of the unique artistic achievements of the Hellenistic period with its fascinating beauty of monumental sculptures in a spectacular setting. It has survived  in a moderately well-preserved state. The original ceremonial routes to the Hierotheseion are known and still used for access today.

…

I highlighted ‘syncretism’ and ‘Greek and Persian legends’ in the previous excerpt as I found a different description which includes another influence while confirming the debt to Greek and Persian legends in this September 12, 2021 article for Arthipo,

Nemrut Mountain Statues, Kingdom of Commagene and Mount of Gods

Nemrut Mountain Statues is an archeological site that is among the archaeological hits of Asia Minor, and at the same time still keeps many secrets. Until now, it has not been possible to pinpoint what the artificial embankment at the top of the mountain hides. The colossal statues on Mount Nemrut are an excellent example of religious syncretism and Antiochus’ attempt to introduce a new state cult combining Greek, Persian and Armenian influences [emphasis mine].

Mount Nemrut Sculptures History and Art

Crowning one of the highest peaks of the Eastern Taurus mountain range in southeast Turkey, Mount Nemrut is the Hierotheseion (temple-tomb and home of the gods), built by the late Hellenistic King Antiochos I of Commagene (69-34 BC). The mausoleum of Antiochus I (69-34 BC), who ruled on Commagene, a kingdom established in the north of Syria and the Euphrates after the collapse of Alexander’s empire, is one of the most ambitious structures of the Hellenistic period. The syncretism of its pantheon and the lineage of its kings, which can be traced through two series of legends, Greek and Persian [emphasis mine], is evidence of the dual origin of the culture of this kingdom.

…

Material Used

The monuments on Nemrut Mountain Statues were built using two main types of rock materials; the first was a gray-green rock called tufite, consisting of a pyroclastic material containing a significant mixture of sedimentary material. These include steles with pictures of ancestors on the two main terraces, several small sculptures and minor architectural elements. The other material was the much more durable white and yellow limestone rock, which was also the main building material and from which huge statues and altars were carved.

Preservation and nanotechnology in Türkiye

The Nemrut Dağ preservation project is described in two different articles. There is significant overlap but also new detail in each one. This July 19, 2025 article by David Ramirez for The Anatoolian provides good detail,

The monumental statues atop Mount Nemrut, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are undergoing advanced conservation efforts using nano lime technology. Initiated in 2022, the restoration work has yielded promising results, leading to the expansion of the project in 2025.

Located at an altitude of 2,206 meters, Mount Nemrut hosts colossal stone sculptures that have endured centuries of harsh environmental conditions. To address the micro-cracks forming on their surfaces and internal structures, experts began applying nano-dispersed calcium hydroxide solutions. Following successful trials, the project now focuses on the iconic Eagle Head and King Antiochus I statues on the western terrace.

A Blend of Technology and Preservation

In the initial phase, layers of dirt and grime are meticulously removed from the statue surfaces. Then, the nano lime solution is carefully injected into the cracks using syringes. This not only strengthens the stone from within but also prevents water infiltration caused by rain and atmospheric conditions.

The method is designed to maintain the natural appearance of the stones, allowing visitors to experience the statues in their original form. The restoration phase is expected to take approximately one month, focusing on sustainable conservation without compromising historical authenticity.

Expanded Restoration in 2025

Ayşe Ebru Çorbacı, Director of the , stated that a test application on the Heracles statue in 2022 had shown effective results:

“After observing the success of the pilot project, we planned a comprehensive restoration for 2025. Our goal is to strengthen the structural integrity while preserving the aesthetic features of the statues. The cracks won’t be completely filled, allowing the original forms to remain visible.”

…

An August 22, 2025 article for Türkiye Today adds more information,

Authorities in Türkiye have begun a large-scale preservation project for the colossal statues on Mount Nemrut using nanotechnology.

The effort aims to protect the two-thousand-year-old stone heads from further erosion caused by wind, snow, and sun.

Nanotechnology methods strengthen Nemrut statues against erosion

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced that the first stage of the project was completed between July 7 and 27 [2025].

A team of one expert from Adiyaman Museum and six restorers worked on the eastern and western terraces of the mountain. They focused on the heads of King Antiochos and the eagle, two sandstone reliefs, and the head of Apollo.

…

“With the first consolidation works, the heads of Antiochos, the eagle, and the statue of Apollo have regained their integrity. Thanks to the interventions made with nanotechnology on the east and west terraces, the texture of the stones was strengthened and cracks were closed.” [Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy]

Restoration team uses new tech to protect Nemrut’s monuments

The team used different nanomaterials depending on the stone.

Limestone monuments were cleaned mechanically and biologically, then reinforced with a nano-particle calcium hydroxide solution. Cracks were filled with a hydraulic lime-based mortar. Sandstone works were treated with nano-dispersed ethyl silicate to block water from seeping into the stone.

One of the most symbolic results was on the Apollo statue. Its headpiece, which had been reattached and separated several times in the past, was permanently fixed during this round of work.

Minister Ersoy emphasized that this was the first time such methods were permanently applied at Nemrut. “Nano lime and nano silicate techniques have breathed new life into Nemrut’s stones for the first time,” he said.

Five year conservation roadmap aims to secure Nemrut’s future

The project is planned to continue over five years. Test studies began in 2022 and monitoring continued through 2023 and 2024 before this summer’s application phase. …

There’s more about stone here in a November 10, 2023 posting “Preserving stone and repairing historic Church of the Scalzi in Venice (Italy) with nanotechnology.” The nanotechnology solution mentioned in the Italian story is in fact a nanosilica solution similar to the one being used at Nemrut Dağ. There are the other stone stories mentioned in the 2023 piece,

My other stone postings:

The poetry of ancient math

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Mathematics and poetry are more connected than most of us realize. A July 3, 2025 article by Ev Crunden for the University of Pennsylvania’s Omnia magazine (a shorter version dated August 19, 2025 can found here) describes the intersection between mathematics, poetry, and ancient India,

Add zero and one to get one, one and one to get two, one and two to get three, two and three to get five. Most of us know this—that each successive number is the sum of the two numbers that came before it—as the Fibonacci sequence, named after a 12th-century Italian mathematician. But as early as 200 BCE, an Indian poet and mathematician named Acharya Pingala used that sequential concept to analyze poetry, and 7th-century scholar Virahanka later described it in more detail.

In fact, the use of math on the Indian subcontinent stretches back more than 3,000 years, and curiosity about this ancient and understudied history is at the center of Priya Nambrath’s research. As a fifth-year doctoral candidate in the Department of South Asia Studies, Nambrath is studying the applied practice of mathematics during medieval and premodern times in what is now Kerala, a state in southwestern India.

It’s “a deeply grounded and long-lasting mathematical tradition,” she says, one in which people drew on local religious and metaphysical themes, as well as the rhythm and structure of Sanskrit poetry. In the process, they uncovered many ideas and approaches long before Europeans did—discoveries that go largely underrecognized: “For the most part,” Nambrath says, “even students in India are not taught this aspect of cultural and intellectual history.”

Initially, Nambrath planned to dig into the topic independently. Ultimately, however, she realized she needed more academic support, “not just in the methodologies of Indian mathematics, but also in the literary and social histories of the region,” she says. …

…

“This research involved a lot of time spent in several different archives and dealing with different categories of archival material,” she explains. From December 2023 to September 2024, Nambrath visited manuscript libraries in India, where she identified a few mathematical texts that had not been previously studied or translated. Those texts provided insights into “a medieval system of pedagogy,” Nambrath says, one that incorporated local approaches to mathematics.

She also found that European colonial scholars struggled to completely understand Indian math. One stumbling block, she observed, was cultural prejudice and a sense of mathematical superiority. But Nambrath surmises they may also have been flummoxed by how different it was from anything they’d encountered, something she ran into herself. “My STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] background had encouraged me to think of mathematics as a kind of universal language, not susceptible to cultural and historical nuance like art, music, and literature,” she says. “But what I was seeing in Indian mathematical texts convinced me otherwise.”

Besides the close links with poetry, mathematical progress was sometimes driven by the precise requirements of ritual practice, and advancements in astronomy were often motivated by the needs of astrology. These efforts resulted in unique modes of mathematical expression, according to Nambrath.

One example is the kuṭṭākāra method, which Nambrath says translates to “the pulverizer,” or the idea of reducing or grinding something down. The method is actually an algorithm that helps to solve what we now call linear Diophantine equations. Those take the form ax + by = c, with x and y representing unknown quantities, and the other letters representing known quantities. Through the kuṭṭākāra method, coefficients in this type of equation are broken up into smaller numbers to make it easier to find a solution.

The kuṭṭākāra method has some similarities with modern computational algorithms, but it first appeared in a 5th-century text, the Āryabhaṭīyam, with many other Indian mathematicians building on it over the years. The text is a treatise written in Sanskrit verses, using what Nambrath describes as an obscure system of word-numerals—that is, consonants representing digits, vowels denoting place value.

“We think of sciences and the humanities as embodying some kind of essential disciplinary binary,” she says. “But here I was, encountering mathematical ideas and techniques encased in metrically precise and linguistically lush poetry.”

…

Nambrath, who is aiming to graduate next year, is now deep into writing her dissertation, along with developing a module for the Penn Museum that links artifacts in their Egyptian, Babylonian, and Greek galleries with the mathematics practiced by those cultures. Museum visitors should be able to see the result this fall [2025].

And though that activity is a side project, Nambrath says it’s bringing her research full circle. “It gives me a much more holistic view of how humans across time and geography have wrestled with mathematical problems,” she says. “These approaches can be unique, but they are always logical, and it is fascinating to see how grounded they are in culture and custom.”

I found more about mathematics and poetry in an April 12, 2023 post (it’s an excerpt from Sarah Hart’s 2023 book, “Once Upon a Prime: The Wondrous Connections Between Mathematics and Literature”) published on the Literary Hub

The connections between mathematics and poetry are profound. But they begin with something very simple: the reassuring rhythm of counting. The pattern of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 appeals to young children as much as the rhymes we sing with them (“Once I caught a fish alive”). When we move on from nursery rhymes, we satisfy our yearning for structure in the rhyme schemes and meter of more sophisticated forms of poetry, from the rhythmic pulse of iambic pentameter to the complex structure of poetic forms like the sestina and the villanelle. The mathematics behind these and other forms of poetic constraint is deep and fascinating. I’ll share it with you in this chapter.

Much more sophisticated mathematical problems have been expressed in verse, though. As I mentioned in the introduction, it was the standard format for mathematics in the Sanskrit tradition. The twelfth-century Indian mathematician and poet Bhaskara wrote all his mathematical works in verse. Here is one of the poems in a book he dedicated to his daughter Lilavati:

Out of a swarm of bees, one fifth part settled on a blossom of
Kadamba,
and one third on a flower of Silindhri;
three times the difference of those numbers flew to the bloom
of a Kutaja.
One bee, which remained, hovered and flew about in the air,
allured at the same moment by the pleasing fragrance of
jasmine and pandanus.
Tell me, charming woman, the number of bees.

What a lovely way to write about algebra!

We don’t tend to write our mathematics in verse nowadays, more’s the pity, but the aesthetic link with poetry remains: the goal of both is beauty, a beauty that makes a virtue of economy of expression. Poets and mathematicians alike have praised each other’s specialisms. “Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare,” wrote the American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay in a 1922 sonnet paying homage to Euclid’s geometry.

For the Irish mathematician William Rowan Hamilton, both mathematics and poetry can “lift the mind above the dull stir of Earth.” Einstein is reported to have said that mathematics is the poetry of logical thought. A mathematical proof, for example, if it’s any good, has a lot in common with a poem. In both cases, each word matters, there are no superfluous words, and the goal is to express an entire idea in a self-contained, usually fairly short, and fairly structured way.

…

The resonances between poetry and mathematics were expressed well by the American poet Ezra Pound in The Spirit of Romance (1910): “Poetry is a sort of inspired mathematics, which gives us equations, not for abstract figures, triangles, spheres and the like, but equations for the human emotions.” Pound made another analogy between mathematics and poetry—the way that both can be open to many layers of interpretation. I would say that mathematicians have a very similar understanding of what makes the greatest mathematics: concepts that hold within them many possible interpretations—structures that can be found in different settings and so have a universality to them.

…

Sarah Hart

Sarah Hart is a respected pure mathematician and a gifted expositor of mathematics. When promoted to full Professor of Mathematics at Birkbeck College (University of London) in 2013, she became the youngest STEM professor at Birkbeck and its first ever woman Mathematics Professor and one of only five women Mathematics Professors under the age of 40 in the United Kingdom. Educated at Oxford and Manchester, Dr. Hart currently holds the Gresham Professorship of Geometry, the oldest mathematics chair in the UK. The chair stretches back in an unbroken lineage to 1597. Dr. Hart is the 33rd Gresham Professor of Geometry, and the first woman ever to hold the position.

A classic story and mathematics

Years ago I was surprised to find out that “Alice in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll held a lot of mathematical concepts. You can find more about those concepts in a December 16, 2009 article by Melanie Bayley for New Scientist, Note: A link has been removed,

What would Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland be without the Cheshire Cat, the trial, the Duchess’s baby or the Mad Hatter’s tea party? Look at the original story that the author told Alice Liddell and her two sisters one day during a boat trip near Oxford, though, and you’ll find that these famous characters and scenes are missing from the text.

As I embarked on my DPhil investigating Victorian literature, I wanted to know what inspired these later additions. The critical literature focused mainly on Freudian interpretations of the book as a wild descent into the dark world of the subconscious. There was no detailed analysis of the added scenes, but from the mass of literary papers, one stood out: in 1984 Helena Pycior of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee had linked the trial of the Knave of Hearts with a Victorian book on algebra. Given the author’s day job, it was somewhat surprising to find few other reviews of his work from a mathematical perspective. Carroll was a pseudonym: his real name was Charles Dodgson, and he was a mathematician at Christ Church College, Oxford.

The 19th century was a turbulent time for mathematics, with many new and controversial concepts, like imaginary numbers, becoming widely accepted in the mathematical community. Putting Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in this context, it becomes clear that Dodgson, a stubbornly conservative mathematician, used some of the missing scenes to satirise these radical new ideas.

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One last thing, there’s more poetry/math at JoAnne Growney’s Intersections — Poetry with Mathematics blog.

Enjoy!

Engineering graphene to block and detect malaria

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Michael Berger wrote an August 17, 2025 Nanowerk spotlight article on proposed research into the use of graphene as a protection against malaria carrying mosquitoes, Note: Links have been removed,

Malaria continues to resist elimination efforts, even as vaccines and treatments become easier to access. Despite substantial progress, the disease remains a serious global threat. According to the World Health Organization, in 2023 there were an estimated 597,000 malaria-related deaths and 263 million cases worldwide. Preventive measures such as insecticide-treated bed nets and indoor spraying remain key strategies, and diagnostic testing and treatments are essential for managing infections.

Yet each tool faces limits. Mosquitoes are developing resistance to insecticides. Parasites are evolving resistance to treatments. Diagnostics often require lab settings or fail to detect infections early or at low levels. Malaria must be managed at many points—from the mosquito bite to parasite growth to detection—but the current tools are not equally effective at every stage.

Materials science is now stepping into this space with a new class of engineered substances: two-dimensional (2D) materials, particularly graphene and its variants. Graphene is a single sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal pattern, known for its exceptional strength, electrical conductivity, and chemical reactivity. These properties make it promising for applications that require both sensitivity and selectivity, such as detecting tiny amounts of biomolecules or blocking microscopic particles.

Figure 1: Graphene in the fight against malaria. I) Material based on a diversity of graphene (e.g., 0D, 1D, 2D, 3D, monolayer, multilayer, and nanosheet) with chemical properties of strong strength, high mobility, high transparency, good heat conductivity, biocompatibility, and chemical stability; II) advanced devices (e.g., nanofabrication of graphene quantum dots, surface plasmon resonance biosensing chip) demonstrating antimalarial characteristics can be used for III) malaria treatment (i.e., enhanced predation efficiency of natural enemies, prevented P. falciparum bites by acting as physical barrier, interference P. falciparum sense the human body, the superior loading capacity of graphene oxide nanosheets (GOns) for essential biomolecules required for the growth and development of malaria parasites resulted in the depletion of vital nutrients, diagnosis malaria by rapid detection of DNA, RBC, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and nanodrug delivery system with high toxicity against malaria mosquitoes) at IV) different stages of malaria development from injection of sporozoites by an infected mosquito to multiplication of merozoites in RBCs. This review contributes to a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges associated with graphene-based materials in the fight against malaria, offering valuable guidance for future research and development in this important area. [downloaded from https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anbr.202300130]

Berger’s August 17, 2025 article delves into further detail, Note: A link has been removed,

A comprehensive review published in Advanced NanoBiomed Research (“The Comprehensive Roadmap Toward Malaria Elimination Using Graphene and its Promising 2D Analogs”) outlines how graphene and similar materials could be systematically applied across multiple stages of malaria control.

The authors present a structured roadmap covering synthesis methods, biological interactions, safety issues, and potential for use in both diagnosis and prevention. Their approach is not to suggest a single cure-all, but to identify specific material properties that could address long-standing weaknesses in current malaria tools.

The paper begins by describing how graphene and its common derivatives — including graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and graphene quantum dots (GQDs) — can be manufactured using physical, chemical, or biological methods. Physical methods include mechanical exfoliation and chemical vapor deposition, which yield high-purity graphene sheets. Chemical methods, such as Hummers’ method, oxidize graphite to produce GO, a more water-dispersible form that is easier to work with in biological environments. Biological or “green” methods use plant extracts or microbes as reducing agents to avoid toxic solvents, and these are seen as more scalable and biocompatible for medical applications. Each method has trade-offs in cost, quality, and environmental impact.

Once produced, graphene-based materials can interact with malaria parasites, mosquitoes, or infected blood cells in ways that potentially disrupt the disease process. The authors identify three primary intervention points: prevention, parasite inhibition, and diagnosis.

In terms of prevention, graphene’s impermeability makes it an effective barrier material. When applied as a coating on fabrics or films, it can block mosquito bites by physically resisting the insect’s proboscis and masking human scent cues such as carbon dioxide and lactic acid. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that multilayer GO coatings on the skin prevent mosquitoes from locating and piercing the surface, reducing bite risk without using chemicals. These barrier films are flexible and can be integrated into clothing or wearable devices. Because the films are stable and resistant to wear, they offer longer-lasting protection than chemical repellents.

The review also discusses using GQDs as larvicides, since these nanoscale particles can penetrate mosquito larvae and disrupt their development. Their small size allows them to pass through biological membranes and interfere with cell function, though the exact mechanism remains under study.

The second application area is inhibition of parasite development. After a person is bitten, the malaria parasite enters the bloodstream and invades red blood cells. GO nanosheets have shown the ability to bind to the parasite’s outer membrane or to essential nutrients in the blood, physically blocking the parasite’s access to the cell. In vitro experiments suggest that GO can capture or neutralize the parasite before it completes its life cycle.
Some graphene derivatives can interfere with protein transport or nutrient absorption, making the environment inside the host less favorable to the parasite. These materials could potentially be delivered through injectable suspensions or oral carriers, though this application remains in early experimental phases.

One of the most promising areas for using graphene in malaria control is early diagnosis. Accurate detection is critical for timely treatment and for preventing the spread of infection, especially in areas with limited medical infrastructure. Traditional diagnostic tools, such as rapid tests and blood smears, often miss low-level infections or require trained personnel and laboratory settings. Graphene offers a way to build more sensitive, portable, and reliable detection devices.

Graphene’s usefulness in sensing comes from its structure. Because it is only one atom thick, any molecule that lands on its surface can quickly alter its electrical or optical properties. This makes it especially good at detecting very small amounts of biological material — such as the proteins, DNA, or altered red blood cells that signal a malaria infection.

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If you are interested in the possibilities that graphene offers, Berger’s August 17, 2025 article is well worth reading in its entirety.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

The Comprehensive Roadmap Toward Malaria Elimination Using Graphene and its Promising 2D Analogs by Fangzhou He, George Junior, Rajashree Konar, Yuanding Huang, Ke Zhang, Lijing Ke, Meng Niu, Boon Tong Goh, Amine El Moutaouakil, Gilbert Daniel Nessim, Mohamed Belmoubarik, Weng Kung Peng. Advanced NanoBiomed Research Volume 5, Issue 8 August 2025 2300130 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/anbr.202300130 First published online: 15 March 2024

This paper is open access.