Across the country, people have been up in arms about the increasing ubiquity of AI data centers, and now a proposal to build a massive AI plant just steps from the Nashville Zoo has brought the subject of animal protection into the fray. As people in Nashville propose ways to stop the data center’s construction, the affected zoo animals could present a new wave of backlash against artificial intelligence.

‘Disrupt the environmental conditions’
The proposed data center, built by the Atlanta firm DC BLOX, would be located about 50 yards from the boundary of the Nashville Zoo, officials said to NBC News. The zoo is “vehemently opposed to having a data center so close to animals” because the “noise could disturb its residents,” said Nashville Zoo President and CEO Rick Schwartz to NBC.

For many, the “focus of the brewing anger is how it might affect the zoo’s most endangered or prized species,” said The New York Times. Much of the concern involves the facility’s clouded leopards, a threatened species. Their breeding enclosure would be “about 320 feet from the proposed data center’s property line.”

Officials are “particularly concerned about the potential effect of light and noise from the data center, given that animals are more sensitive than humans,” said Dr. Heather Schwartz, who oversees animal health at the Nashville Zoo, to the Times. The facility has launched a petition to stop the data center that currently has over 500,000 signatures.

Demanding stronger regulations
After the plan was announced, an “unprecedented crowd” showed up to Nashville’s planning commission meeting as “hundreds of residents turned out to oppose data centers,” said The Tennessean. Numerous speakers “urged city leaders to slow the industry’s expansion, adopt stronger regulations and stop a proposed South Nashville data center project next to the zoo that critics say is far larger than originally disclosed.”

The fight is the “latest example of data centers getting pushback in communities nationwide, as neighbors say they don’t want to live near them or object more broadly to the direction of the tech and AI industries,” said NBC. But even amid a “bipartisan push for regulation, as well as lawsuits and opposition to tax breaks,” DC BLOX is not backing down. “There will be no health risks to residents or animals,” said the company to NBC.

When longtime rivals Argentina and the U.K. faced off in their World Cup semifinal match in Atlanta yesterday, with the former prevailing 2-1, extra police officers were deployed for the game. But the rivalry isn’t just a sports one but one with historical tensions rooted in claims to the Falklands. 

Just ahead of the game, Argentine Vice President Victoria Villarruel pointed to this history, urging her country’s team to put the “brakes on the invaders,” she said on X. “We play against the usurping pirates. This isn’t just another match. I’m not going to be politically correct or cold-hearted; against the English, it’s always something more.”

Her message alludes to the U.K. overseas territory, known to Argentina and other Spanish-speaking countries as the Islas Malvinas, a sparsely inhabited archipelago about 300 miles from the South American coast. English sailors made the first recorded landing there in 1690, naming the islands after the expedition’s sponsor, Viscount Falkland. Argentina laid claim to the islands in the early 19th century, but a dispute over seal hunting led the Royal Navy to recapture the Falklands in 1833, founding a British colony there in 1840.

What caused the Falklands War?
In the early 1980s, Argentina’s right-wing dictatorship was shaken by civil unrest and an economic crisis. The claim to the Islas Malvinas was one issue on which most Argentines agreed, and the military junta believed British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher would be unlikely to engage in a distant war. Then on April 2, 1982, Argentina invaded the Falklands.

What was the outcome?
Thatcher sent a task force of 127 ships and 30,000 men, who retook the islands in a 74-day campaign. A total of 649 Argentine and 258 British lives were lost, and 11,000 Argentines were captured. Ever since, the Falkland Islands have been a self-governing British Overseas Territory, and in a 2013 referendum, 99.8% of the islanders voted to remain British. 

Why is it still a source of tension?
Argentina’s constitution makes sovereignty over the Falklands a “permanent and irrevocable objective” — something that 81% of Argentine voters support, according to a 2021 poll. Argentina’s current president, Javier Milei, told the BBC in 2024 that he accepted that the Falkland Islands are “in the hands of the U.K.” But the self-described libertarian has still “vowed to get the islands back through diplomatic channels.”

Two women dressed in casual summertime kimonos called yukatas take a selfie in front of thousands of lanterns during the Mitama Matsuri Festival, one of the largest summertime Obon festivals commemorating ancestors, at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, Japan.
Philip Fong / AFP / Getty Images

Waterfalls are a gift of both sight and sound. They look magnificent, elegantly cascading into canyons and tumbling roughly over cliffs. And the steady din of rushing water and booming splashes only adds to their beauty. These awe-inspiring waterfalls are reminders of how, sometimes, Mother Nature loves to show off.

Havasu Falls, Arizona
This legendary waterfall, which “topples off fiery red rock and drops into a turquoise pool,” is so vibrant it almost doesn’t look real, said Travel and Leisure. It’s on the Havasupai Reservation near the Grand Canyon, and to get here, you must have a permit, book a stay at the Havasupai Campground or Havasupai Lodge and then hike (or helicopter) in. 

Kuang Si Falls, Laos
These waterfalls start off easy, with shallow pools that spill into wider pools. From there, the main waterfall brings the drama, with a 200-foot drop. During the dry season, visitors can cool off by swimming in the turquoise waters. But if you don’t want to get wet, there are several bridges and viewing platforms to soak in the gorgeous views of the water and surrounding forest.

Victoria Falls, Zambia and Zimbabwe
The Lozi name for Victoria Falls (pictured above), Mosi-oa-Tunya, translates to the “smoke that thunders” and aptly describes the loud and misty scene. The falls change “dramatically” over the year and are at their most “powerful” after the summer rains, said Forbes, when “enormous clouds of spray” carry over the gorge, “drifting across the surrounding rainforest.”