This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.
These new solid-state ACs promise a cool future. Scientists aren’t so sure.
After three years of record-breaking heat and another scorcher underway, air-conditioning isn’t going anywhere. That’s good for our health, but bad for the planet: it already accounts for 7% of global electricity use and 3% of greenhouse-gas emissions.
Feeling the heat, scientists and startups are hoping to amp up solid-state cooling. These systems move heat through conductive materials, which could cool spaces and surfaces with fewer messy side effects. The catch is whether it can match the efficiency of traditional AC.
Find out how the unconventional coolers aim to dial down AC emissions.
—Sara Kiley Watson
This story is from the next edition of our magazine, which is all about engineering. Subscribe now to get a copy when it lands!
Job titles of the future: nature’s drug designer
In 2018, after nearly two decades working in Big Pharma, chemist Tim Cernak was ready to put his skills to a new use.
As a lifelong nature lover, he had become concerned that animals are often treated with human pharmaceuticals that can be harmful or even lethal. He decided to address this with a new approach: “conservation chemistry.”
Using AI tools and robots, he’s now rapidly designing and testing drugs for animals. Here’s what it takes to treat nature’s patients.
—Anna Gibbs
The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 Anthropic has shut down access to its top models after a US directive
The US barred foreigners from using Fable 5 and Mythos 5 on Friday. (NYT $)
+ Anthropic disabled access globally as it can’t filter users in real time.(BBC)
+ Talks with Amazon’s CEO apparently prompted the ban. (WSJ $)
+ Cybersecurity experts have called for the ban to end. (Axios)
+ But the White House’s war against Anthropic has previously backfired. (MIT Technology Review)
2 The UK is banning social media for under-16s
Details are scant, but the measure is due to take effect in early 2027. (The Guardian)
+ The ban covers Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X. (BBC)
+ Many countries are curbing children’s social media access. (Reuters $)
3 New space data suggests black holes formed before galaxies
It could resolve cosmology’s chicken-and-egg dilemma. (New Scientist $)
+ Odd tricks have formed a massive black hole. (MIT Technology Review)
4 Skepticism around AI layoffs is increasing
There are growing doubts that AI is really the culprit. (TechCrunch)
+ We need a reality check on AI jobs hysteria. (MIT Technology Review)
5 A coalition of states has opened an investigation into OpenAI
Over matters including user data, child safety and advertising. (NYT $)
6 Tesla has been accused of misleading regulators over “full self-driving”
By exaggerating its safety statistics. (Reuters $)
7 NASA’s “quiet supersonic” plane has hit critical new milestones
The X-59 reached 924 mph and 55,000 feet. (Scientific American)
+ Which are essential for flying over populated areas. (Engadget)
+ It’s designed to take the boom out of supersonic travel. (BBC)
8 Deepfakes are getting harder to spot—and weirder—in the midterms
Thanks to improvements in free AI tools. (WSJ $)
9 AI is revealing the secret lives of animals
By tracing their movements, landmarks, and social practices. (Nature)
10 Where did Earth get its oceans? Maybe it made them itself.
Scientists now suspect that Earth’s waters are homegrown. (Quanta)
Quote of the day
“This action has taken the best models away from defenders, created market uncertainty, and risked America’s AI leadership without any real risk to justify it.”
—Cybersecurity leaders urge the Trump administration to reverse restrictions on Anthropic’s most advanced AI models in an open letter.
One More Thing
CHRISTIE HEMM KLOK
How scientists want to make you young again
A little over 15 years ago, scientists at Kyoto University made a remarkable discovery. When they added just four proteins to a skin cell and waited about two weeks, some of the cells underwent an unexpected and astounding transformation: they became young again.
Now, after more than a decade of developing this cellular reprogramming, biotech companies and research labs have tantalising hints that the process could be the gateway to an unprecedented new technology for human age reversal.
Read the full story on their efforts to “reprogram” aging bodies back to youth.
—Antonio Regalado
We can still have nice things
A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.)
+ Evolutionary biologists may have figured out why the T-Rex had such tiny arms.
+ This beautifully sustainable bento box design is engineered to eliminate single-use takeout waste.
+ Search across 5.8 million museum artworks spanning from 3000 BC to today at The Last Museum.
+ Here’s a sharp cosmic snapshot of Thor’s Helmet, an interstellar gas bubble sitting 15,000 light-years away.
