{"id":8211,"date":"2026-08-28T14:00:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/2026\/08\/28\/the-download-a-secretive-antiaging-drug-and-joining-virtual-power-plants\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T14:00:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T14:00:04","slug":"the-download-a-secretive-antiaging-drug-and-joining-virtual-power-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/2026\/08\/28\/the-download-a-secretive-antiaging-drug-and-joining-virtual-power-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: a secretive antiaging drug and joining virtual power plants"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is today’s edition of <\/em>The Download<\/em><\/a>, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

A startup claims it\u2019s found a drug to make your blood young<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u2014Antonio Regalado<\/em><\/p>\n

I knew I\u2019d officially become a \u201clongevity influencer\u201d when a company called Generation Lab offered me the chance to write about\u2014and even receive\u2014their new rejuvenation treatment.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t just any antiaging treatment, either. A company fact sheet says that it \u201cblocks the systemic spread of aging in the bloodstream, reawakens the body\u2019s own repair mechanism and restores health and youth to multiple tissues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The approach is based on research by Generation Lab\u2019s irascible scientific founder, Irina Conboy. She found that joining the circulatory systems of old and young mice improved the old animals\u2019 ability to heal from injury.<\/p>\n

Conboy now says she has found a combination of two existing drugs that can produce youthful effects without the need for any bodily fluid exchange. But Generation Lab won\u2019t reveal what the drugs are, making the proposition hard to take seriously.<\/p>\n

Read the full story on the drug combo that claims to \u201cstop the spread of aging.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

How to sign up for a virtual power plant\u2014and decide whether you should<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Your thermostat may not look like a power plant. Neither does your electric vehicle, home battery, or HVAC system. But utility and energy companies increasingly want to treat them like one.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the idea behind a virtual power plant<\/a>, or VPP, a collection of household devices (such as smart thermostats, EV chargers, and solar panels) that a utility can control, usually by commanding them to draw less electricity during peak hours. In exchange, participants receive a discount on their energy bills and, in some cases, a signing bonus.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how to sign up for a VPP\u2014and decide whether it\u2019s worth it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Eshan Raul<\/em><\/p>\n

This story is part of MIT Technology Review\u2019s<\/em> How To series, which gives you practical advice on getting things done. Check out the <\/strong>rest of the series here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The must-reads<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve combed the internet to find you today\u2019s most fun\/important\/scary\/fascinating stories about technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

1 A judge has blocked the Pentagon\u2019s blacklisting of Anthropic<\/strong>
The court found the designation violated First Amendment rights. (NYT<\/a> $)
+ And ruled that the designation was based on retaliation. <\/em>(CNBC<\/a>)\u00a0
+ Anthropic still faces a separate case in Washington, DC. <\/em>(Reuters<\/a> $)
+ The Pentagon\u2019s culture war against Anthropic backfired. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

2 Tech giants have called for a defensive surge to defeat AI-driven hacks
<\/strong>Over 100 companies warned that a wave of cyberattacks is imminent. (BBC<\/a>)
+ And urged government and industry leaders to take rapid action.<\/em> (Quartz<\/a>)
+ Their main solution, unsurprisingly, is more AI. <\/em>(Gizmodo<\/a>)
+ Here\u2019s why OpenAI agents hacked Hugging Face. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

3 Anthropic has launched an AI tool that conducts scientific experiments
<\/strong>It lets AI agents autonomously operate microscopes, lasers, and robotic arms. (FT<\/a> $)
+ And includes rules designed for safe operations in labs. <\/em>(Wired<\/a> $)
+ It\u2019s Anthropic\u2019s first tool designed for the physical world. <\/em>(Ars Technica<\/a>)<\/p>\n

4 India\u2019s data center boom is leaving the people it displaces with nothing
<\/strong>Policymakers courting Big Tech are sidelining local communities. (Rest of World<\/a>)
+ No one wants a data center in their backyard.<\/em> (MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

5 OpenAI is testing a \u201cpersistent\u201d AI agent that keeps working<\/strong>
Codex could continue tasks until it\u2019s \u201cput to sleep.\u201d (Wired<\/a> $)
+ And generate follow-up tasks without prompting. <\/em>(Gizmodo<\/a>)<\/p>\n

6 A lawsuit alleges that Grok was trained on child sexual abuse material<\/strong>
It claims victims\u2019 images entered the chatbot\u2019s training data. (Ars Technica<\/a>)
+ A federal judge says AI has outpaced child-abuse laws.<\/em> <\/strong>(WP<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

7 AI writing has reached a turning point in the media
<\/strong>Sparked by the Wall Street Journal<\/em> defending an AI-written op-ed. (Atlantic<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

8 China\u2019s robotic racers are exposing the limits of human speed
<\/strong>Their advances are revealing what our bodies can\u2019t do. (Reuters<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

9 Young workers are turning to \u201cAI-proof\u201d traditional crafts<\/strong>
They\u2019re drawn to creative, hands-on skills that tech can\u2019t easily replicate. (Guardian<\/a>)<\/p>\n

10 Scientists have a new army to fight invasive crabs: 150,000 baby octopuses
<\/strong>Italian researchers just released the animals into the Adriatic Sea. (New Scientist<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

Quote of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>The academic record is being quietly haunted.\u201d <\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u2014A new preprint research paper<\/a> from Samsung and the University of Warsaw warns that a torrent of AI-generated study papers written by fake researchers is contaminating academic publishing.<\/p>\n

One more thing<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

The problem with thinking you\u2019re part Neanderthal<\/h4>\n

There\u2019s a theory that many of us have an \u201cinner Neanderthal.\u201d The idea is that Homo sapiens<\/em> and a cousin species once bred, leaving some people today with a trace of Neanderthal DNA. <\/p>\n

This DNA is arguably the 21st century\u2019s most celebrated discovery in human evolution. But in 2024, a pair of French geneticists called into question the theory\u2019s very foundations. <\/p>\n

They proposed that what scientists interpret as interbreeding could instead be explained by population structure\u2014the way genes concentrate in smaller, isolated groups.<\/p>\n

Find out what it all means for human evolution<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Ben Crair<\/em><\/p>\n

We can still have nice things<\/strong><\/p>\n

A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? <\/em>Drop me a line<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

+ Check out the dazzling photos in this year\u2019s Wildlife Photographer of the Year<\/a>.
+ Bowerbirds in Australia are turning human trash into treasure<\/a> to impress females.
+ A Los Angeles Costco parking lot has become a low-risk skate park for the over-40s<\/a>.
+ The Listening Museum<\/a> has lovingly curated and sound-mapped acoustic signatures of mechanical keyboards.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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. A startup claims it\u2019s found a drug to make your blood young \u2014Antonio Regalado I knew I\u2019d officially become a \u201clongevity influencer\u201d when a company called […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[67],"class_list":["post-8211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mit-feed","tag-mit-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8211\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hoo.central12.com\/portal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}