The Download: a secretive antiaging drug and joining virtual power plants

The Download: A Secretive Antiaging Drug and Joining Virtual Power Plants

《下载》：一种神秘的抗衰老药物与加入虚拟电厂

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. 这是今日份的《下载》，我们平日更新的简报，为您提供每日科技世界的动态。

A startup claims it’s found a drug to make your blood young

一家初创公司声称发现了一种能让血液“返老还童”的药物

—Antonio Regalado —安东尼奥·雷加拉多 (Antonio Regalado)

I knew I’d officially become a “longevity influencer” when a company called Generation Lab offered me the chance to write about—and even receive—their new rejuvenation treatment. This wasn’t just any antiaging treatment, either. A company fact sheet says that it “blocks the systemic spread of aging in the bloodstream, reawakens the body’s own repair mechanism and restores health and youth to multiple tissues.” 当一家名为 Generation Lab 的公司邀请我撰写关于他们的新型回春疗法，甚至邀请我亲自体验时，我就知道自己正式成为了一名“长寿网红”。这可不是普通的抗衰老疗法。公司的一份情况说明书称，它能“阻断衰老在血液系统中的传播，重新唤醒人体自身的修复机制，并使多种组织恢复健康与活力。”

The approach is based on research by Generation Lab’s irascible scientific founder, Irina Conboy. She found that joining the circulatory systems of old and young mice improved the old animals’ ability to heal from injury. 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’t reveal what the drugs are, making the proposition hard to take seriously. Read the full story on the drug combo that claims to “stop the spread of aging.” 该方法基于 Generation Lab 脾气火爆的科学创始人伊琳娜·康博伊 (Irina Conboy) 的研究。她发现，将年老小鼠和年轻小鼠的循环系统连接起来，可以提高年老动物的伤口愈合能力。康博伊现在表示，她已经找到了一种由两种现有药物组成的组合，无需进行任何体液交换就能产生年轻化的效果。但 Generation Lab 拒绝透露这些药物的具体成分，这使得该提议很难被认真对待。阅读关于这种声称能“阻止衰老蔓延”的药物组合的完整报道。

如何加入虚拟电厂——以及判断你是否应该加入

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. That’s the idea behind a virtual power plant, 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. Here’s how to sign up for a VPP—and decide whether it’s worth it. 你的恒温器看起来可能不像发电厂。你的电动汽车、家用电池或暖通空调系统也不像。但公用事业和能源公司越来越希望将它们视为发电厂。这就是虚拟电厂 (VPP) 背后的理念：它是一系列家用设备（如智能恒温器、电动汽车充电器和太阳能电池板）的集合，公用事业公司可以对其进行控制，通常是通过指令让它们在高峰时段减少用电。作为交换，参与者可以获得电费折扣，在某些情况下还能获得签约奖金。以下是如何注册 VPP 以及判断它是否值得的方法。

—Eshan Raul —埃山·劳尔 (Eshan Raul)

This story is part of MIT Technology Review’s How To series, which gives you practical advice on getting things done. Check out the rest of the series here. 本文是《麻省理工科技评论》“如何做”(How To) 系列的一部分，该系列为您提供完成各项任务的实用建议。点击此处查看该系列的其他文章。

The must-reads

必读内容

I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 我已梳理了互联网，为您找出今天最有趣、最重要、最令人恐惧或最引人入胜的科技新闻。

A judge has blocked the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic 法官阻止了五角大楼将 Anthropic 列入黑名单 The court found the designation violated First Amendment rights. (NYT) + And ruled that the designation was based on retaliation. (CNBC) + Anthropic still faces a separate case in Washington, DC. (Reuters) + The Pentagon’s culture war against Anthropic backfired. (MIT Technology Review) 法院裁定该认定违反了第一修正案权利。(《纽约时报》) + 并裁定该认定是基于报复。(CNBC) + Anthropic 在华盛顿特区仍面临另一起案件。(路透社) + 五角大楼针对 Anthropic 的文化战争适得其反。(《麻省理工科技评论》)
Tech giants have called for a defensive surge to defeat AI-driven hacks 科技巨头呼吁加强防御以击败人工智能驱动的黑客攻击 Over 100 companies warned that a wave of cyberattacks is imminent. (BBC) + And urged government and industry leaders to take rapid action. (Quartz) + Their main solution, unsurprisingly, is more AI. (Gizmodo) + Here’s why OpenAI agents hacked Hugging Face. (MIT Technology Review) 超过 100 家公司警告称，一波网络攻击即将来临。(BBC) + 并敦促政府和行业领导者采取迅速行动。(Quartz) + 不出所料，他们的主要解决方案是更多的人工智能。(Gizmodo) + 这就是为什么 OpenAI 的智能体黑进了 Hugging Face。(《麻省理工科技评论》)
Anthropic has launched an AI tool that conducts scientific experiments Anthropic 推出了一款可进行科学实验的人工智能工具 It lets AI agents autonomously operate microscopes, lasers, and robotic arms. (FT) + And includes rules designed for safe operations in labs. (Wired) + It’s Anthropic’s first tool designed for the physical world. (Ars Technica) 它允许人工智能智能体自主操作显微镜、激光器和机械臂。(《金融时报》) + 并包含旨在确保实验室安全操作的规则。(《连线》) + 这是 Anthropic 首款为物理世界设计的工具。(Ars Technica)
India’s data center boom is leaving the people it displaces with nothing 印度的数据中心热潮让被驱逐的民众一无所有 Policymakers courting Big Tech are sidelining local communities. (Rest of World) + No one wants a data center in their backyard. (MIT Technology Review) 讨好大型科技公司的政策制定者正在边缘化当地社区。(Rest of World) + 没有人希望自家后院建起数据中心。(《麻省理工科技评论》)
OpenAI is testing a “persistent” AI agent that keeps working OpenAI 正在测试一种可以持续工作的“持久性”人工智能智能体 Codex could continue tasks until it’s “put to sleep.” (Wired) + And generate follow-up tasks without prompting. (Gizmodo) Codex 可以持续执行任务，直到被“休眠”。(《连线》) + 并且无需提示即可生成后续任务。(Gizmodo)
A lawsuit alleges that Grok was trained on child sexual abuse material 一项诉讼指控 Grok 使用儿童性虐待材料进行训练 It claims victims’ images entered the chatbot’s training data. (Ars Technica) + A federal judge says AI has outpaced child-abuse laws. (WP) 诉讼称受害者的图像进入了聊天机器人的训练数据。(Ars Technica) + 一位联邦法官表示，人工智能的发展已经超过了现有的儿童虐待法律。(《华盛顿邮报》)
AI writing has reached a turning point in the media 人工智能写作在媒体领域达到了转折点 Sparked by the Wall Street Journal defending an AI-written op-ed. (Atlantic) 由《华尔街日报》为一篇人工智能撰写的评论文章辩护引发。(《大西洋月刊》)
China’s robotic racers are exposing the limits of human speed 中国的机器人赛车手正在揭示人类速度的极限 Their advances are revealing what our bodies can’t do. (Reuters) 它们的进步正在揭示我们身体无法做到的事情。(路透社)
Young workers are turning to “AI-proof” traditional crafts 年轻员工转向“人工智能无法取代”的传统手工艺 They’re drawn to creative, hands-on skills that tech can’t easily replicate. (Guardian) 他们被科技难以轻易复制的创造性、实践性技能所吸引。(《卫报》)
Scientists have a new army to fight invasive crabs: 150,000 baby octopuses 科学家们有了一支对抗入侵螃蟹的新军队：15 万只小章鱼 Italian researchers just released the animals into the Adriatic Sea. (New Scientist) 意大利研究人员刚刚将这些动物释放到亚得里亚海。(《新科学家》)

Quote of the day

今日名言

“The academic record is being quietly haunted.” “学术记录正在被悄悄地‘闹鬼’。”

—A new preprint research paper from Samsung and the University of Warsaw warns that a torrent of AI-generated study papers written by fake researchers is contaminating academic publishing. —来自三星和华沙大学的一篇最新预印本研究论文警告称，大量由虚假研究人员撰写的人工智能生成的研究论文正在污染学术出版界。

One more thing

还有一件事

The problem with thinking you’re part Neanderthal 认为自己拥有尼安德特人基因的问题

There’s a theory that many of us have an “inner Neanderthal.” The idea is that Homo sapiens and a cousin species once bred, leaving some people today with a trace of Neanderthal DNA. This DNA is arguably the 21st century’s most celebrated discovery in human evolution. But in 2024, a pair of French geneticists called into question the theory’s very foundations. They proposed that what scientists interpret as interbreeding could instead be explained by population structure—the way genes concentrate in smaller, isolated groups. Find out what it all means for human evolution. 有一种理论认为，我们许多人内心都有一个“尼安德特人”。该观点认为，智人与一个近亲物种曾经进行过繁衍，导致今天的一些人身上留下了尼安德特人的 DNA 痕迹。这种 DNA 可以说是 21 世纪人类进化史上最著名的发现。但在 2024 年，两位法国遗传学家对该理论的基础提出了质疑。他们提出，科学家所解释的“杂交”可能可以用种群结构来解释——即基因在较小、孤立的群体中集中的方式。了解这对人类进化意味着什么。

—Ben Crair —本·克雷尔 (Ben Crair)

We can still have nice things

我们依然可以拥有美好事物

A place for comfort, fun, and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line.) 一个为您提供舒适、乐趣和消遣，点亮您一天的地方。（有什么想法吗？给我写信。）

Check out the dazzling photos in this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
查看今年“年度野生动物摄影师”大赛中令人眼花缭乱的照片。
Bowerbirds in Australia are turning human trash into treasure to impress females.
澳大利亚的园丁鸟正在将人类的垃圾变成宝藏，以吸引雌性。
A Los Angeles Costco parking lot has become a low-risk skate park for the over-40s.
洛杉矶的一个好市多 (Costco) 停车场已成为 40 岁以上人群的低风险滑板公园。
The Listening Museum has lovingly curated and sound-mapped acoustic signatures of mechanical keyboards.
“听觉博物馆”精心策划并绘制了机械键盘的声学特征图谱。