The Download: weight-loss drugs slowing aging and carbon dioxide batteries

本文为原文前 6,000 字符的节选翻译，完整内容请查看原文。

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《下载》的今日版，我们平日发行的时事通讯，为您提供每日科技世界的动态。

Weight-loss drugs show signs of slowing biological aging, say drugmakers. Popular weight-loss drugs may do more than help people shed pounds. They might also slow the aging process. Drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk say patients taking their GLP-1 drugs age less quickly, according to molecular “aging clocks” that track changes in DNA or levels of key proteins. The findings add to speculation that GLP-1 drugs could be acting on basic causes of aging and might be true longevity treatments. But how much can we read into these results? Read the full story on what the new findings reveal about GLP-1 drugs and aging. —Antonio Regalado

制药商称，减肥药物显示出减缓生物衰老的迹象。流行的减肥药物可能不仅仅能帮助人们减掉体重，它们或许还能减缓衰老过程。据追踪DNA变化或关键蛋白质水平的分子“衰老时钟”显示，礼来公司和诺和诺德公司表示，服用其GLP-1药物的患者衰老速度较慢。这些发现引发了人们的猜测，即GLP-1药物可能作用于衰老的根本原因，并可能成为真正的长寿疗法。但我们能从这些结果中解读出多少信息呢？阅读关于这些新发现揭示了GLP-1药物与衰老之间关系的完整报道。——安东尼奥·雷加拉多

10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch: Energy Dome and its carbon dioxide batteries. Energy Dome is one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch 2026, available exclusively to subscribers. Solar and wind are among the cheapest and quickest ways to add electricity to the grid. But they’re subject to variations in weather patterns, so supplies can be intermittent. Energy Dome has an unusual solution: massive batteries that use compressed carbon dioxide to store energy for when the grid needs it. Compressing gas to store energy isn’t new. Utilities have used compressed air in underground caverns to hang on to reserves for decades. But Energy Dome’s approach doesn’t require any specific geology to work, so it could be more easily scaled to help grids around the world. Here’s how the company is using carbon dioxide to store renewable energy. —Casey Crownhart

值得关注的10家气候科技公司：Energy Dome及其二氧化碳电池。Energy Dome是《麻省理工科技评论》“2026年值得关注的10家气候科技公司”之一，该榜单仅供订阅者查看。太阳能和风能是向电网输送电力最便宜、最快捷的方式之一。但它们受天气模式变化的影响，因此供应可能断断续续。Energy Dome提供了一种不同寻常的解决方案：利用压缩二氧化碳的大型电池，在电网需要时储存能量。压缩气体储能并非新鲜事。几十年来，公用事业公司一直利用地下洞穴中的压缩空气来储备能源。但Energy Dome的方法不需要特定的地质条件即可运作，因此可以更容易地扩展规模，以帮助世界各地的电网。以下是该公司如何利用二氧化碳储存可再生能源的方法。——凯西·克朗哈特

Subscribers can now access the full 10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch, spanning everything from mobile flood barriers and electric buses to next-generation nuclear reactors.

订阅者现在可以访问完整的“值得关注的10家气候科技公司”榜单，涵盖从移动防洪屏障、电动巴士到下一代核反应堆等各个领域。

MIT Technology Review Narrated: Don’t be fooled—LLMs don’t reason —Thore Graepel, a core member of DeepMind’s AlphaGo team. Ten years ago, I watched a program I helped build stun the world by beating Go champion Lee Sedol. AlphaGo won after making a move so strange that some commentators thought it was a programming glitch. It was AlphaGo’s powers of reasoning that made this creative choice—and these are powers that today’s AI lacks. This is why I recently left my position at Google DeepMind. I believe we need a fresh approach to machine reasoning, one that draws on AlphaGo’s architecture. This is our latest story to become an MIT Technology Review Narrated podcast, which we publish each week on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Just navigate to MIT Technology Review Narrated on either platform, and follow us to get all our new content as it’s released.

《麻省理工科技评论》播客：别被骗了——大语言模型不会推理——索尔·格雷佩尔，DeepMind AlphaGo团队核心成员。十年前，我看着我参与构建的一个程序击败了围棋冠军李世石，震惊了世界。AlphaGo在做出一个如此奇怪的举动后获胜，以至于一些评论员认为这是程序故障。正是AlphaGo的推理能力做出了这一创造性的选择——而这些能力正是当今人工智能所缺乏的。这就是我最近离开谷歌DeepMind职位的原因。我相信我们需要一种新的机器推理方法，一种借鉴AlphaGo架构的方法。这是我们最新一期《麻省理工科技评论》播客节目，我们每周在Spotify和Apple Podcasts上发布。只需在任一平台上导航至“MIT Technology Review Narrated”，并关注我们，即可在内容发布时获取所有新内容。

The must-reads: I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.

必读内容：我梳理了互联网，为您找出了今天关于科技的最有趣、最重要、最可怕和最引人入胜的故事。

OpenAI has released 377 new math findings, further rattling the field. They span number theory, algebra, geometry, and physics. They came from testing an unreleased OpenAI model. And cost far less than its previous math breakthroughs. OpenAI also published a lengthy defense of its approach. AI has put mathematics at a crossroads.
OpenAI发布了377项新的数学发现，进一步震动了该领域。它们涵盖数论、代数、几何和物理学。这些发现来自对一个未发布的OpenAI模型的测试，且成本远低于其之前的数学突破。OpenAI还发表了一篇长文为其方法辩护。人工智能已将数学推向了十字路口。
Mistral says its new open-weight model is the best outside China. Mistral Large 4 is a 1-trillion-parameter model. Also known as le Chonk, its weights will arrive on October 27. French president Macron described it as “a third way in AI.”
Mistral称其新的开放权重模型是中国以外最好的模型。Mistral Large 4是一个拥有1万亿参数的模型。它也被称为“le Chonk”，其权重将于10月27日发布。法国总统马克龙将其描述为“人工智能领域的第三条道路”。
Finland has ordered Google to halt a record data center project. The order follows concerns over environmental impacts. The €13 billion project is Google’s largest-ever European investment. But no one wants a data center in their backyard.
芬兰已下令谷歌停止一个创纪录的数据中心项目。该命令是在人们对环境影响表示担忧之后下达的。这个耗资130亿欧元的项目是谷歌有史以来在欧洲最大的投资。但没有人希望自家后院建数据中心。
The EU plans to tax Big Tech through a new corporate levy. The levy would apply to companies earning more than €100 million. Tesla is pushing the EU toward “Full Self-Driving” approval.
欧盟计划通过一项新的企业税对大型科技公司征税。该税收将适用于收入超过1亿欧元的公司。特斯拉正在推动欧盟批准其“全自动驾驶”功能。
Anduril’s $2.9 billion Navy submarine deal has sparked ethics concerns. Co-founder Palmer Luckey recently joined a new Pentagon project. Anduril is also making smart glasses for warfare.
Anduril价值29亿美元的海军潜艇合同引发了道德担忧。联合创始人帕尔默·拉奇最近加入了五角大楼的一个新项目。Anduril还在制造用于战争的智能眼镜。
Apple is partnering with LG on a smart lock, thermostat, and doorbell. Apple’s new smart-home hub is expected to launch next week. The companies are also co-developing security cameras.
苹果正与LG合作开发智能锁、恒温器和门铃。苹果新的智能家居中心预计将于下周发布。两家公司还在共同开发安防摄像头。
The creator of a space-particle observatory has won the physics Nobel. Francis Halzen used Antarctic ice to detect elusive neutrinos.
太空粒子观测站的创建者获得了诺贝尔物理学奖。弗朗西斯·哈尔岑利用南极冰层探测到了难以捉摸的中微子。
Drones are being used to make rain on demand. They seed clouds with silver iodide to encourage precipitation. A startup claims it can stop lightning.
无人机正被用于按需降雨。它们通过向云层播撒碘化银来促进降水。一家初创公司声称它可以阻止闪电。
A new hydrogel could enable shape-shifting smart devices. The material can evolve alongside living tissue.
一种新型水凝胶可以实现变形智能设备。这种材料可以与活体组织共同进化。
You probably aren’t going to get the plague. Experts say the risk to the public remains very low.
你大概率不会感染鼠疫。专家表示，公众面临的风险仍然非常低。

Quote of the day: “I have ‘NI’—natural intelligence. I’m good with that.” —Mike Tyran, a 66-year-old nurse and tech upgrade holdout, tells The Atlantic why he won’t swap his old gadgets for the latest AI-powered devices.

今日名言：“我有‘NI’——自然智能。这就够了。”——66岁的护士、拒绝技术升级的迈克·泰兰告诉《大西洋月刊》，他为什么不愿用旧设备换取最新的AI驱动设备。

One more thing: Future AI chips could be built on glass. Human-made glass is thousands of years old. But it’s now poised to find its way into the AI chips used in the world’s newest and largest data centers. This year, a South Korean company called Absolics will start producing special glass panels that make next-generation computing hardware more powerful and efficient. Other companies, including Intel, are also pushing forward in this area. If all goes well, the technology could reduce the energy demands of chips in AI data centers—and even consumer laptops and mobile devices. Read the full story. —Jeremy Hsu

还有一件事：未来的AI芯片可能建立在玻璃之上。人造玻璃已有数千年历史。但现在，它有望进入全球最新、最大的数据中心所使用的AI芯片中。今年，一家名为Absolics的韩国公司将开始生产特殊的玻璃面板，使下一代计算硬件更强大、更高效。包括英特尔在内的其他公司也在这一领域推进。如果一切顺利，这项技术可以降低AI数据中心芯片的能源需求，甚至包括消费级笔记本电脑和移动设备。阅读完整报道。——杰里米·许

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.) + Swiss boffins have turned train tracks into solar power plants. + Here

我们依然可以拥有美好的事物：一个为您带来舒适、乐趣和消遣，点亮您一天的地方。（有什么想法吗？给我写信。）+ 瑞士科学家已将火车轨道变成了太阳能发电厂。+ 在这里