The Download: failed social media bans, and extending pets’ lives

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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》（The Download），我们平日更新的通讯，为您提供每日科技界动态。

Kids are outsmarting social media bans. That’s not a problem we need to solve. —Michal Luria, Aliya Bhatia, and Danah Boyd Social media bans are stacking up. In July, France joined Australia in restricting minors from accessing social media—barring children under 15 from major platforms, before the ban was blocked by the country’s top court on human rights grounds. The UK aims to forbid kids under 16 from accessing Facebook, TikTok, and other platforms in early 2027, and the EU has announced its own plan to prohibit social media for kids under 15. But early lessons from Australia, which enacted a ban in 2024, show that these sorts of age restrictions are easily circumvented. Here’s what we ought to do instead to keep kids safe.

孩子们正在智取社交媒体禁令。这不是我们需要解决的问题。——Michal Luria、Aliya Bhatia 和 Danah Boyd。社交媒体禁令正在不断增加。今年 7 月，法国继澳大利亚之后，也开始限制未成年人使用社交媒体——禁止 15 岁以下儿童访问主要平台，但该禁令随后被法国最高法院以人权为由驳回。英国计划在 2027 年初禁止 16 岁以下儿童访问 Facebook、TikTok 等平台，欧盟也宣布了禁止 15 岁以下儿童使用社交媒体的计划。然而，澳大利亚 2024 年实施禁令后的早期经验表明，这类年龄限制很容易被规避。以下是我们为了保障儿童安全应该采取的替代措施。

Can’t bear to say goodbye to your pet? Biotech’s got you covered. —Jessica Hamzelou I don’t remember much about Peppy, my first and only pet cat. What I do vividly remember, though, is the day she went missing. I was 10 years old, and I searched everywhere for her, scouting nearby fields and woods until sunset. I made posters. We never found her. I was devastated. Almost 30 years later, pet owners have an expanding set of options to potentially prolong their years with their furry companions. The possibilities include drugs, cloning, and even cryonics. But is that a good thing? Read the full story on the promises and pitfalls of pet life extension. This story is from The Checkup, our weekly biotech newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Thursday.

不忍心与宠物告别？生物技术能帮到你。——Jessica Hamzelou。我不记得关于 Peppy（我唯一的一只宠物猫）的太多事情了。但我清楚地记得她失踪的那一天。当时我 10 岁，我到处找她，在附近的田野和树林里搜寻直到日落。我制作了寻猫启事。但我们再也没找到她。我当时心碎极了。近 30 年后的今天，宠物主人有了越来越多的选择，可以延长与毛孩子相伴的时光。这些可能性包括药物、克隆，甚至是人体冷冻技术。但这真的是件好事吗？阅读关于宠物延寿的希望与陷阱的完整报道。本文摘自我们的每周生物技术通讯《检查》（The Checkup）。订阅即可在每周四收到邮件。

10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch: Form Energy and its iron batteries Form Energy is one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch 2026, available exclusively to subscribers. As wind and solar power grow, utilities need cheaper ways to store electricity for longer periods. Form Energy aims to meet that need with batteries that can store energy for 100 hours. The company has developed a new type of battery using iron, a far more abundant and cheaper metal than those used in many existing batteries. It uses a process that Form calls “reversible rusting,” in which iron turns to rust as the battery discharges and back to iron when it charges. See how Form Energy hopes to make renewable power more reliable. —Jonathan W. Rosen Subscribers can now access the full 10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch, spanning everything from electric buses to portable rubber dams.

值得关注的 10 家气候科技公司：Form Energy 及其铁电池。Form Energy 是《麻省理工科技评论》评选出的“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。随着风能和太阳能的发展，公用事业部门需要更廉价的方式来长期储存电力。Form Energy 旨在通过可储存 100 小时能量的电池来满足这一需求。该公司开发了一种新型电池，使用的是铁，这比许多现有电池中使用的金属更丰富、更便宜。它使用了一种 Form 称之为“可逆生锈”的过程：电池放电时铁变成锈，充电时又变回铁。看看 Form Energy 如何希望让可再生能源变得更可靠。——Jonathan W. Rosen。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，涵盖从电动巴士到便携式橡胶坝等各个领域。

The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 Insurance is the next big obstacle for AI AI companies are racking up billions of dollars of legal liabilities from the damage their products cause. (WSJ $)+ The FTC has sent subpoenas to OpenAI and Anthropic over consumer harms. (Axios)+ AI hacks leave a mess, and AI companies still aren’t cleaning them up. (Wired $)+ Who’s liable when AI agents go rogue? (MIT Technology Review)

必读内容：我梳理了互联网，为您找到今天最有趣/重要/可怕/迷人的科技故事。1. 保险是人工智能面临的下一个重大障碍。人工智能公司因其产品造成的损害而背负了数十亿美元的法律责任。（《华尔街日报》付费内容）+ 美国联邦贸易委员会（FTC）因消费者伤害问题向 OpenAI 和 Anthropic 发出了传票。（Axios）+ 人工智能黑客攻击留下了烂摊子，而人工智能公司仍未清理。（《连线》付费内容）+ 当人工智能代理失控时，谁来负责？（《麻省理工科技评论》）

2 A Russian drone entered NATO waters for the first time Attacks like those near Bulgaria and Romania are spurring requests for better defenses. (Ars Technica) 3 An AI sell-off has rattled global markets Many are questioning the sustainability of demand for data centers. (Reuters $)+ Anthropic reported slowing growth in its latest quarterly results. (FT $)+ Accenture has told employees they can only spend $29 on Claude each month. (404 Media)+ What’s at stake in AI’s trillion-dollar gamble. (MIT Technology Review)

2. 一架俄罗斯无人机首次进入北约水域。保加利亚和罗马尼亚附近的此类袭击正促使人们要求加强防御。（Ars Technica）3. 人工智能抛售潮震动全球市场。许多人质疑数据中心需求的持续性。（路透社付费内容）+ Anthropic 在最新的季度财报中报告增长放缓。（《金融时报》付费内容）+ 埃森哲（Accenture）已告知员工每月在 Claude 上的支出不得超过 29 美元。（404 Media）+ 人工智能万亿美元赌注的利害关系。（《麻省理工科技评论》）

4 Governments are hacking people with ‘zero click’ spyware Delivered through millions of innocuous-looking online adverts. (TechCrunch)+ Criminals stole $90 million from crypto wallets last week in a highly sophisticated hack. (FT $) 5 Big Tech gave Trump $92 million for his ballroom Meanwhile the president himself won’t be spending a dime. (WP $) 6 Celebrity deepfakes are everywhere now And they’re selling you stuff the actual celebrity has probably never even heard of. (The Verge $)+ Weaponized deepfakes have been on the rise for a while. (MIT Technology Review)

4. 各国政府正利用“零点击”间谍软件入侵民众。通过数百万个看起来无害的在线广告进行传播。（TechCrunch）+ 犯罪分子上周在一次高度复杂的黑客攻击中从加密钱包中窃取了 9000 万美元。（《金融时报》付费内容）5. 大型科技公司为特朗普的宴会厅提供了 9200 万美元。与此同时，总统本人却一分钱都不会花。（《华盛顿邮报》付费内容）6. 名人深度伪造（Deepfake）现在随处可见。它们正在向你兜售那些名人本人可能从未听说过的东西。（The Verge 付费内容）+ 武器化的深度伪造技术已经流行了一段时间。（《麻省理工科技评论》）

7 Can AI lighten parents’ mental load? It seems apps and agents can help—if you agree to share masses of your data. (NYT $)+ AI agents are a privacy nightmare. (The Verge $) 8 The memory shortage’s latest victim is schools It’s becoming prohibitively expensive to equip students with laptops and tablets. (The Atlantic $) 9 The world’s official timekeepers have agreed to ditch the leap second It’s a move that ought to cut the risk of time-based computer glitches. (The Guardian) 10 Tesla has finally unveiled its flying car It’s taken a decade to get here—and still won’t even be shipping next year. (CNBC)

7. 人工智能能减轻父母的心理负担吗？如果愿意分享大量数据，应用程序和代理似乎可以提供帮助。（《纽约时报》付费内容）+ 人工智能代理是隐私噩梦。（The Verge 付费内容）8. 内存短缺的最新受害者是学校。为学生配备笔记本电脑和平板电脑的成本正变得高不可攀。（《大西洋月刊》付费内容）9. 世界官方计时员已同意取消闰秒。此举有望降低基于时间的计算机故障风险。（《卫报》）10. 特斯拉终于发布了飞行汽车。这花了十年时间才实现，而且明年甚至还不会发货。（CNBC）

Quote of the day “Tech companies used to make an effort to support women…Now we’ve swung completely in the opposite direction. Supporting women in tech has become controversial. It’s become political. It’s become risky.” —Startup founder Sara Mauskopt explains why the cancellation of the Grace Hopper Celebration, one of the biggest gatherings of women in tech, hits so hard, Bloomberg reports.

今日名言：“科技公司过去曾努力支持女性……现在我们完全转向了相反的方向。在科技领域支持女性已变得充满争议。它变得政治化了。它变得危险了。”——据彭博社报道，初创公司创始人 Sara Mauskopt 解释了为什么取消科技界最大的女性聚会之一“格蕾丝·霍珀庆典”（Grace Hopper Celebration）会带来如此沉重的打击。

One More Thing SIMON MITCHELL Inside the experimental world of animal infrastructure In the mid-2000s, toads were meeting a gruesome end near Ede, a leafy old town in the Netherlands. Residents responded by building wildlife tunnels beneath the road to help them reach their breeding ponds safely. The crossings became popular. But a few years later, researchers found the local toad population had crashed from more than 10,000 to fewer than 1,000. The case reflects a wider global push to build wildlife crossings and other forms of “animal infrastructure.” But do they actually help animal populations recover? Read the full story to find out. —Matthew Ponsford 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.)+ Check out this podcast about the incredible, mysterious powers of fungi.

最后一件事：SIMON MITCHELL。走进动物基础设施的实验世界。21 世纪 00 年代中期，在荷兰绿树成荫的老城埃德（Ede）附近，蟾蜍正面临惨死的命运。居民们通过在道路下方修建野生动物隧道来应对，以帮助它们安全到达繁殖池。这些通道变得很受欢迎。但几年后，研究人员发现当地蟾蜍数量从 1 万多只骤降至不足 1000 只。这个案例反映了全球范围内修建野生动物通道和其他形式“动物基础设施”的推动力。但它们真的能帮助动物种群恢复吗？阅读完整报道以了解详情。——Matthew Ponsford。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。）+ 看看这个关于真菌不可思议且神秘力量的播客。