This edition of The Download covers a secretive antiaging drug and virtual power plants. A startup called Generation Lab claims to have found a combination of two existing drugs that can produce youthful effects without exchanging bodily fluids, based on research by Irina Conboy. However, the company won't reveal the drugs, making the claim hard to take seriously.

Additionally, the newsletter explains how virtual power plants (VPPs) work: utilities control household devices like smart thermostats, EV chargers, and solar panels to reduce electricity use during peak hours, offering participants discounts or bonuses.

Other top stories include a judge blocking the Pentagon's blacklisting of Anthropic, tech giants urging action against AI-driven cyberattacks, Anthropic launching an AI tool for scientific experiments, and India's data center boom displacing local communities. Also covered are OpenAI's persistent AI agent, a lawsuit over Grok's training data, and AI writing's impact on media.