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

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.

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.”

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.”

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 .

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 .

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

1 A judge has blocked the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic 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 )