The Download: cutting AC emissions, and nature’s drug designer

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.

After three years of record-­breaking heat and another scorcher underway, air-conditioning isn’t going anywhere. That’s good for our health, but bad for the planet: it already accounts for 7% of global electricity use and 3% of greenhouse-gas emissions.

Feeling the heat, scientists and startups are hoping to amp up solid-­state cooling. These systems move heat through conductive materials, which could cool spaces and surfaces with fewer messy side effects. The catch is whether it can match the efficiency of traditional AC.

Find out how the unconventional coolers aim to dial down AC emissions .

This story is from the next edition of our magazine, which is all about engineering. Subscribe now to get a copy when it lands!

In 2018, after nearly two decades working in Big Pharma, chemist Tim Cernak was ready to put his skills to a new use.

As a lifelong nature lover, he had become concerned that animals are often treated with human pharmaceuticals that can be harmful or even lethal. He decided to address this with a new approach: “conservation chemistry.”

Using AI tools and robots, he’s now rapidly designing and testing drugs for animals. Here’s what it takes to treat nature’s patients .

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

1 Anthropic has shut down access to its top models after a US directive The US barred foreigners from using Fable 5 and Mythos 5 on Friday. ( NYT $) + Anthropic disabled access globally as it can’t filter users in real time. ( BBC ) + Talks with Amazon’s CEO apparently prompted the ban. ( WSJ $) + Cybersecurity experts have called for the ban to end. ( Axios ) + But the White House’s war against Anthropic has previously backfired. ( MIT Technology Review )

2 The UK is banning social media for under-16s Details are scant, but the measure is due to take effect in early 2027. ( The Guardian ) + The ban covers Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and X. ( BBC ) + Many countries are curbing children’s social media access. ( Reuters $)

3 New space data suggests black holes formed before galaxies It could resolve cosmology’s chicken-and-egg dilemma. ( New Scientist $) + Odd tricks have formed a massive black hole. ( MIT Technology Review )