{"id":18545,"date":"2026-02-24T13:36:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:36:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/the-download-radioactive-rhinos-and-the-rise-and-rise-of-peptides\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T13:36:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T13:36:50","slug":"the-download-radioactive-rhinos-and-the-rise-and-rise-of-peptides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/24\/the-download-radioactive-rhinos-and-the-rise-and-rise-of-peptides\/","title":{"rendered":"The Download: radioactive rhinos, and the rise and rise of peptides"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

This is today\u2019s edition of\u00a0The Download<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what\u2019s going on in the world of technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

Why conservationists are making rhinos radioactive<\/strong><\/p>\n

Every year, poachers shoot hundreds of rhinos, fishing crews haul millions of sharks out of protected seas, and smugglers carry countless animals and plants across borders. This illegal activity is incredibly hard to disrupt, since it\u2019s backed by sophisticated criminal networks and the perpetrators know that their chances of being caught are slim. With an annual value of $20 billion, according to Interpol, it\u2019s the world\u2019s fourth-most-lucrative criminal enterprise after trafficking in drugs, weapons, and people.<\/p>\n

The environmental guardians facing up to these nefarious networks\u2014dispersed alliances of rangers, community groups, and law enforcement officers\u2014have long been ill equipped and underfunded.<\/p>\n

Still, there is genuine hope that tech could help turn the tide\u2014and prevent poaching at the source. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Matthew Ponsford<\/em><\/p>\n

This story is from the next print issue of MIT Technology Review<\/em> magazine, which is all about crime. If you haven\u2019t already, <\/strong>subscribe now<\/strong><\/a> to receive future issues once they land.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Peptides are everywhere. Here\u2019s what you need to know.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Want to lose weight? Get shredded? Stay mentally sharp? A wellness influencer might tell you to take peptides, the latest cure-all in the alternative medicine arsenal. They\u2019re everywhere on social media, and that popularity seems poised to grow.<\/p>\n

The benefits and risks of many of these compounds, however, are largely unknown. Some of the most popular peptides have never been tested in human trials. They are sold for research purposes, not human consumption, and some are illegal knockoffs of wildly successful weight-loss medicines. That raises big questions about their safety and effectiveness, which are still unresolved. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Cassandra Willyard<\/em><\/p>\n

This story is part of MIT Technology Review Explains: our series untangling the complex, messy world of technology to help you understand what\u2019s coming next. <\/strong>You can read more from the series here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The human work behind humanoid robots is being hidden<\/strong><\/p>\n

In January, Nvidia\u2019s Jensen Huang proclaimed that we are entering the era of physical AI, when artificial intelligence will move beyond language and chatbots into physically capable machines. (He also said the same thing the year before, by the way.)<\/p>\n

The implication\u2014fueled by new demonstrations of humanoid robots putting away dishes or assembling cars\u2014is that mimicking human limbs with single-purpose robot arms is the old way of automation. The new way is to replicate the way humans think, learn, and adapt while they work. The problem is that the lack of transparency about the human labor involved in training and operating such robots leaves the public both misunderstanding what robots can actually do and failing to see the strange new forms of work forming around them.<\/p>\n

Just as our words became training data for large language models, our movements are now poised to follow the same path. Except this future might leave humans with an even worse deal, and it\u2019s already beginning. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014James O\u2019Donnell<\/em><\/p>\n

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, <\/strong>sign up here<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The must-reads<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve combed the internet to find you today\u2019s most fun\/important\/scary\/fascinating stories about technology.<\/em><\/p>\n

1 Anthropic has accused DeepSeek of using Claude to train its own model\u00a0<\/strong>
It claims three Chinese companies siphoned its data to help their systems catch up. (WSJ<\/a> $)
+ OpenAI made similar allegations against DeepSeek the other week. <\/em>(CNN<\/a>)
+ DeepSeek\u2019s latest model was reportedly trained on banned US Nvidia chips. <\/em>(Reuters<\/a>)<\/p>\n

2 Donald Trump\u2019s global 10% tariff has come into effect\u00a0<\/strong>
But the US President is still hoping to increase it to 15%. (FT<\/a> $)
+ Tariffs are bad news for batteries. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

3 What the US stands to lose if China invades Taiwan<\/strong>
Access to crucial chips, for one. (NYT<\/a> $)
+ Apple is moving some of its Mac Mini production to Houston from Asia. <\/em>(WSJ<\/a> $)
+ Taiwan\u2019s \u201csilicon shield\u201d could be weakening. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

4 The UK\u2019s first baby has been born using a womb transplanted from a dead donor<\/strong>
It\u2019s positive news for people born without a womb that hope to give birth. (BBC<\/a>)
+ Everything you need to know about artificial wombs. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

5 Binance sent $1.7 billion to sanctioned Iranian entities<\/strong>
It comes after the crypto exchange promised to clean up its act in the wake of its founder being sent to prison. (NYT<\/a> $)
+ Binance fired workers who raised concerns about the transactions. <\/em>(WSJ<\/a> $)<\/p>\n

6 ICE is using free walkie-talkie app Zello to communicate
<\/strong>It had previously been used by at least two of the January 6 insurrectionists. (404 Media<\/a>)
+ ICE has resurrected pandemic-style shelter in place orders. <\/em>(Vox<\/a>)<\/p>\n

7 Meta built an app for teens, but never released it
<\/strong>Bell was supposed to bring high school classmates together, a court filing has revealed. (NBC News<\/a>)<\/p>\n

8 Battery storage is a rare US clean energy success story
<\/strong>Things are looking up for the sector, surprisingly. (Wired<\/a> $)
+ What a massive thermal battery means for energy storage. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n

9 How to play Tetris on the cover of a magazine<\/strong>
It\u2019s a whole new way of looking at portable gaming devices. (The Verge<\/a>)<\/p>\n

10 Meta\u2019s director of AI safety allowed OpenClaw to accidentally delete her inbox<\/strong>
A cautionary tale, if ever there was one. (TechCrunch<\/a>)
+ It wouldn\u2019t stop, dispute her repeatedly ordering it to. <\/em>(404 Media<\/a>)
+ Moltbook was peak AI theater. <\/em>(MIT Technology Review<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Quote of the day<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cShameless people stealing everyone\u2019s data then complaining about other people stealing from them.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2014AI researcher Timnit Gebru has little sympathy for Anthropic\u2019s complaints that DeepSeek and other Chinese companies violated its terms by using Claude to train their models, she explains in a post<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

One more thing<\/strong>
<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n

How sounds can turn us on to the wonders of the universe<\/p>\n

<\/strong>Astronomy should, in principle, be a welcoming field for blind researchers. But across the board, science is full of charts, graphs, databases, and images that are designed to be seen.<\/p>\n

So researcher Sarah Kane, who is legally blind, was thrilled three years ago when she encountered a technology known as sonification, designed to transform information into sound. Since then she\u2019s been working with a project called Astronify, which presents astronomical information in audio form.<\/p>\n

For millions of blind and visually impaired people, sonification could be transformative\u2014opening access to education, to once unimaginable careers, and even to the secrets of the universe. Read the full story<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2014Corey S. Powell<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

We can still have nice things<\/strong><\/p>\n

A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? <\/em>Drop me a line<\/em><\/a> or <\/em>skeet \u2019em at me<\/em><\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n

+ Team USA\u2019s Amber Glenn\u2019s Chappell Roan ice skating routine<\/a> is inspired.
+ I love that the new Silent Hill<\/em> video game is inspired by a spooky Scottish fishing village<\/a>.
+ It\u2019s highly unlikely you\u2019ll ever be eaten by a snake. But it\u2019s not impossible<\/a>\u2026
+ All aboard the heavy metal cruise<\/a>! \"\ud83e\udd18\"\"\ud83d\udea2\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is today\u2019s edition of\u00a0The Download,\u00a0our weekday newsletter that provides […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18545","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18545\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ideainthebox.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}