The Download: the rise of luxury car theft, and fighting antimicrobial resistance

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.

The curious case of the disappearing Lamborghinis

Across the world, unsuspecting people are unwittingly becoming caught up in a new and growing type of organized criminal enterprise: vehicle transport fraud and theft.

Crooks use email phishing, fraudulent paperwork, and other tactics to impersonate legitimate transport companies and get hired to deliver a luxury vehicle. They divert the shipment away from its intended destination before using a mix of technology, computer skills, and old-school techniques to erase traces of the vehicle’s original ownership and registration. In some cases, the car has been resold or is out of the country by the time the rightful owner even realizes it’s missing.

The nationwide epidemic of vehicle transport fraud and theft has remained under the radar, even as it’s rocked the industry over the past two years. MIT Technology Review identified more than a dozen cases involving high-end vehicles, obtained court records, and spoke to law enforcement, brokers, drivers, and victims in multiple states to reveal how transport fraud is wreaking havoc across the country. Read the full story.

—Craig Silverman

The scientist using AI to hunt for antibiotics just about everywhere

Antimicrobial resistance is a major problem. Infections caused by bacteria, fungi, and viruses that have evolved ways to evade treatments are now associated with more than 4 million deaths per year, and a recent analysis predicts that number could surge past 8 million by 2050.

Bioengineer and computational biologist César de la Fuente has a plan. His team at the University of Pennsylvania is training AI tools to search genomes far and deep for peptides with antibiotic properties. His vision is to assemble those peptides—molecules made of up to 50 amino acids linked together—into various configurations, including some never seen in nature. The results, he hopes, could defend the body against microbes that withstand traditional treatments—and his quest has unearthed promising candidates in unexpected places. Read the full story.

—Stephen Ornes

These stories are both from the next print issue of MIT Technology Review magazine, which is all about crime. If you haven’t already, subscribe now to receive future issues once they land. 

The must-reads

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

1 The Pentagon is close to cutting all business ties with Anthropic
The move would force anyone who wants to deal with the US military to cease working with Anthropic too. (Axios)
+ Claude was used in the US raid to capture the former Venezuelan President. (WSJ $)
+ Generative AI is learning to spy for the US military. (MIT Technology Review)

2 RFK Jr is setting his sights on baby formula
But advocacy groups are concerned about how grounded in science the administration’s overhaul suggestions will be. (WSJ $)

3 Germany is edging closer to banning social media for under-16s
In an effort to create safer digital spaces for young web users. (Bloomberg $)
+ The country’s centre-left is in agreement with their conservative coalition partners. (Reuters)

4 Creative hackers are fighting back against ICE
The maker community is resisting through laser-cutting and 3D-printing. (Wired $)
+ ICE has signed hundreds of deals with local law enforcement. (NBC News)

5 Consultancies have built thousands of AI agents
Now it’s time to see if they can actually deliver. (Insider $)
+ Don’t let hype about AI agents get ahead of reality. (MIT Technology Review)

6 Restaurant workers are sick of being recorded
Meta’s smart glasses make the video-recording process more surreptitious than ever. (NYT $)

7 The Arctic’s rivers are turning bright orange
But it’s climate change, not mining, that’s to blame. (FT $)
+ What’s going to happen now the EPA can no longer fight climate change? (Undark)
+ Scientists can see Earth’s permafrost thawing from space. (MIT Technology Review)

8 NASA let AI drive its Mars Perseverance rover
It traversed 456 meters across two days without human intervention. (IEEE Spectrum)
+ That’s…not very fast at all. (Semafor)
+ Slow-moving food delivery robots are under attack in the US. (Economist $)

9 This machine is able to translate photos into smells
Select your images very carefully, is my advice.(Fast Company $)

10 One of YouTube’s biggest creators is now a successful director 
Mark Fischbach funded, made and released his film in theaters entirely independently. (The Atlantic $)

Quote of the day

“My advice to them would be to get with the program.”

—Jeremy Newmark, leader of a British council near the town of Potters Bar, has some choice words for the locals disputing plans to build a massive AI data center nearby, Wired reports.

One more thing

The quest to find out how our bodies react to extreme temperatures

Climate change is subjecting vulnerable people to temperatures that push their limits. In 2023, about 47,000 heat-related deaths are believed to have occurred in Europe. Researchers estimate that climate change could add an extra 2.3 million European heat deaths this century. That’s heightened the stakes for solving the mystery of just what happens to bodies in extreme conditions.

While we broadly know how people thermoregulate, the science of keeping warm or cool is mottled with blind spots. Researchers around the world are revising rules about when extremes veer from uncomfortable to deadly. Their findings change how we should think about the limits of hot and cold—and how to survive in a new world. Read the full story.

—Max G.Levy

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 or skeet ’em at me.)

+ I guarantee you’ve never seen a diner that looks quite like the Niemeyer Sphere.
+ How New Yorkers keep partying in sub-zero temperatures.
+ The interiors of Love Story, the new show chronicling the lives of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, are a ‘90s dream.
+ Ever wondered why some people see certain colors a certain way? Wonder no more.