The Download: worms fight pollution, and geoengineering faces reality – MIT Technology Review

Plus: The Trump administration has lifted restrictions on OpenAI's GPT 5.6.
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.

Anthony Agueda, a third-generation California dairy farmer, pulls a rake through a bed of dark, wet wood chips to reveal a half-dozen squirming red earthworms. There are likely hundreds of thousands more wriggling just under the surface.
The worms and microbes are part of a “vermifiltration” system that cleans manure wastewater. The approach may dramatically cut methane, nitrous oxide, and water pollution.
Vermifiltration is just one of a variety of methods that farmers, companies, and scientists are employing to drive down manure pollution as the livestock industry faces growing pressure to address the environmental harms from one of the smelliest parts of the business.
Explore how the humble earthworm could reshape the future of sustainable farming.
—James Temple
Solar geoengineering, the controversial idea that we could deliberately intervene in the climate system to counteract global warming, is moving beyond computer simulations and into the practical engineering challenges required to make it real.
Researchers are now working on aircraft, materials, and other systems for solar geoengineering. But as they delve into these details, they’re finding that even early deployment would require significant new infrastructure, time, and investment.
—James Temple

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The must-reads
I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology.
1 The Trump administration has lifted restrictions on OpenAI’s GPT 5.6
The green light came after additional testing and meetings. (Axios)
+ OpenAI subsequently said it will launch widely tomorrow. (Bloomberg $) 
+ The rollout had been delayed due to security concerns. (Verge)
+ Does AI know too much? (MIT Technology Review)

2 China is looking at curbing overseas access to its top AI models
Alibaba, ByteDance, and Z.ai attended meetings about the plan. (Reuters $)
+ Beijing is also weighing the security risks of open-weight AI. (SCMP)
+ And has issued a “backdoor” security alert over Claude Code. (CNBC)

3 European NATO allies have unveiled a $50 billion high-tech missile plan
They will engineer stealth and high-speed hypersonic weapons. (BBC)
+ Which can strike targets at least 300 km away. (Reuters $)
+ The Dutch and British are also developing amphibious ships. (Bloomberg $)
 
4 Meta is testing “super sensing” AI glasses that record every moment
It plans to disable privacy LEDs that alert people when they’re “on.” (FT $)
+ It’s also released an AI image generator. (NYT $)
+ Which lets anyone use your Instagram photos in AI images. (Wired $)
 
5 China’s DeepSeek is developing its own AI chip, sources say
It could reduce the company’s reliance on Nvidia and Huawei. (Bloomberg $)
+ DeepSeek V4 was a win for Chinese chipmakers. (MIT Technology Review)
 
6 Wikipedia is fighting to survive the internet’s next era
It’s under attack from MAGA, AI raids, and repressive regimes. (NYT $)
+ AI has given Wikipedia a language problem. (MIT Technology Review)
 
7 SpaceX plans to launch its first model coproduced with Cursor
The new frontier model could arrive as soon as this week. (Information $)
+ It’s built with AI startup Cursor, which SpaceX is buying for $60 billion. (FT $)
 
8 A new academic “humanizer” tool can erase signs of AI-written text
But researchers are very divided over its potential impact. (Nature $)

9 Scientists have detected a mystery chemical on Pluto and Titan
It appears to absorb light in a way we don’t currently understand. (Wired $)

10 A Waymo robotaxi reportedly called the cops on drinking teens
Officers then approached the vehicle with guns drawn. (404 Media)
Quote of the day
—Local police post on Facebook that a Waymo in California called the cops on two teenagers for “drinking and shooting from the vehicle.”
One More Thing
Dora Manriquez has spent nine years driving for Uber and Lyft, where every ride she accepts or rejects is tracked by the apps she relies on for work. Having found herself unable to score enough better-­paying rides, she has had to file for bankruptcy. 
App-based employers aren’t the only ones keeping a very close eye on workers today. Jobs today—whether in an office, a warehouse, or your car—can mean constant electronic surveillance with little transparency, and potentially with livelihood-ending consequences if your productivity flags.
All that data is shifting the relationships between workers and managers—and protections are lagging. Read the full story on the widening power imbalance it’s created.
—Rebecca Ackermann
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.)
+ Literary worlds collide in this marvellous Dr Seuss/Stephen King mashup.
+ A daring snorkeler saved a dolphin from a suckerfish—and then celebrated with its whole pod.
+ This clever musical project seamlessly constructs an original song from vocal snippets of 50 artists singing US city names.
+ A long-lost wallet from 1970 was recently unearthed, creating a cute time capsule from its owner’s high school years.

Plus: Meta is pausing an AI training program that tracks workers’ keystrokes.
Plus: Anthropic has called for a global slowdown in AI development.
Plus: NASA unveiled plans for three uncrewed missions to the Moon this year.
Plus: SpaceX is now valued higher than Amazon.
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