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The Download: cyberscammers’ banking bypasses, and carbon removal troubles

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.

Cyberscammers are bypassing banks’ security with illicit tools sold on Telegram 

Inside a money-laundering center in Cambodia, an employee opens a banking app on his phone. It asks for a photo linked to the account, so he uploads a picture of a 30-something Asian man. 

The app then requests a video “liveness” check. The scammer holds up a static image of a woman who doesn’t match the account. After 90 seconds, he’s in. 

The exploit relies on illicit hacking services sold on Telegram that break “Know Your Customer” (KYC) facial scans. MIT Technology Review found 22 channels and groups advertising these services. This is what we discovered. 

—Fiona Kelliher 

Is carbon removal in trouble? 

—Casey Crownhart 

Last week, news emerged that Microsoft was pausing carbon removal purchases. It was a bombshell—Microsoft effectively is the carbon removal market, single-handedly purchasing around 80% of all contracted carbon removal. 

The report sparked fear across the industry, raising questions about the future of carbon removal and the role of Big Tech. Read the full story. 

This story is from The Spark, our weekly newsletter exploring the technology that could combat the climate crisis. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Wednesday. 

The quest to measure our relationship with nature 

—Emma Marris 

Humans have done some destructive things to the ecosystems around us. But conservationists are learning that we can also be a force for good. 

To understand how we work best with nature, a group of scientists, authors, and philosophers have developed new measurements of human-nonhuman relationships. Now, a team in the United Nations is continuing the work. Find out why—and what they hope to achieve. 

This story is from the next issue of our print magazine, which is all about nature. Subscribe now to read it when it lands on Wednesday, April 22.  

The must-reads 

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

1 Ukraine says Russian troops have surrendered to robots  
They claim a fully automated attack captured army positions for the first time in history. (404 Media) 
+ Europe’s vision for future wars is full of drones. (MIT Technology Review) 
 
2 Monkeys with BCIs are navigating virtual worlds using only their thoughts 
The research could help people with paralysis. (New Scientist)  
+ But these implants still face a critical test. (MIT Technology Review) 
 
3 NASA wants to put nuclear reactors on the Moon 
They could power lunar bases and extend spaceflight. (Wired $) 
+ NASA is also building a nuclear-powered spacecraft. (MIT Technology Review) 

4 Plans for online age verification in the US are raising red flags 
Experts warn of compliance issues and potential data breaches. (NBC News) 
+ In the EU, an age verification app is about to launch. (Reuters $) 

5 An AI chip boom just pushed Taiwan’s stock market past the UK’s 
It’s risen past $4 trillion to become the world’s seventh largest. (FT $) 
+ Future AI chips could be built on glass. (MIT Technology Review) 

6 The public backlash against data centers is intensifying in the US 
Protests and litigation are blocking projects. (CNBC) 
+ One potential solution? Putting them in space. (MIT Technology Review) 

7 Five-minute EV charging is becoming a reality 
China’s BYD has started rolling it out. (Gizmodo)  
+ “Extended-range electric vehicles” are about to hit US streets. (Atlantic $) 

8 Stealth signals are bypassing Iran’s internet blackout  
Files hidden in satellite TV broadcasts keep information flowing. (IEEE) 
 
9 Shoe brand Allbirds made a shock pivot to AI, sending stock up 700%  
No bubble to see here, folks. (CNBC)  
+ What even is the AI bubble? (MIT Technology Review) 

10 The largest ever map of the universe is complete  
It captures 47 million galaxies and quasars. (Space.com) 

Quote of the day 

“I like the internet as much as anybody, but we’ve got to go on an internet diet. We don’t need to pay for corporations to do their internet stuff.” 

 —Sylvia Whitt, a 78-year-old retiree based in Virginia, tells the Washington Post why they’re protesting against data centers.  

One More Thing 

a collage of hands and suggestive body shapes

ISRAEL VARGAS

AI and the future of sex 

Some Republican lawmakers want to criminalize porn and arrest its creators. But what if porn is wholly created by an algorithm? In that case, whether it’s obscene, ethical, or safe becomes a secondary issue. The primary concern will be what it means for porn to be “real”—and what the answer demands from all of us. 

Technological advances could even remove the “messy humanity” from sex itself. The rise of AI-generated porn may be a symptom of a new synthetic sexuality, not the cause. Read the full story. 

—Leo Herrera 

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.) 

+ An animator turned his son’s drawings into epic anime characters. 
+ Hundreds of baby green sea turtles made a spectacular first journey to the ocean. 
+ You can now track rocket launches from take-off to orbit in real time. 
+ These musical mistakes prove that even the classics aren’t perfect. 

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Role of TRPC1 in the pathogenesis of depression induced by traumatic brain injury

BackgroundTraumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of mortality and disability, with many patients developing long-term sequelae. Depression is among the most common psychiatric complications following TBI, yet its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Transient receptor potential canonical 1 (TRPC1) has been implicated in neurological disorders, but its role in post-TBI depression is not well understood.MethodsA controlled cortical impact (CCI) model was used to induce moderate TBI in mice. At 4 weeks post-injury, depressive-like behaviors were assessed using the tail suspension test (TST), forced swim test (FST), and sucrose preference test (SPT). Subsequently, reactive astrocytes and microglia were quantified, along with the expression of inflammatory cytokines, in the ipsilateral hippocampus. Synaptic function was also evaluated.ResultsBehavioral tests revealed that TBI mice exhibited significant depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors at 4 weeks post-injury. Concurrently, TRPC1 expression was downregulated in the ipsilateral hippocampus, accompanied by reduced levels of synaptic-associated proteins, elevated pro-inflammatory cytokines, and increased reactive astrocytes and microglia. Further experiments demonstrated that TRPC1 overexpression attenuated neuroinflammation, restored synaptic function, and ameliorated depressive-like behaviors in TBI mice.ConclusionThis study suggests that TBI may trigger depression by downregulating TRPC1, thereby promoting neuroinflammation and synaptic dysfunction. Conversely, TRPC1 overexpression mitigates these effects, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic target for post-TBI depression.
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Spatial evolution in temporal dynamics of hemodynamic response function in human superior colliculi with ultra-high-resolution MRI at 9.4T

The superior colliculus (SC) plays a crucial role in multisensory integration, visual information processing, saccadic target selection, visual selective attention, and decision making. In particular, the SC has a key role in oculomotor coordination, following a rostro-caudal organization. The rostral SC, which corresponds to foveal representation, is linked to fixation, microsaccades, smooth pursuit, and vergence adjustments. In contrast, the caudal SC, representing more peripheral visual field, is associated with the large gaze shifts (saccades). However, evidence regarding whether this functional gradient is preserved in the human SC remains limited. In this study, we employed a sequence-following visual-motor task to specifically engage SC activity. We measured blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses to brief neural activity, known as hemodynamic response function (HRF). We showed a spatial gradient of the BOLD positive HRFs (pHRF) along the rostro-caudal axis of the SC. The pHRF was primarily located in the rostral SC, and it gradually weakened toward the caudal SC, where negative HRF (nHRF) was often observed. The systematic rostro-caudal evolution of HRFs were consistent both within and across subjects, consistent with results from previous electrophysiological studies. Our work showed the feasibility of using ultra-high-field fMRI to non-invasively examine neurovascular dynamics in a small and deeply located subcortical structures of the human brain.
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Diffusion tensor imaging-functional MRI fusion reveals disrupted white matter structure–function coupling in HIV-associated asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment

ObjectiveConventionally, blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals derived from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) are attributed to gray matter, but recent evidence confirms stable low-frequency oscillations within white matter. While structure–function coupling is pivotal in neuropsychiatry, it remains underexplored in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND). Focusing on Asymptomatic Neurocognitive Impairment (ANI), the earliest stage of HAND, this study establishes a white matter skeleton-based fusion framework integrating diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and rs-fMRI to investigate underlying mechanisms.MethodsWe enrolled 47 patients with ANI and 48 matched healthy controls. Fractional anisotropy (FA) images from DTI and BOLD signals derived from rs-fMRI were projected onto a unified white matter skeleton to achieve structure–function spatial alignment. FA, skeleton-based white matter amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (SWALFF), and its dynamic variability (dSWALFF) were calculated. Group differences in white matter structure and function were assessed, with structure–function coupling examined in regions showing overlapping FA-SWALFF and FA-dSWALFF alterations. Additionally, a novel White Matter Dys-coupling Index (WDI) was proposed to quantify the deviation between structural integrity and functional activity and evaluate its clinical relevance.ResultsCompared to controls, ANI patients exhibited widespread FA reductions and increased mean diffusivity (MD) and radial diffusivity (RD), indicating diffuse demyelination. Functionally, a spatial dissociation emerged: SWALFF was reduced in posterior occipital pathways (left vertical occipital fasciculus, forceps major), whereas SWALFF and dSWALFF were elevated in prefrontal pathways (forceps minor). Overlapping regions revealed complex coupling patterns, ranging from concordant decline to compensatory upregulation and decoupling. The interaction between FA and dSWALFF further highlighted instability in dynamic regulation. The WDI was significantly correlated with infection duration, immune status, and cognitive domain scores.ConclusionThis study identifies a characteristic “coupling imbalance” in the white matter of ANI patients, defined by the coexistence of structural degeneration and functional reorganization. We propose the WDI as a quantitative metric for this deviation. Its significant associations with clinical and cognitive metrics suggest its potential as a neuroimaging biomarker for the early identification and mechanistic understanding of HAND.
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MambaSSM: efficient segmentation of brain structures in anisotropic 3D EM images via state-space models

Accurate segmentation of brain structures from anisotropic 3D electron microscopy (EM) images remains challenging due to the trade-off between global context modeling and computational efficiency. While state-space models (SSMs) like Mamba have shown promise in capturing long-range dependencies, their direct application to anisotropic EM data has been limited. We introduce MambaSSM, a novel network that adapts SSMs to anisotropic 3D EM images via a tailored scanning strategy. Our method features two core modules: an SSM-based anisotropic adaptation module for early-stage feature learning and an SSM-based isotropic adaptation module for later-stage refinement. These modules are interleaved with convolutional layers to enable multi-scale feature extraction. Evaluated on two public datasets (SNEMI3D and MitoEM-R), MambaSSM achieves superior segmentation accuracy with significantly lower memory usage compared to CNN, Transformer, and Mamba based baselines.
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Integrating evidence-based health approaches in U.S. healthcare settings: addressing the syndemics of poverty, health, and violence

Health disparities in the United States are not produced by single risk factors but by interacting social and biological conditions that cluster within structurally marginalized communities. Poverty, violence, and poor physical and mental health form a reinforcing system of disadvantage that traditional healthcare models—organized around isolated diseases—are poorly equipped to address. This perspective examines these dynamics through a syndemic framework, which conceptualizes co-occurring conditions as mutually interacting epidemics intensified by social inequality. Drawing on interdisciplinary evidence from public health, medicine, and social science, we describe how poverty-related stressors such as housing instability, food insecurity, and barriers to healthcare intersect with exposure to interpersonal and structural violence to amplify risks for depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, chronic disease, and premature mortality. These interactions produce compounded health burdens that are disproportionately experienced by marginalized populations. Despite increasing attention to social determinants of health, current healthcare responses remain fragmented. Health systems frequently identify risks through screening for social needs or trauma exposure but lack the institutional infrastructure, reimbursement mechanisms, and cross-sector partnerships required to address them effectively. We argue that advancing health equity requires moving beyond additive models of care coordination toward syndemic-informed healthcare systems that intervene simultaneously on clustered conditions and their shared upstream drivers. We outline key priorities for practice, policy, and research, including linking screening to actionable care pathways, strengthening partnerships between healthcare and social service systems, and expanding workforce training to include structural and syndemic competency.
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Establishing standards of care for forensic mental health: an international Delphi consensus-building study

ObjectivesThe present study aimed to establish a consensus on a definition of forensic mental health systems and services, and to identify principles and components of forensic mental health systems.MethodsA Delphi consensus-building process was employed among 23 experts in forensic mental health, defined by lived experience of forensic mental health services, professional, clinical or management practice in forensic settings, or academic research in the field. Items were rated on a 9-point Likert scale, with consensus defined as ≥75% of panelists rating an item between 7 and 9. Across three Delphi rounds, items were revised, merged, or added based on participant feedback. Data were collected anonymously using LimeSurvey, with reminders sent to maximize participation, followed by a structured consensus meeting to resolve remaining areas of disagreement.ResultsThe final consensus statement comprises three components: (1) a definition of forensic mental health services; (2) a general statement including 12 guiding principles; and (3) 43 core components organized across 10 thematic domains addressing models of care, pathways and processes, programs and activities, physical health, service user and peer involvement, evaluation and improvement, service integration, safe environments, restrictive practices, and other system-level considerations. While all items achieved consensus at the consensus meeting, areas of sustained discussion related to the integration of cultural expertise, the inclusion of a lived experience workforce, and the distinction between descriptive and aspirational elements of forensic mental health services.ConclusionsThis international consensus statement provides a structured framework for understanding forensic mental health systems. By articulating shared principles and core components while allowing flexibility across jurisdictions, the framework offers a foundation to support service development and evaluation across diverse jurisdictions.
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Metacognitive beliefs about biased thinking condition the role of anxiety sensitivity in the somatic symptom–health anxiety pathway

BackgroundSomatic symptoms are closely linked to health anxiety, and anxiety sensitivity is often described as a trait-like amplifier of responses to bodily sensations. Metacognitive beliefs operate at a higher-order level and may influence the conditions under which this amplification is observed.MethodsA cross-sectional survey was completed by 564 university students, who reported on somatic symptom burden (PHQ-15), anxiety sensitivity focused on physical concerns (ASI-3 Physical), metacognitive beliefs about biased thinking (MCQ-HA Biased Thinking), and health anxiety (SHAI). Pearson correlations and regression-based conditional process analyses were used to estimate a two-way moderation model and a three-way moderated moderation model (PROCESS Models 1 and 3) with 5,000 bootstrap samples and Johnson-Neyman probing. ResultsSomatic symptoms, anxiety sensitivity, and biased-thinking beliefs were all positively associated with health anxiety. The two-way interaction between somatic symptoms and anxiety sensitivity was not clearly supported. A small but statistically significant three-way interaction indicated that anxiety sensitivity strengthened the somatic symptom to health anxiety association only at higher levels of biased-thinking beliefs, a range that applied to roughly one quarter of the sample. ConclusionThese findings provide preliminary support for the idea that anxiety sensitivity may act as a conditional vulnerability, increasing the impact of somatic symptoms on health anxiety primarily when metacognitive beliefs about biased thinking are high.
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Case Report: Suicidality response to treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in adult females with autism spectrum disorder: three cases

BackgroundSuicidality, suicide attempts and non-suicidal self-injury occur more frequently in untreated attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and in females with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), especially in late adolescence and young adulthood. Diagnosis and treatment of the comorbid ADHD may rapidly improve coping skills, reducing impulsivity and suicidality.MethodsWe obtained IRB approval and written consent to publish the de-identified cases of three young adult females with recurrent suicidality and serious mental illness. Each met DSM-based diagnostic criteria for ASD and ADHD, but received no ADHD treatments on presentation. Presentations, treatment, side effects and precautions are discussed.ResultsEach responded remarkably to ADHD treatments, but with notable side effects especially in one case. Addition of ADHD medications led to rapid improvements in mood, suicidality and self-reported use of coping skills, enabling taper of antidepressants and antipsychotics.ConclusionsADHD diagnosis and treatment may rapidly improve treatment-resistant suicidality and mood, by improving executive functions, impulse control and use of coping skills; larger-scale studies are indicated to elaborate on our findings in these three cases. ASD and comorbid ADHD are important predisposing factors to suicidality that are commonly missed. ADHD treatment may provide remarkable response, described by patients as enabling greater functioning, confidence and use of coping skills when under stress. Suicidality assessment should include screenings for ADHD and ASD, especially in atypical cases. Prior maltreatment, executive dysfunction and impulsivity in females all raise suicide risks.
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Research progress on social participation of young and middle-aged stroke survivors: a narrative review

Stroke is characterized by high morbidity, disability, and mortality, and has become the third leading cause of death worldwide. In China, stroke accounts for 39.9% of all cerebrovascular diseases, with young and middle-aged survivors (aged 40–60 years) comprising 33% of global stroke survivors in this age group and over 51.51% of all stroke cases in China. Despite significant improvements in treatment, 70–80% of survivors still lose the ability to live independently, and social participation declines to varying degrees. Social participation plays an important role in rehabilitation outcome indicators, which can reflect the overall recovery of survivors and is closely related to quality of life. Guided by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) framework, this review aims to examine the current status, assessment tools, and influencing factors of social participation among young and middle-aged stroke survivors, with the goal of informing future research and guiding clinical practice.