• Anders Sandberg’s Singularity Weblog interview framed human cognitive improvement as a deliberate engineering project aimed at systematically overcoming biological limitations rather than waiting for a single “singularity” event.  
• MetalicaRap, an open-source electron-beam 3-D printer descended from RepRap, is being designed to co-evaporate Cu, Ga, In, and Se in a 10-4 Torr vacuum chamber to print an entire thin-film CIGS solar-cell fabrication plant, combining EBPVD and DC sputtering in one machine.  
• A complete disassembly of Pokémon Crystal on GitHub was used as a benchmark for Eureqa symbolic-regression software, automatically rediscovering the memory-layout formulas that map in-game route dimensions to ROM addresses—demonstrating AI-driven reverse engineering of legacy code.  
• Netmorph, Randal Koene’s previously hard-to-find open-source tool for generating biologically realistic neuronal morphologies, was mirrored on GitHub to accelerate whole-brain emulation and connectomics research.  
• The NGLY1 mutation case documented in “My Son’s Killer” sparked debate on FDA expanded-access pathways and the ethical tension between patent protection and compassionate-use drug development for ultra-rare diseases.  
• DIYbio.org quietly added a new Biosafety Advisory page, interpreted as a community response to the 2011–2012 H5N1 ferret-transmission controversy and broader dual-use research concerns.  
• Nathan McCorkle floated the idea of an open-hardware, low-cost two-photon-polymerization (2PP) stereolithography rig for high-resolution multilayer microfabrication, seeking collaborators to push the resolution limits of DIY micro-scale manufacturing.  
• Joseph Jackson’s “Startup Science” events in San Francisco include a public workshop and a closed 60-person session at BioCurious where FBI agents will receive hands-on training in GFP transformation of E. coli, highlighting growing law-enforcement interest in DIYbio capabilities.