- A new “Embodied Turing Test” was proposed in which a human must successfully communicate with and direct a robot to perform real-world tasks, shifting the benchmark from purely linguistic to physical interaction.

- Glybera became the first gene therapy approved in the West (~$1 M per treatment), while China had already approved Gendicine, marking a milestone for high-cost, high-impact biotech interventions.

- Researchers demonstrated single-pixel camera imaging of a 3 mm object through 2.4 mm of tissue using only 500 illumination patterns, suggesting that DLP-based systems could enable fast, low-cost deep-tissue imaging.

- Participants discussed the open-review crisis—exploding publication volume and reviewer overload—and floated modular, topical review workflows plus post-publication citation-bundled review as possible fixes.

- A DIY atomic-force microscope built from Lego and Arduino was highlighted as a path to ultra-low-cost nanoscale imaging, although detailed build instructions remain scarce.

- Robert Freitas’ Sentience Quotient scale (−70 to +50) was revisited, quantifying sentience via information-processing rate per unit mass and hinting at the possibility of super-sentient non-biological minds.

- Studies shared showed that working-memory training can raise IQ scores and that D1 receptor agonists in prefrontal cortex enhance working memory, though one replication failed to confirm dual-n-back IQ gains.

- Evidence for a universal cortical algorithm was summarized, citing ferret rewiring experiments and an arXiv review arguing that the same cortical circuit can process visual or auditory input, supporting hierarchical temporal memory models.

- Innovega’s smart-contact-lens display system—micro-optics in the lens paired with glasses-mounted projectors—was presented as a lightweight alternative to bulky AR headsets.

- nmz787 successfully cross-compiled OpenCV for Android with non-free SIFT/SURF modules, achieving 44-second feature-detection cycles on mid-range hardware and documenting the Android NDK build process for future mobile-vision hackers.