- A Nature Methods paper introduced reversible cryo-arrest microscopy that lets living cells be imaged at super-resolution while remaining viable, and a companion Nature article reviewed emerging electrical-stimulation techniques for neural modulation.  
- Expansion Microscopy variants (ExFISH, proExM) now achieve ~70 nm resolution and single-molecule RNA/protein imaging in intact brain tissue using only diffraction-limited scopes, with an upcoming Janelia/MIT training course (Aug 14–19 2016).  
- MAPseq converts neuronal projection mapping into a high-throughput sequencing problem by labeling thousands of neurons with unique RNA barcodes, enabling whole-brain connectivity matrices to be read out far faster than traditional microscopy.  
- CRISPR-based lineage-tracing systems such as GESTALT and daisy-chain gene drives use cumulative editing of synthetic barcode arrays to record every cell division across entire organisms, revealing that zebrafish organs derive from surprisingly few embryonic progenitors.  
- A fiber-optic neural-recording architecture using electro-optic modulation along a 10 cm optical fiber offers 40 µm axial resolution and 100 µV sensitivity, while optogenetic peripheral-nerve repair studies show that light-controllable embryonic-stem-cell-derived motor neurons can reinnervate denervated mouse sciatic nerves and restore muscle function.  
- MIT’s “Riffle” protocol (PDF) provides strong-anonymity communication more efficiently than Tor-style onion routing, and Skycoin’s mesh-network project (GitHub repo) offers a censorship-resistant, multi-path routing layer that tunnels IP traffic via a tun interface.  
- Deep Genomics’ ML platform for genomic variant interpretation, Ginkgo Bioworks’ $100 M funding round, and Kevin Esvelt’s CRISPR-based Lyme-disease mouse project (NYT coverage) were highlighted as milestones in AI-driven biology and open-source biotech.  
- Open datasets and tools shared include Apollo 11 guidance computer source code, KordingLab Spykes toolbox for spike-train visualization, PrePubMed index of biology preprints, and a curated prion-disease reading list, alongside concerns about reproducibility and “voodoo machine learning” in clinical prediction models.