• Aviv Bergman argues that aging is a genetically hard-wired program rather than a collection of stochastic damages, using the 30-year lifespan of queen honeybees versus the 4-week lifespan of genetically identical workers as evidence against SENS-style “garbage cleanup” strategies.  
• A new Science paper shows that the immediate-early gene Homer1a drives homeostatic synaptic down-scaling during sleep; when noradrenaline falls at sleep onset, Homer1a translocates to excitatory synapses and triggers their weakening, linking gene expression to sleep-dependent circuit renormalization.  
• The open-source neuroscience hardware project Open Ephys (open-ephys.org) was highlighted as a resource for low-cost, customizable electrophysiology rigs.  
• Google’s internal “20 % time” policy for side projects is reported to be effectively discontinued, according to multiple channel participants.  
• A Nature news article discussed a geo-engineering proposal to cool Earth by spraying diamond dust into the stratosphere as an alternative to sulfate aerosols.  
• kanzure floated the idea of developing blood-substitute formulations tailored to specific brain functional states or cognitive modes.  
• A 34th annual Microelectrode Techniques for Cell Physiology workshop in Plymouth, UK (application deadline 31 Mar 2017) was announced via Twitter.  
• Two foundational papers on developmental robustness—PNAS on Waddington’s canalization and Nature on evolutionary capacitance—were shared as background reading for understanding programmed aging arguments.