• A new open-source 3-D-printed flexure microscope stage achieves 50 nm precision for <$100; design files and assembly instructions are at https://github.com/rwb27/openflexure_microscope and the build is documented in Review of Scientific Instruments (10.1063/1.4941068).

• Lifemap is an interactive Android / web tool that visualizes the entire Tree of Life in 3-D; code and data are on GitHub (damiendevienne/Lifemap) and the approach is described in PLOS Biology (10.1371/journal.pbio.2001624).

• George Church outlined an aging-reversal roadmap: combine CRISPR screens, FISSEQ spatial transcriptomics, “organs-on-chips,” and direct human-cell validation to bypass lengthy mouse work and reach human trials within ten years (Next Big Future interview).

• Recent high-impact preprints shared include: MRI-detectable gene reporters via trans-membrane water exchange (Nature Biotechnology), optogenetic control of sub-cellular mechanics (bioRxiv 109595), magnetite-nanoparticle reversible cerebral ischemia in conscious mice (Nature Methods 14, 160–166), and ultrahigh-throughput single-cell microfluidic droplet screening for biodiversity (PNAS early edition).

• DIYbio community debate referenced: a Google Groups thread on politics and messaging in biohacking spaces was flagged as overly prescriptive and agenda-driven (https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/diybio/l97VjQLls0A).