- The European Patent Office granted UC a broad CRISPR-Cas9 patent, prompting discussion about IP barriers to open-source gene editing.  
- Veritas Genetics launched a $1,000 direct-to-consumer whole-genome sequencing service and is partnering with Women’s College Hospital on a nationwide BRCA-screening program in Canada.  
- A Nature Biotechnology paper on “large-scale design of robust genetic circuits with multiple inputs and outputs for mammalian cells” was highlighted for its recombinase-based engineering toolkit.  
- Senolytics research was surveyed in a blog post summarizing the fast-moving field; quercetin and isoquercetin were discussed as candidate compounds, with caveats about bioavailability.  
- DIYbio infrastructure issues were noted: the Asheville DIYbio wiki had been “spammed to death,” illustrating ongoing moderation challenges in community biology spaces.  
- Defense Distributed’s 3-D-printed firearm efforts were referenced, along with tongue-in-cheek suggestions for subversive graffiti inside their factory.  
- A Hacker News thread on “bigger brains are not always better” was critiqued for conflating size with architectural efficiency, underscoring debates about scaling cognition.  
- Links to quaternion visualization resources, blockchain-sharding transcripts, and hash-cash historical background were shared as technical references.  
- A SoundCloud interview featuring Andrew Poelstra, Bryan Bishop, and Brian Deery on cryptocurrency and seasteading was posted for later listening.