- A new outline for the third proof attempt on the CSP dichotomy conjecture was posted to arXiv (https://arxiv.org/abs/1704.01914), with discussion of its implications for probabilistically-checkable proofs.  
- NASA announced 22 Phase-I NIAC awards covering visionary concepts such as evacuated airships for Mars, soft-bots for dismantling rubble-pile asteroids, a solar-gravity-lens exoplanet imager, and synthetic-biology detoxification of Martian soil for agriculture.  
- Self-experimentation with a 100 k-IU vitamin-D megadose was reported, supported by a 2008 AJCN pharmacokinetics paper (http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/87/3/688.abstract) and subjective positive effects on 6.5 h of sleep.  
- Debate on whole-brain emulation timelines: skepticism that significant progress will occur before 2030–2050 was countered by arguments that existing neuron-type models and large-scale neuroanatomy (e.g., stitched-diagram.png) may already enable useful emulation, with Nengo/SPAUN cited as a working intermediate-scale model (http://nengo.ca/build-a-brain/spaunvideos).  
- A $13.5 M Moore grant to SLAC for an “accelerator-on-a-chip” prototype was highlighted, alongside mention of a 1-m plasma cell already boosting electrons from 10 GeV to 25 GeV (https://portal.slac.stanford.edu/sites/ard_public/facet/research/Pages/rpwa.aspx).  
- DIY genome-building efforts were reviewed, including the Sc2.0 consortium’s open-source yeast chromosome project (http://syntheticyeast.org/build-a-genome/course-description/) and Johns Hopkins’ “Build-a-Genome” course using yeast homologous recombination to assemble 3 kb “minichunks” into 10 kb chunks.  
- Recoding the E. coli genome to use only 57 codons (instead of 64) was presented as a route to multi-virus resistance, with discussion of extending the concept to synthetic tRNAs and an expanded genetic alphabet, and speculation on viral counter-adaptations.  
- Recent CRISPR resources shared include an integrated computational guide for arrayed/pooled sgRNA library design (bioRxiv 125245), a Nature Reviews paper on delivery technologies for genome editing, and a new diyhpl.us wiki page cataloging Cas9 variants, meganucleases, targetrons, and non-viral CNS delivery strategies.