- A new Science paper reports that ravens exhibit flexible planning for tool-use and bartering on par with great apes, expanding comparative-cognition benchmarks for non-primate intelligence.  
- Kernel Co has now hired six alumni from Ed Boyden’s MIT Synthetic Neurobiology group, underscoring the accelerating commercialization of next-generation brain-interface technologies.  
- Discussion of ISS electrical grounding: the Plasma Contactor Units (PCUs) on the Z1 truss eject xenon plasma loaded with excess electrons to prevent static-charge buildup that could shock astronauts during EVAs; the system is now activated only during spacewalks.  
- A JAMA Psychiatry meta-analysis (linked via SciDaily) finds that ADHD medication is associated with significantly lower rates of alcohol and drug abuse in both adolescents and adults, challenging concerns about stimulant misuse.  
- Parabiosis debate: fenn notes that rejuvenation effects in old mice were still observed when only young plasma—not full bidirectional blood exchange—was supplied, though the effect size appeared smaller.  
- danfox shared the open-source “Python-DNA-Tool” repository, offering ready-made scripts for DNA/RNA translation, GC-content calculation, and base-composition analysis.