- A Nature Chemistry paper describes a one-pot, click-chemistry method that stitches ten 5′-azide / 3′-alkyne–tagged oligonucleotides into a 335-bp green-fluorescent-protein (iLOV) gene containing eight triazole linkages; the scarred construct is fully biocompatible, replicates in vitro, and expresses functional protein in E. coli, opening a route to rapid, scar-tolerant gene assembly.  
- Participants debated the structural similarity between chlorophyll and hemoglobin: one hypothesis attributes the shared conjugated-ring motif to molecular stability, while another counters that pi-bond-rich macrocycles are actually enzymatically labile and therefore unlikely to be selected purely for stability.  
- The Open Philanthropy Project’s “Mechanisms of Aging” report (linked by poppingtonic) was circulated as a current reference on longevity-research funding priorities.  
- Chris Eliasmith’s book “How to Build a Brain” and its companion Python library Nengo were recommended for neuromorphic modeling and large-scale spiking-neural-network experiments.  
- A blog post on “Building Ultra-Reliable Software” triggered discussion of formal-methods tools; fltrz highlighted Metamath as an unusually minimal, general-purpose proof checker whose verification algorithm can be re-implemented in days, predicting that future legislative blockchains will embed such verifiers for mathematically precise contracts.  
- Interest in the Toda protocol resurfaced after Silvio Micali (Algorand) joined the project; participants located a sparse GitHub “whitepaper” but complained that technical details remain opaque.  
- DNA Script announced a $13 M Series A round, noted as further validation of enzymatic DNA-synthesis platforms.  
- IEEE Spectrum coverage of autonomous robots that planted, tended, and harvested an entire barley crop without human intervention was shared as a milestone in closed-loop agricultural automation.