- China’s December 2017 “three-year AI action plan” set unusually precise hardware performance targets for drones, sensors, and other components to be met by 2020, offering a rare window into state-level technical road-mapping.  
- A Cell paper announced the first successful cloning of macaque monkeys via somatic-cell nuclear transfer, raising the prospect of genetically identical primate models for transhumanist and neuro-intervention studies.  
- Science reported “reactionware”—3-D-printed microfluidic reactors that embed complete multistep organic syntheses—demonstrated by on-demand production of the GABA agonist (±)-baclofen without conventional pharmaceutical infrastructure.  
- Twist Bioscience raised its gene-synthesis price to $0.105 per base pair plus a new $25 cloning fee in 2018, yet remained the lowest-cost commercial provider according to channel consensus.  
- The horsepox synthesis study, now formally published, was criticized for providing detailed methods to recreate a smallpox relative, intensifying debate over open-access dual-use research.  
- Participants proposed a tetracycline-inducible plasmid that transiently expresses bacterial competence (DNA-pore) proteins in human cells to create controllable, on-demand DNA uptake for future gene-therapy applications.  
- Open-hardware electroporation tools—specifically the “culture-shock” dual-syringe injector and Inovio’s electrode-needle arrays—were reviewed as low-cost ways to distribute plasmids evenly along tissue tracks during in vivo gene delivery.  
- Non-destructive fluorescent in-situ hybridization on live blastomeres was discussed as a potential route to iterative preimplantation genetic screening without harming embryo viability, alongside the alternative of deriving immortal embryonic stem-cell lines.  
- Kriorus launched the cryogen.me ICO, whose tokens merely offer discounts on future cryopreservation services, prompting skepticism about blockchain life-extension fundraising.  
- Compressive ultrasound imaging using pseudorandom aperture masks (dubbed “chaotic lens”) was praised as an inexpensive path to high-resolution biomedical imaging.