• Stanford Medicine reported a cancer “vaccine” that, when injected directly into solid tumors in mice, eliminates the primary mass and triggers systemic T-cell activity that attacks distant metastases; the Science Translational Medicine paper (http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/10/426/eaan4488) details the combination of two immune-stimulating agents.  
• Discussion highlighted that many solid tumors are not cleanly resectable because they infiltrate vital organs or have ambiguous margins, and that microscopic metastases make surgical “cure” uncertain even after visible tumor removal.  
• A Nature paper on DNA replication fidelity (https://www.nature.com/articles/nature25487) was shared, showing that individual bases can transiently tautomerize or ionize for ~1 ms, causing mis-pairing independent of polymerase errors—challenging the prior assumption that the enzyme’s conformational changes are the sole source of mutation.  
• IARPA’s MIST program held a pre-proposal day; channel members weighed the value of attending the voluntary briefing versus the bureaucratic overhead of SAM.gov registration, with some opting out due to cost and perceived low commitment from the agency.  
• DIY transcripts and slides from the “Hardening Lightning” talk at the Blockchain Protocol Analysis & Security Engineering 2018 workshop were posted (http://diyhpl.us/diyhpluswiki/transcripts/blockchain-protocol-analysis-security-engineering/2018/hardening-lightning/), including new ideas on blind-signature-based watchtower storage tokens to preserve payment-channel privacy.  
• A Technology Review article (https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610141/the-doctor-responsible-for-gene-therapys-greatest-setback-is-sounding-a-new-alarm/) was circulated, revisiting the Jesse Gelsinger tragedy and current warnings about gene-therapy safety and regulatory oversight.