• A pre-print on bioRxiv reports a method to expand the target range of SpCas9, potentially making CRISPR editing applicable to more genomic sites (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/02/02/258939).

• Discussion of alternative orbital infrastructure: rotating momentum-exchange tethers, orbital rings, and launch loops were compared to traditional rockets and beanstalk-style space elevators, with tethers seen as the only option launchable on a single Falcon 9.

• Participants debated the relative merits of Mars versus near-Earth asteroids for early settlement, noting that Mars offers atmospheric volatiles (CO₂, N₂) and mineral diversity for agriculture, while asteroids provide easier sunlight concentration via large mirrors and lower delta-v for some targets (~3.3 km/s vs ~4.3 km/s to Mars capture).

• Historical 1977 NASA study cited: a crewed mission to the near-Earth asteroid 2062 Aten could have been mounted with 28 Shuttle launches and six-month transit, prompting reflection on why such reusable-launch plans never materialized.

• FDA announcement labeling the herbal opioid substitute kratom as a deadly opioid was shared, along with its Wikipedia chemistry page for reference (https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/americas-heroin-epidemic/fda-declares-popular-alt-medicine-kratom-be-deadly-opioid-n845311).

• Bryan Bishop posted a transcript of Ron Paul discussing Bitcoin at the Satoshi Roundtable to the diyhplus wiki (http://diyhpl.us/diyhpluswiki/transcripts/satoshi-roundtable/sr-004/ron-paul/).

• Conversation touched on the cultural gap between 1970s expectations—Saturn V launches, space hotels, moonbases—and present reality, attributing delays to frozen capital and risk-averse “monkeys” rather than technical barriers.

• Kurt Vonnegut’s novel “Galapagos” was recommended as essential reading for transhumanists, described as a book “every purported transhumanist should have clockwork-oranged into their brain.”