- A new service offers to encode any song into DNA for $100,000, prompting jokes about encoding copyrighted music into plant genomes so that every seedling would infringe RIAA rights.  
- Participants discussed breeding insects for food: one member wants to engineer insects to feel pain so they can be farmed ethically, while another suggests directed-evolution plus high-oxygen rearing (shown to enlarge mosquitoes ~20 % per generation) to rapidly create giant, juicy insect livestock.  
- Open-source plasmid-design tools were compared: juul shared an OpenWetWare roundup of circular-DNA viewers/editors, nmz787 noted the abandonment of GENtle (last commit 12 years ago), and PyDNA—a Python simulation/assembly tool—was introduced to the channel for the first time.  
- Dynamic combinatorial chemistry (DCC) and reversible-terminator nucleotides (from Firebird Biomolecular Sciences, now licensed by DNA Script) were highlighted as emerging methods for controlled enzymatic DNA synthesis.  
- Zador-lab neuronal barcoding work was circulated, including high-resolution brain-mapping papers (Nature 2018) and the MAPseq technique for single-cell projection tracing.  
- Sci-Hub’s ongoing domain seizures were tracked: links to the latest mirrors (.tw, .hk), a real-time status page (whereisscihub.now.sh), and the court order allowing ACS to seize new domains were shared.  
- A member sought help obtaining a paywalled Oxford Research Encyclopedia article on using machine-learning sentiment analysis of North-Korean propaganda to predict missile launches.  
- Two U.S. defense-related job postings for “Molecular Memory Scientist/Engineer” (Booz Allen Hamilton and Strategic Analysis Inc.) were posted, focusing on storing information in molecular species rather than conventional magnetic or solid-state media.  
- The Breakthrough Starshot conference livestream was announced, featuring talks on laser-accelerated nano-probes and related interstellar technologies.