- A newly published whole-brain electron-microscopy volume of the adult fruit fly at synaptic resolution was shared (Cell, July 26 2018), accompanied by a short explanatory video.  
- Drew Endy and DARPA program manager Rebecca Wegrzyn debated on Twitter whether U.S. government spending on DNA-synthesis screening for biosecurity is disproportionately large compared with public investment in actually improving DNA-synthesis technology itself.  
- Western University’s “Synthetic Biology Symposium 3.0” was announced as an upcoming event of interest to the community.  
- Discussion of personal genomics: participants compared 23andMe vs. Ancestry.com SNP arrays, noted that 23andMe withholds ~50 % of its SNP calls as proprietary, and questioned whether 30× whole-genome sequencing is sufficient for accurate SNP reconstruction in infants.  
- Practical tips for infant DNA collection were exchanged—saliva collection is difficult, drool reportedly performs poorly, and cheek-pinching to harvest sloughed cells was jokingly suggested.  
- A Nature news item titled “A record-breaking microscope” was circulated, likely referencing advances in high-resolution imaging relevant to connectomics or synthetic-biology workflows.