• Bryan Bishop (@kanzure) was announced as a speaker for Baltic Honeybadger 2018, a Bitcoin-focused conference in Riga (http://bh2018.hodlhodl.com), and Life Sciences Baltics 2018 (https://lsb2018.com) was highlighted as the only international biotechnology forum in the Baltic region.

• A 1934 experimental-embryology image of a 10-headed planarian worm was shared as historical reference material (https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DjaZPFxU4AAqBWt.jpg).

• nmz787 posted a cluster of nanopore-related patents and papers: US8641877B2 (electric-field DNA cutting), US8039250B2 (piezoelectric nanopore control), US9528153B2 (Y-shaped nanochannel for base-by-base ratcheting), and US9714933B2 (micro-droplet fluidic cell for rapid ionic-current detection).

• A Biophysical Journal paper (DOI 10.1016/j.bpj.2017.11.33520) was noted, showing that mechanical unfolding of ubiquitin requires far less force when pulled through an idealized proteasome pore than in AFM experiments.

• DLS Solutions’ spectral-search optical components were linked as a potential hardware resource (https://www.dlssolutions.com/products_spectralsearch.html).

• Participants debated patent strategy after one company extended a U.S. patent into China, raising concerns that this merely facilitates Chinese copying.

• A sustained spam wave prompted operators to experiment with freenode modes (+q $~a, +R, +m) to balance open-door culture with spam mitigation, illustrating the tension between openness and network abuse in open-source transhumanist communities.