- A new biorxiv preprint proposes a neocortical theory of intelligence built on grid-cell-like mechanisms, suggesting that cortical columns learn the structure of the world through location-based representations (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/10/13/442418).  
- A 2017 Nature paper demonstrates long-term automated culture of human induced pluripotent stem cells, providing a scalable platform for regenerative-medicine research (https://www.nature.com/articles/srep16647).  
- Discussion of commercial cattle cloning: ViaGen (Austin, TX) and Trans Ova Genetics (Iowa) dominate the North-American market; FDA’s 968-page 2008 risk assessment declared cloned-animal products safe, yet producers still voluntarily withhold them from the food supply because of consumer resistance.  
- Mouse artificial chromosomes (MACs) created via top-down engineering from native chromosomes are reported to remain highly stable in mice, rats, and human cell lines, opening routes for large-scale synthetic-genome projects (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006291X13018731, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/sb3000723).  
- LASIK refractive surgery is cited as an example of a medical technology that moved directly from clinic to practice without the traditional academic-research pipeline.  
- Links to photo essays on the global ship-breaking industry (oil-rig and tanker dismantling in Bangladesh and elsewhere) were shared as case studies in large-scale industrial recycling and its hazards (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/02/where-oil-rigs-go-to-die, https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2014/11/the-ship-breakers/100859/).  
- A critical blog post by a former uBeam engineer details the internal dysfunction and technical over-promising at the wireless-power startup (https://liesandstartuppr.blogspot.com/2018/09/end-of-era-thoughts-on-ubeam-founder.html).  
- The diyhpluswiki repository added transcripts of Laolu Osuntokun’s 2017 talk on Neutrino (Bitcoin light-client protocol) and other meetup content (http://diyhpl.us/diyhpluswiki/transcripts/sf-bitcoin-meetup/2017-06-06-laolu-osuntokun-neutrino/).