- A new laser-beam-riding concept for interstellar propulsion is described in a Centauri Dreams article: by letting the particle beam and laser beam mutually shape each other’s refractive index and electric-field profile, both diffraction and thermal spreading are suppressed, theoretically keeping the spot size down to ~5 m at several AU—relevant for “death-star”-scale directed-energy systems.  
- Discussion of the low (~10 %) funding rate for NASA NIAC proposals prompted the suggestion that rejected proposals should be archived in a third-party repository so their ideas are not lost; concerns were raised that proposers often treat their concepts as proprietary and may resist public release.  
- Two recent neuroscience papers were shared: “Noninvasive ultrasonic drug uncaging maps whole-brain functional networks” (Cell, 2018) and “Bright multicolor labeling of neuronal circuits with fluorescent proteins and chemical tags” (eLife, 2018), highlighting new tools for large-scale circuit mapping and opto-pharmacology.  
- A Nature Methods paper on “Closed-loop all-optical interrogation of neural circuits in vivo” was circulated, describing an integrated system that can simultaneously image and optogenetically stimulate identified neurons in behaving animals.  
- A Genetics paper arguing that “Estimates of the heritability of human longevity are substantially inflated due to assortative mating” was noted, questioning the magnitude of genetic influence on lifespan.  
- A request for information on “high-volume virus production” (any viral vector) was made, indicating ongoing biohacker interest in scalable viral manufacturing methods.  
- A link to a reverse-engineering write-up of the Pokémon GO Plus wearable (https://tinyhack.com/2018/11/21/reverse-engineering-pokemon-go-plus/) was posted, illustrating open hardware teardown culture.