- A Twitter thread raised the possibility of creating “designer babies” by editing induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and then differentiating them into gametes, prompting discussion on the technical and ethical feasibility of such a pathway.  
- A linked Conversation article argued that widespread “designer baby” scenarios are unlikely in the near term, providing a counterpoint to recent media alarm.  
- A 200-page TU Delft PhD thesis on “DNA sensing with nanopores in graphene nanoribbons” was shared, highlighting advances in ultra-sensitive nucleic-acid detection.  
- Bluemics, a new Dutch startup, was noted for developing a single-molecule protein sequencer that couples ClpXP protease degradation with FRET readout to identify full-length proteins at the single-molecule level.  
- An NIH-funded project was referenced that uses DNA-tagged peptides on beads and an engineered “Edmanase” enzyme to perform stepwise Edman degradation, followed by next-generation sequencing of the DNA barcodes for ultra-sensitive proteomics.  
- A Nature Biotechnology paper (2018) on “Highly parallel single-molecule identification of proteins in zeptomole-scale mixtures” was circulated as a key technical foundation for these single-molecule proteomics efforts.  
- Encodia’s team page and corporate direction were briefly inspected as another player in the emerging single-molecule protein-sequencing space.  
- Discussion of Mars InSight mission noted that the heat-flow probe sensors will not be deployed until March 2019, with participants expressing puzzlement over the long delay.