• A new state-of-the-art benchmark for multi-step retrosynthesis was shared: the USPTO-190 leaderboard on PapersWithCode, along with the open-source Retro* model (GitHub: binghong-ml/retro_star) that uses neural-guided A* search for automated synthetic route planning.  
• A Frontiers in Psychology paper was highlighted arguing that small shifts in body temperature (±2 °C) can dramatically alter the energetically permissible combinations of brain neuron counts and body mass in primates, offering a physiological lens on hominin evolution.  
• Discussion of octopus aquaculture noted that the common octopus (Octopus vulgaris) grows at ~5 % body weight per day, converts 30–60 % of ingested food to biomass, and produces 100 000–500 000 eggs per female, yet high paralarval mortality, cannibalism, and the need for live crustacean/rotifer food still prevent fully closed life-cycle hatcheries—except for a recent, undisclosed breakthrough by Spain’s Nueva Pescanova Group.  
• The largest recorded giant Pacific octopus reportedly reached 600 lb (272 kg) with a 30 ft (9 m) arm span, prompting speculation about the upper biological size limits of cultivated cephalopods.