• A new 30 µm-thin, wireless optogenetic visual prosthesis called FlexLED is described in a pre-print: it couples an 8,192-pixel flexible uLED array on the retina with optogenetically sensitized ganglion cells and packages the driver electronics under the conjunctiva like a glaucoma shunt. (https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.01.31.526482v1)

• Discussion of genetic enhancement ethics framed the Gattaca scenario as already present via assortative mating and random birth lotteries, with participants debating whether parental choices that disadvantage unmodified offspring constitute unfair discrimination or a form of coercion.

• Participants explored the limits of purely symbolic music entry versus live performance capture, noting that MIDI, ABC notation, and Open Sound Control still miss expressive micro-timing, continuous pitch and dynamics, and simultaneous multi-voice capture that physical instruments provide in seconds.

• A brief exchange questioned whether Zyvex’s MEMS/STM hardware-description-language toolchain is encumbered by patents or tacit knowledge, and Heidelberg Instruments’ NanoFrazer Explore was offered as a commercially available alternative for downstream nanofabrication. (https://heidelberg-instruments.com/product/nanofrazor-explore/)

• Links and side-topics included extremophile-based DNA data storage (Wiley 2022), a “Do Anything Now” ChatGPT jailbreak prompt, FreeCAD’s recent in-person conference, and a quantum-computing protein-folding claim from Jülich.