- A new Nature paper demonstrates a biological “2-bit hash function” executed by 66 communicating engineered cells, prompting debate over why only 2 bits of MD5 were chosen—participants suggest it is a deliberate proof-of-concept to avoid the exponential cell-count cost of higher bit depths.  
- Carboncopies Journal Club announced a 29 Sept 2024 session on “Connectome-constrained networks predict neural activity across the fly visual system” by Janne K. Lappalainen et al.; attendees can join via https://cortex.carboncopies.org.  
- A Twitch channel, https://www.twitch.tv/winningsequence, is live-streaming “digits of pi plays Pokémon,” an experiment in algorithmic game control using the digits of π as input.  
- Discussion alluded to a euphemistically worded paper that implies using a nuclear bomb as an X-ray source, constrained by international treaties.  
- James Cameron has reportedly joined the board of Stability AI (Stable Diffusion), according to a late-evening message.