Bobby is on the road this week, but we do hear from him briefly. There are some fascinating developments of late, including the development of 100x faster and much cheaper optical computing, biomimicry applied to making a painless needle and cheap non-clogging micro printer nozzles from a mosquito's probiscus, a fish filter for sifting out microplastics from your washing machine.  Meanwhile NASA has lofted a massive high altitude helium balloon into the Stratosphere above the Antarctic, to study the weather and to look for evidence of the elusive Dark Matter, yet to be seen physically. And a motherload of lithium has been discovered in a volcanic caldera on the Nevada Oregon border, enough to create Lithium based batteries for dozens of years, freeing us from the tyranny of other countries controlling the supply.  We conclude with a fascinating exoplanet discovery where the atmosphere potentially rains diamonds!  And Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and New Year to you!