Graphene is a fascinating 2D material from the viewpoint of both fundamental physics studies and applications. I will attempt to give a short update on the progress of the field in the last several years and discuss a few works in my lab in controlling spin, spin-orbit coupling and creating topological edge states in graphene and few-layer graphene. A dilute coverage of covalently bonded fluorine adatoms can drastically modify charge and potentially spin transport in graphene through the introduction of resonant impurity states and local spin-orbit coupling. These new properties are potentially useful in spintronic applications. Bilayer graphene possesses a band gap that is continuously tunable via an electric field from zero to a few hundred meV, the exploitation of which may lead to optoelectronic devices. Theory predicts a topological edge state at the line junction of two oppositely biased graphene. I will show experimental evidence of the edge state in a clean hexagonal Boron Nitride encapsulated, dual split gated bilayer graphene device.