• A new batch of papers on bioreactor design using computational-fluid-dynamics (CFD) tools was collected and mirrored at http://heybryan.org/~bbishop/docs/bioreactor/; titles include “General hybrid multizonal-CFD approach for bioreactor modeling,” “Using OpenFOAM to estimate circulation-time distributions,” and “Dynamic simulation via orthogonal collocation on finite elements.”

• Discussion of open-source Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) as evolving into full laboratory ERP platforms, with criticism that the term “information management” understates the instrumentation and engineering scope.

• DIY genomics initiatives were surfaced: the $0 Genomics Project (genomics.org), the SourceForge “diyg” repository, and comparisons of 23andMe, deCODEme, and SNPedia for raw SNP data access.

• Boston Globe coverage of garage biohacking was circulated via BoingBoing and the diybio.org mailing list, prompting invitations to join the new #diybio IRC channel and talk to ex-IDT employee “maradydd” who is culturing bacteria at home.

• Stanford released its CS and robotics course materials for free, triggering a critique on the AGI mailing list of conflating “automating the economy” with “uploading for immortality,” dismissed as “soap-opera” discourse.

• Hexapod CNC robots were highlighted as a route to additive-manufacturing swarms able to print structures larger than themselves, with speculation about adding extruders and scaling to car-sized or transformer-style platforms.

• A nascent “wikipapers” concept was floated—wiki-based collaborative paper writing—contrasted with the under-utilized WikiCFP for conference calls-for-papers; suggestions included an “incoming” autodump page to lower contribution friction.

• Aubrey de Grey was noted to be recruiting new students for SENS anti-aging research; participants debated whether this was genuine outreach or “trolling for fresh minds.”