- DNA origami is being pursued as a programmable “breadboard” for arranging antigens and fluorescent proteins, with proposals to encode bitmap images via interlocking DNA tiles and wavelet decomposition.  
- A diamond-based biosensor capable of real-time neuronal activity recording was highlighted (Ariano et al., 2008).  
- Open-source manufacturing tools discussed include the short-lived OpenMIS inventory system and the early-stage cxf2cnc.git CAM toolpath generator that outputs .nc files independent of EMC2.  
- A 1997 CIRAS report on flexible manufacturing networks—small firms pooling resources—was cited, alongside the observation that most RFQs/RFCs today still rely on e-mail or clunky web portals.  
- A brainstorming thread outlined a point-to-point UAV delivery service for high-value, low-mass goods (electronics, medicine), debating GPS vs. radio triangulation, parachutes vs. airbags vs. autogyro recovery, and FAA regulatory hurdles.  
- A biotech professional released a >$1 million, 3 000-part commercial instrument’s full data vault—solid models, schematics, source code, test plans, assembly instructions, purchasing specs—serving as a reference for large-scale open-hardware projects.  
- Google announced the shutdown of Google Research Datasets at the end of January 2009; datasets remain downloadable until then, and Google will ship hard drives for any data too large to fetch.  
- SBML.org’s community program repository was highlighted as a place to contribute small SBML scripts, with the channel considering submitting new tools to their Subversion repository.  
- The Gingery DIY machine-shop book series (60 MB zip) has been torrented, providing open access to complete manufacturing instructions for building machine tools from scratch.