- OpenWetware user Jonathan Cline is publicly documenting a “Melaminometer” project on a wiki page, highlighting the tension between open science and inadvertent secrecy in DIY biology.  
- Len Sassaman, a cypherpunk and CodeCon co-founder, is now collaborating with Meredith’s startup Osogato, which aims to commercialize Support Vector Machine–based “query by example” technology for biological data.  
- A new web service at c-to-verilog.com offers automatic conversion of C programs into synthesizable Verilog modules for FPGA deployment, lowering the barrier to hardware acceleration of bioinformatics or other compute-intensive tasks.  
- Discussion of sugar-fueled rocketry leads to a proposed “sugar bioreactor” concept; gene recommends potassium perchlorate as an oxidizer but notes the need for exotic electrodes such as platinum or dimensionally stable anodes.  
- kanzure_ posts a concise risk-analysis essay (http://heybryan.org/risk.html) arguing that calls to restrict DIY genetic engineering on safety grounds ignore the underlying issue of resource scarcity rather than inherent danger.  
- Practical maker advice is exchanged: cleaning copper-clad boards thoroughly is critical for successful PCB toner-transfer fabrication, and new soldering irons may smoke briefly as manufacturing residues burn off.