• Participants explored stain-free, real-time DNA-band detection in electrophoresis gels, comparing phase-contrast microscopy, Schlieren optics, printed Fresnel/Zernike zone plates, and webcam image analysis as safer alternatives to ethidium-bromide staining.

• The Invitrogen “band extraction” gel comb was critiqued for imprecise timing assumptions; the group proposed automated pipetting arms, resistance-change sensors, and microcontroller logging to improve DNA recovery accuracy.

• Andrew Hessel announced that the Pink Army open-source breast-cancer therapeutics project (pinkarmy.org) is moving from planning to incorporation, seeking DIYbio/iGEM collaborators and a jurisdiction with favorable biotech regulations.

• Nuts & Volts magazine’s “Habitat for Hobbies” contest produced a $100 electronics/robotics workbench kit; winning BOMs and Forrest M. Mims’ endorsement were circulated as PDFs and forum posts.

• Robotboat aims to 3-D-print entire robotic ocean-surveillance hulls and sails with embedded actuators, while a London clinic now offers 3-D prints of unborn babies derived from ultrasound scans.

• A $10 laptop concept using an 80-character e-ink segment display and parasitic wheel-power for LED “pimped” rims was discussed, alongside TechShop Durham’s hidden inventory of unlisted fabrication equipment.

• The wiblocks project argued that truly open hardware cannot rely on closed-source EDA tools; open remix designs and a Google Group were shared to support fully open development workflows.

• The #hplusroadmap wiki was mirrored to the Cosmic Engineers public wiki (cosmeng.org) to preserve and broaden access to the channel’s accumulated research and roadmaps.