- A microfluidics simulation workflow was built using Elmer (ElmerGrid, ElmerFront, ElmerGUI) and Gmsh with OpenCASCADE support to mesh IGES/STEP CAD files; the team reduced a 60 MB result set for a 2-second run to a 130-coordinate “square-spiral” test case to verify boundary conditions and delta-density outputs.  
- Visualization bottlenecks were discussed: gnuplot choked on million-point 3-D data, prompting suggestions of VTK-based tools (ParaView, Mayavi) and plans to move rendering to a 30-monitor cluster accessed over SSH.  
- DIY biology and low-cost diagnostics came up when a participant asked which routine medical tests (weight, pulse, urine pH, blood glucose, microscopy of urine/saliva) can be done cheaply at home.  
- Nanopore DNA-sequencing techniques were debated; the channel’s wiki page and Wikipedia article on nanopore sequencing were updated with notes on threading whole strands through pores and measuring ionic current.  
- A link to the “Pink Army” open-source biotech project (uat2.iomer.com/PinkArmy) was shared as an example of community-driven therapeutic development.  
- Linux-on-the-desktop friction was live-logged: a new Ubuntu/Wubi install forgot its username, initramfs rescue prompts appeared, and Qt version mismatches (Qt3 vs Qt4) broke ElmerGUI compilation.  
- Hardware hacking trivia included the fact that the first in-car navigation system used a no-moving-parts fluidic gyroscope.  
- A 3-D-printed electric-car concept was floated (“print an EV”), quickly countered with advice to use scientific-visualization libraries instead of hobby printers for serious engineering.  
- Links to CCC 2007 “Building a Hacker Space” PDF and Japanese EPROM-apron photos were shared as hacker-culture references.