• A PubMed paper on prefrontal norepinephrine and motivational salience was circulated, sparking jokes about needing a “prefrontal drip” to get out of bed and highlighting interest in neurochemical motivation enhancement.

• Laser-induced photoacoustic waves were discussed as a mechanism for permeabilizing cell membranes, alongside the possibility of using infrared stimulation of auditory neurons without mechanical pressure waves.

• A curated, private mailing list (papers@postbiota.org) was highlighted for sharing recent high-impact papers, with an index of April 2009 threads made publicly viewable.

• Key papers circulated included single-cell transfection via AFM probes, light-activated gene expression via ribozymes, infrared neural stimulation, light-gated glutamate receptors, low-frequency ultrasound neuromodulation, and optogenetic control of fly wing-flapping via P2X2 channels.

• A proposal was floated to use three intersecting laser wavelengths for 3-D optogenetic targeting inside the brain by co-expressing wavelength-specific promoters.

• Real-time imaging papers showed AMPA receptor trafficking and exocytosis, clarifying that synaptic AMPA receptors turn over on a ~16-hour timescale while extrasynaptic receptors cycle rapidly.

• A cost-analysis claim that peer-review overhead exceeds simply giving every qualified researcher a baseline grant was debated, with links to blog coverage and Stephen Downes’ OLDaily.

• A 167-core AsAP chip (1.2 GHz, 7 W total) sparked discussion of memory-bandwidth bottlenecks and whether on-chip SRAM or novel interconnects could mitigate them.

• Low-cost DIY microfluidics using Sharpie-masked copper boards and ferric-chloride etching for electrowetting electrodes was presented, along with papers on scaling laws, pyrosequencing, and opto-electrowetting for droplet and cell sorting.

• Open-source vs. closed-source physics simulation was debated, with participants stressing that lack of source code in closed tools like RigidChips and X-Plane prevents deeper modification and redistribution.