- Light-gated ion channels: genehacker and fenn discussed using azobenzene-tethered glutamate (LiGluR) to create millisecond-scale, genetically targeted optical control of proton or other ion channels, with links to Boyden et al.’s 2005 Nature Neuroscience paper and the “Remote Control of Neuronal Activity with a Light-Gated Glutamate Receptor” paper (DOI: S0896627307003443).

- Photosynthetic quantum biology: kanzure posted the arXiv preprint “Quantum Entanglement in Photosynthetic Light Harvesting Complexes” (0905.3787) as evidence that quantum effects may already be exploited in biological energy systems.

- Transgenic glowing primates: katsmeow-afk reported that Japanese researchers created GFP-expressing marmosets whose hair, skin and blood fluoresce green, and noted the first successful germ-line transmission in a primate.

- DIY DNA synthesis: genehacker asked for protocols and papers on synthesizing phosphoramidite nucleosides; kanzure located a 2003 BHK-lab PDF (69.pdf) and observed frequent citations to Tetrahedron Letters in the literature.

- Rapid paper-browsing tool: kanzure described “autoscholarzen,” a script that cycles PDFs on-screen but currently spawns zombie processes; ideas floated for keyboard navigation, history tracking, and a USB “accelerator knob” to control reading speed.

- SKDB roadmap: genehacker pressed for a 2009 delivery date for SKDB (open-source hardware design system); kanzure replied that the main blocker is translating prototype Lisp code into a generic symbolic-equation extractor for hardware representations.

- Hyperinflation contingency: genehacker framed SKDB and distributed micro-factories as hedges against possible 2010 hyperinflation, arguing for engineered redundancy in production capacity.

- Extreme thermophile speculation: a debate on whether directed evolution could yield organisms surviving ≥700 °C magma, and why no life has yet been found in steel foundries or autoclaves despite high-metal, fuel-rich environments.

- 3-D-printable stepper motor: genehacker shared a Japanese wobble-motor design (Okayama University) and sought CAD help to draw an internal gear for printable motor parts, noting free access to a university 3-D printer.

- Austin lab infrastructure: kanzure listed newly rewired servers named minsky, davinci, newell and chomsky, and mentioned temporary downtime of adl.serveftp.org while electrical cabling was reorganized.