• Open-source modeling & simulation: Participants are exploring Python bindings for OpenModelica and JModelica to compile Modelica models into shared libraries that can be imported via ctypes, with partial install notes posted at http://adl.serveftp.org/~bryan/install-openmodelica, and they see a need for similar Python wrappers to GNU units.

• Chemical informatics revival: There is renewed interest in PyDaylight, an object-oriented Python wrapper for the Daylight cheminformatics toolkit, alongside discussion of pym/libermate for automated MATLAB-to-Python translation.

• DIY DNA microarray synthesis: A proposal to repurpose a 405 nm Blu-ray laser as a maskless photolithography system for selectively deprotecting MeNPOC-protected nucleotides on a spinning disc was floated; genehacker highlighted the difficulty of sourcing photolabile protecting groups for purines and pyrimidines and shared a relevant Bayreuth thesis (http://opus.ub.uni-bayreuth.de/volltexte/2008/461/).

• Laboratory automation: Links to Perl code for controlling Tecan Genesis liquid-handling robots (http://jcline.svn.sourceforge.net/…/Genesis.pm) and simple journal-paper scrapers were circulated to accelerate DIY lab automation.

• CAD & design automation: The group is working on procedural CAD via Python bindings to Open CASCADE and on SKDB, an open-source hardware design kit intended to automate part assembly and serve as infrastructure for “downloadable hardware.”

• Transhumanist fabrication limits: Debate centers on whether RepRap/Mendel can ever achieve true self-replication; current efforts prioritize cost reduction over full replication, and the machines still cannot fabricate all of their own parts or work in materials beyond low-quality plastic.

• Alternative materials & backyard fabrication: Participants brainstorm molecular manufacturing, carbon-nanotube-producing biocatalysts, and feedstock-grown high-strength composites as ways to bypass conventional steel, while acknowledging neighbor objections to backyard investment-casting fumes and the difficulty of small-scale steelmaking.

• Personal fabrication spaces: Concrete plans include renovating a house and lot for a garage electronics lab and considering a farm site for metalworking and larger equipment, illustrating the community’s push toward distributed, personal-scale manufacturing.

• Human-enhancement experimentation: One participant scheduled a self-experiment with the wakefulness-promoting drug adrafinil (Olmifon), underscoring the channel’s culture of open, documented self-experimentation.