- A $12.2 million NIH grant is funding a “Facebook for researchers” social-networking site for scientists, greeted with skepticism by the channel.  
- Tim__ reported that his RepRap is now reliably printing high-quality Mendel parts in PLA and is preparing to sell 200–1,000 lbs of bulk PLA filament; he also outlined plans for a 10,000 ft² combined plastics-extrusion facility and Grand Rapids hackerspace.  
- Discussion of RepRap replication logistics: ~2 weeks to print all plastic parts plus another 2 weeks for sourcing, electronics, and assembly, yielding a minimum one-month replication cycle.  
- Tim__ proposed creating a printable “construction kit” (Erector/Meccano-style) for rapid mechanical prototyping without custom CAD.  
- Hod Lipson was noted for not releasing source code; ybit plans to approach his collaborators.  
- ybit and kanzure debated web-design issues for the SKDB/omnifab site, including replacing image-based text with @font-face or SVG/VML for cross-browser typography.  
- kanzure circulated links to two 2010 engineering-design conferences (ASME IDETC/CIE and Gero’s DCC) as potential publication venues for SKDB-related work.  
- kanzure promoted the 3-Day Startup weekend in Austin and invited channel members to join its Google Group to advocate open-source hardware ideas.