- A NASA project lead is developing a remotely controllable machine-shop payload for extra-planetary missions, premised on shipping raw materials and machining parts on-site rather than launching redundant spares.  
- John Cumbers at NASA Ames is researching cold- and pressure-resistant microbes that could manufacture feedstocks (plastics, hydrazine, CO₂, O₂, H₂O) in space, complementing the “make it, don’t take it” philosophy.  
- A distributed “flash-mob construction” experiment was proposed: an SMS gateway tied to the SKDB open-hardware database will send location-specific instructions (e.g., “get flour”) so many people can cooperatively bake a cake without prior coordination.  
- London Hackspace has published open documentation for in-house PCB fabrication, including etching, drilling, and plating steps, aimed at lowering barriers to rapid electronics prototyping.  
- Buildlog.net hosts exhaustive open-source plans for a 40 W DIY laser cutter, with BOM, mechanical drawings, and electronics schematics released under permissive licenses.  
- Discussion of home biology regulations: a neuroscientist planning low-risk BSL-1 mammalian cell culture and LN₂ cryopreservation in a condo could find no clear guidance on zoning or HOA restrictions for such activities.  
- Visualization tools: Gephi, GraphViz, and Processing were recommended for generating dependency graphs to help managers visualize critical-path issues instead of using simple FIFO queues.  
- MIT’s Robust Aerial Navigation in GPS-Denied Environments video (CSAIL, 2009) was shared as an example of state-of-the-art SLAM and control algorithms for autonomous drones.