- A proposed X-Prize would reward the first demonstration of encoding and perfectly recalling an arbitrary 50-digit sequence, explicitly excluding savant techniques.  
- Discussion of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (launching Fall 2011 on an Atlas V) highlighted its Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) as a compact, long-lived power source.  
- The first metazoan (a loriciferan) discovered living in permanently anoxic deep-sea sediments was presented in BMC Biology; the finding is based on the absence of mitochondria and confirmed habitat chemistry.  
- Participants shared open-hardware links: a parametric timing pulley on Thingiverse, an Arduino-and-servo delta-robot video, and the OpenChord open-source guitar project.  
- Licensing debates on open-source hardware were noted at Adafruit’s forums, alongside coverage of Japan’s “Open Network Lab” as a Y-Combinator-style incubator for global hardware startups.  
- NASA TV was criticized for its two-minute delay and mundane visuals, prompting comparisons to more engaging private efforts like Bigelow Aerospace.  
- A half-serious proposal floated replacing the term “social” with “shared engineering knowledge database” to emphasize collaborative technical memory.