- A debate over embedded hardware for robotics compared a 600 MHz ARM board with 128 MB RAM to a 1.8 GHz Core2Duo with 1 GB RAM; fenn argued that SIMD capabilities and the new 1 GHz BeagleBoard with 512 MB RAM plus “alternative architecture goodies” matter more than raw clock speed, and criticized the requirement of “a screen” for a robot.  
- strages shared a YouTube link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UIoOVhxdMk) demonstrating a Sarrus linkage mechanism for mechanical linear motion, which ybit later thanked him for.  
- Fedora reported frustration that combining the p21 gene with the jellyfish Turritopsis (likely Turritopsis dohrnii, the “immortal jellyfish”) in planned research unexpectedly destroys the central nervous system, and asked the channel for prior work or genetic-simulation software for gene-splicing experiments.  
- kanzure promoted Hopper SDK (http://hoppersdk.com), an in-app bug-reporting tool he is developing, and sought feedback on Kartik’s “K-Prize” test page (http://kprize.wordpress.com/2010/07/05/test/).  
- dbolser asked for mailing lists focused on personal or human genomics; kanzure suggested the DIYbio list as the closest match.  
- jrayhawk noted that his Android phone ships with Debian pre-installed and runs MPD as a music server, while fenn mused about replacing Android with full Debian to achieve the same goal.  
- kanzure and ybit discussed the film “Limitless,” describing it as “Thank You for Smoking” for smart drugs, with ybit lamenting that the fictional nootropic wasn’t real modafinil and expressing a desire for easier street access to modafinil.