- Open-source HPLC feasibility was debated: participants argued that sub-$10 k systems are possible by repurposing cheap column media (peanut butter, diatomaceous earth) and accepting lower resolution, while noting that precision pumps and pressure controllers remain the dominant cost drivers.

- Mineral bioavailability hacks: soaking nuts overnight in acidified whey or yogurt activates endogenous phytases, sharply reducing phytic acid and improving magnesium uptake; broader concern that modern diets are mineral-deficient due to both phytate-rich foods and soil depletion.

- Viral piezoelectric energy harvesting: a BBC article on genetically engineered M13 bacteriophage films that generate electricity under mechanical stress was shared as a route to self-powered nanodevices.

- Minimal-genome E. coli “biological operating system” project generated excitement as a synthetic-biology chassis; progress toward a stripped-down genome was noted as a milestone for open biotech.

- C60 longevity claims were critiqued in a text file (http://diyhpl.us/~bryan/papers2/longevity/2012-05-17-c60-claims.txt) summarizing and debunking recent fullerene life-extension assertions.

- Pittsburgh start-up pitch: Carnegie Mellon’s Alpha Lab accelerator (~$20 k for 3–7 % equity plus foundry access) was offered to accelerate microfluidic prototyping, but declined in favor of finishing an in-house gantry-based microfluidics platform running LinuxCNC.

- Open chromatography alternatives: affinity, ion-exchange, and thin-layer chromatography were highlighted as already-cheap options, while column cost (~$1–2 k) was deemed minor compared to precision pump and pressure-control hardware.

- Supplement quality critique: oxidized forms of omega-3, folic acid, and other nutrients in commercial multivitamins can worsen health outcomes; ancestral-food preparation (soaking, sprouting, fermenting) was advocated to reduce antinutrients.

- Allen Institute for Brain Science’s Mouse Brain Connectivity Atlas was spotlighted as a scalable, reproducible project using ~100 Cre-transgenic mouse lines to trace axonal projections across 300–500 brain locations, consolidating scattered neuroscience knowledge.

- Henry Markram’s Supercomputing 2011 talk on whole-mouse-brain simulation and his earlier “Augmenting Cognition” presentation were linked, prompting commentary on the technical ambition of the Blue Brain / Human Brain Project.