- OpenPCR hacking debate: participants criticized the stock firmware’s SD-card script system and lack of bootloader, while Cathal Garvey’s Python rewrite (https://github.com/cathalgarvey/OpenPyCR) was judged to be papering over a hardware problem rather than replacing the control scheme.  
- A $15 k BOM for the open-source LH002 desktop liquid-handler was challenged; the group proposed cost-cutting via RepRap-style mechanics and cheaper encoders/steppers.  
- ThomasEgi released KiCad schematics for an electroporation pulse front-end and a constant-current tDCS driver, plus an ultra-low-noise mic-amp (<10 nV/√Hz) capable of sensing body electric fields at 5 mm.  
- The 9 TB, 832 000-ebook Library Genesis collection was highlighted as a single meta-torrent on The Pirate Bay, prompting discussion of mirroring strategies and the fragility of digital scientific archives.  
- A public 1 000-genome Ashkenazi-Jewish 23andMe dataset (ASHK.tar.gz) was mirrored at http://diyhpl.us/~bryan/irc/23andme/ASHK.tar.gz, alongside a Google spreadsheet cataloging other open genotype releases.  
- Turkheimer’s 2012 paper warning against over-interpreting small-effect GWAS hits for behavior (http://people.virginia.edu/~ent3c/papers2/Turkheimer%20GWAS%20EWAS%20Final.pdf) was circulated as a reality check on “smart-gene” mining.  
- fenn’s multi-year sleep/activity quantification (http://fennetic.net/sleep/cairo.html) showed magnesium supplementation reduced low-energy days, while his wearable-computing wish-list (http://fennetic.net/irc/cyberfenn/wearable_wishlist.html) called for a 4-quadrant Li-ion charger.  
- The stalled open-source microfluidic laser-cutter project was revisited: off-the-shelf cutters produced unusable PDMS micrographs, so a purpose-built device is still considered necessary.