• A UNC study showing that non-coding “junk” DNA influences gene splicing sparked ridicule of the media’s “dark matter” label and renewed discussion of how regulatory regions shape splicing outcomes.  
• Participants debated a subscription-based open-science model that would pool user fees to buy bulk journal licenses, citing UC-system payments of $8.2 M/yr to Elsevier, $5 M to Wiley-Blackwell, and $3 M to Springer as evidence of leverage against publishers.  
• Grain- and legume-derived prolamines were argued to trigger CXCR3 activation and zonulin release, increasing intestinal permeability and systemic inflammation; the paleo, GAPS, and SCD diets were presented as interventions that anecdotally improve ulcerative colitis and other autoimmune conditions.  
• A small randomized crossover trial (n = 13, PMC2724493) showed that a Paleolithic diet improved cardiovascular risk factors in type-2 diabetics more than a standard diabetes diet, while anecdotal reports describe using nicotine via e-cigarettes to control ulcerative colitis by increasing colonic mucous secretion.  
• DIY longevity efforts were illustrated by Longecity’s crowdfunding attempt (~US$800 goal, only US$167 raised) to replicate the mouse C60-olive-oil lifespan study, highlighting grassroots interest in open-source life-extension experiments.  
• Commercial “stem-cell face-lift” procedures—harvesting autologous mesenchymal stem cells from fat, mixing them with calcium-hydroxyapatite fillers, and reinjecting—were criticized as pseudoscience that exploits the FDA’s autologous-tissue loophole and risks teratoma formation.  
• The only FDA-approved stem-cell therapy remains bone-marrow hematopoietic transplants for leukemia (~50 % mortality), though the CCR5-Δ32 donor case that cured both leukemia and HIV was noted as a landmark example.  
• CVE-2013-0156, a YAML deserialization flaw in Rails 2.x/3.x enabling remote code execution, was circulated along with Metasploit PoC code and a Heroku-specific privilege-escalation write-up, shifting the discussion to cybersecurity.