• A Nature editorial revealed that only 6 of 53 “landmark” pre-clinical cancer papers could be replicated, sparking debate on systemic flaws in drug-development standards and the reproducibility crisis in biomedical research.

• Defense Distributed’s DEFCAD repository of 3-D-printable gun files was removed from public download after a U.S. State Department ITAR export-control notice; the files persist via torrents (≈5 k seeders) and a GitHub mirror (maduce/defcad-repo), illustrating the tension between regulation and open-source distribution.

• The Glowing-Plant Kickstarter surpassed $300 k, prompting technical discussion on whether the team will use the bacterial lux operon (substrate-free light) or the firefly luciferin/luciferase system (requires feeding), with skepticism about metabolic load and Genome Compiler’s marketing claims.

• Cambrian Genomics publicly projected a 10,000-fold cost drop to $0.0001 per base-pair DNA synthesis by 2015, leading to proposals for Bitcoin-based prediction markets or derivatives as a novel funding mechanism for open biotech projects tied to synthesis-cost milestones.

• Participants circulated the Unlocking Technology Act (PDF), which would amend DMCA §1201 to legalize circumvention tools for non-infringing uses and explicitly permit cell-phone unlocking, framing it as a key open-technology policy initiative.

• Shodan (shodanhq.com) was praised as a searchable index of aggregated port-scan data, highlighting its value for security research and infrastructure mapping.

• A 300 k-record Equifax data dump (names, addresses, phone numbers, credit scores) was offered in-channel, underscoring the ongoing gray-market availability of sensitive consumer data.

• Discussion of open-science authorship ethics included a participant’s plan to embed steganographic watermarks in all future matplotlib figures after being omitted from a paper, alongside suggestions for crowd-sourced metrics to detect uncredited contributors.

• Practical crowdfunding advice emphasized that production quality and flashy videos outweigh scientific merit on Kickstarter; participants warned against “consultants” who promise fundraising success unless they offer guaranteed-raise contracts.