- A small-molecule photoswitch named AAQ (azobenzene-quaternary ammonium) was discussed; it binds to K⁺ channels and, when toggled with 380 nm or 500 nm light, can reversibly activate or silence retinal neurons, offering a potential therapy for retinal degeneration and detachment.  
- Participants explored using diamond-like carbon (DLC) coatings as electrical insulators and thermal conductors on aluminum hot-ends for high-temperature 3-D printers (≥ 350 °C) to prevent shorting; alternative materials such as aluminum nitride were also considered for its superior thermal conductivity.  
- A $399 desktop 3-D scanner using Kinect-like depth sensing was noted as now available at Staples, automatically generating STL or PLY files for rapid object digitization.  
- An arXiv paper proposing that lightning-triggered electroporation and electrofusion could drive natural horizontal gene transfer (HGT) among prokaryotes was shared as a novel evolutionary mechanism.  
- The BrainPort tongue-display unit (Wicab) was mentioned as an existing sensory-substitution device that enables spatial perception via electrotactile stimulation on the tongue, with examples of users rock-climbing while using it.  
- Discussion of open-access publishing economics questioned why elite journals such as eLife require multi-million-pound venture funding, contrasting it with more uniform s-expression approaches to symbolic math translation inspired by Mathematica and SICM.