• A HacDC team is prototyping a home-built 10⁻⁴ Torr vacuum chamber for microwave-CVD diamond-like carbon (DLC) coating on aluminum oxide, debating whether to join small aluminum parts via microwave-assisted SiC-induced Al₄C₃ formation or machine from a single block—no prior art exists for the proposed joining method.

• They plan to scavenge a roughing pump and turbo-molecular pump from donated lab gear and publish a full parts list so others can replicate the system for under a few hundred dollars.

• A parallel project aims to build a low-cost laser-sintering 3-D printer using 20–200 W 532 nm fiber lasers instead of CO₂ to achieve finer resolution and lower power draw, with a target build date next year.

• Channel members analyzed TorBroker (torbrokerge7zxgq.onion.to), a Tor-hidden “stock broker,” concluding that its anonymity could be broken by statistical correlation: an investigator could synchronize large orders on the site and then look for matching trades on public exchanges.

• Current human whole-genome sequencing was priced at ~US $3 k on Science Exchange but closer to $4–5 k for 35× coverage in practice; most vendors restrict sales to credentialed researchers, and Knome has pivoted to pure interpretation while waiting for further cost drops.

• NanoEngineer/NanoHive simulations of nanomechanical designs were reported to “explode” unless run within a narrow temperature window or with carefully tuned GROMACS parameters, highlighting present limits in desktop nanotech modeling.

• Maritime internet for seasteading was dismissed as inadequate—satellite links are too slow and no high-bandwidth, low-latency marine ISP options were identified.