- A 2011 Science paper (Shibata et al., DOI 10.1126/science.1212003) showed that decoded-fMRI neurofeedback can induce specific early-visual-cortex activity patterns while subjects play a video game, improving performance on an unseen visual feature without ever presenting the stimulus; the effect is strongest when participants remain unaware of the training content, raising the possibility of extending the method to prefrontal circuits for working-memory enhancement, perhaps combined with tDCS.

- DIY muscle-enhancement efforts are focusing on myostatin inhibition, but one biohacker received a cease-and-desist letter from the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency over plans to test an unregulated myostatin-blocking construct; follistatin is proposed as a safer alternative, although myostatin’s role in clearing damaged fibers is noted as a risk.

- Health risks of carbon nanotubes were dissected: capped tubes can trigger length-dependent frustrated phagocytosis when mistaken for nutrients, whereas open-ended, hydrogen-terminated nanotubes may be less harmful.

- A practical acoustic-sensing concept uses an Android phone’s speaker, microphone, accelerometer, GPS, and magnetometer to perform 1-D sonar and map room dimensions in darkness; a related open-hardware idea replaces microphones with a lightweight reflective sheet and laser array to capture high-fidelity audio in any lighting condition.

- Open-science projects discussed include the OpenWorm Kickstarter (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/openworm/openworm-a-digital-organism-in-your-browser), the Stanford whole-cell Mycoplasma simulator (http://wholecellviz.stanford.edu), and SKDB (https://github.com/kanzure/skdb), an open-source hardware package-management system that models technology-dependency trees and multiple manufacturing routes for identical parts.

- A data-driven critique of drug pricing showed that imatinib rose from $30 k to $92 k per year and ponatinib costs $138 k, driving non-adherence; Novartis claims one-third of global imatinib is given free to >50 k low-income patients, but critics argue this “compassionate use” suppresses generic competition and keeps list prices high.

- Phage therapy remains stalled: a 2014 Clinical Infectious Diseases paper confirms the absence of human-trial data, clear regulatory pathways, and patent incentives, with an estimated $5 M per clinical trial cost; underground labs are unlikely to undercut $400 k/year antibody drugs because FDA approval barriers, insurance non-coverage, and pharma’s free-drug programs erode any business case.

- Participants proposed a “dead-man-switch” registry where patients denied costly drugs could log non-access, automatically publishing evidence upon death, and suggested mining SEC filings or newly released medical-ministry datasets to quantify unmet need.

- Lifestyle–biochemistry feedback loops were debated: raw vegan and paleo diets were credited with altering mood and worldview, while DIY GABA supplementation (per autoimmunethyroid.wordpress.com) was cited as a replicated self-experiment for bipolar symptom management.

- A call was made for low-cost brain imaging—specifically a portable SPECT scanner—to replace unscientific ADHD diagnostics, alongside skepticism that most medicated children are simply bored in school; psychedelics and fasting were compared as non-pharmacological routes to altered states, with “the master cleanse” juice fast likened to a low-dose LSD experience.