- A gigapixel microscopy method that repurposes a consumer flatbed scanner was highlighted (arXiv 1209.4045), and a university mechanical-engineering class demonstrated a low-cost maskless photolithography tool built from a rotating disc and laser diode (ME450 project PDF).  
- The channel compared open-source CAD engines: OpenCASCADE (≈1 M lines) and its Python wrapper python-occ were judged hard to maintain, whereas BRL-CAD (≈1 M core lines, 2.4 M with bundled libs) was considered more approachable, although its Python bindings still lack a live GUI.  
- Participants shared a complete Chinese translation of Apple’s Swift language documentation (numbbbbb’s GitHub) and criticized the Kickstarter “LazerBlade” laser cutter for its coarse 0.08–0.1 mm mechanical resolution.  
- Pay-walled research papers were distributed on demand via Paperbot, including a study on phagotrophic flagellates as a possible origin of multicellularity and a cancer-therapy paper (S1934590914001921).  
- Cancer-treatment discussion centered on dichloroacetate (DCA) and hyperforin/hypericin as broad-spectrum apoptosis inducers, with anecdotal canine data (n = 1) prompting skepticism due to increased bleeding.  
- A NASA/JPL concept proposes using Earth’s entire atmosphere as the objective lens of an ultra-high-resolution space telescope, documented in a 1998 technical report (http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/bitstream/2014/19082/1/98-0286.pdf).  
- Galaxy-cluster gravitational-lensing telescopes were discussed as a way to achieve effective apertures “bigger than a galaxy,” with references to the Hubble Frontier Fields campaign and its publications (http://frontierfields.org/, http://www.stsci.edu/hst/campaigns/frontier-fields/Publications).  
- Thread-based microfluidics research showed cotton or silk threads acting as microchannels for low-cost chemical synthesis (84 % yield inorganic, 72 % organic) and colorimetric detection of glucose and BSA in blood plasma (PMC3779262).  
- Fabrication techniques for SU-8 photoresist and PDMS microfluidics were detailed, including inkjet-printing SU-8/PDMS devices (RSC LOC 2013 paper) and a comprehensive SU-8 process guide (memscyclopedia.org/su8.html).  
- A “capillarics” paper introduced passive microfluidic circuit elements—capillary pumps, diodes, and switches—built from shaped paper or polymer channels without external power (Safavieh et al., Lab Chip 2013).