• Impalefection, a DNA-delivery method using DNA-coated nanofibers inserted into cells, was highlighted as a potentially scalable technique for large cell arrays.  
• A comparative review of protein-purification strategies noted that surface display alone cannot reach high purity, while intein/centrifugation protocols (e.g., CU-Boulder 2013 iGEM) can achieve ~50 % purity without chromatography.  
• The open-source cadnano2 (GitHub: sdouglas/cadnano2) was recommended as a modern alternative to the legacy NanoEngineer-1 molecular CAD tool, which was criticized for poor architecture and lack of user adoption.  
• A $500 Applied Biosystems 391 DNA/RNA synthesizer purchased on eBay will be torn down, documented, and possibly refurbished by the community, with plans to dump firmware and repaint the case.  
• Emotiv EPOC EEG headsets were discussed: raw data is locked behind a $750 “Research SDK,” but the open-source emokit project provides reverse-engineered access, though consumer-grade EEG remains noisy and limited.  
• A newly discovered mechanism in which neurons outsource damaged-mitochondria cleanup to neighboring glia was shared, pointing to novel insights in neural maintenance and longevity.  
• Participants explored repurposing Blu-ray optical hardware for microscopy, sharing the BD-RE 1.0 specification and debating the feasibility of extracting the objective lens for DIY imaging.  
• Dream-recording experiments (e.g., 2013 Japanese fMRI study) were questioned for their low-resolution reconstructions, prompting discussion on whether the bottleneck is neural understanding, data resolution, or measurement precision.