- A new PhantomJS/Node.js bridge named “phridge” (GitHub: peerigon/phridge) was introduced for headless-browser automation, expanding the open-source toolkit for web-scraping and testing workflows.

- Participants highlighted the International Laboratory for the Identification of Antibacterial Drugs (ILIAD) as a crowdsourced platform for natural-product screening to counter the pharmaceutical industry’s neglect of new antibiotics, framing it as a DIY-friendly route to antibiotic discovery.

- Phage therapy was debated as an under-utilized alternative to traditional antibiotics; the group speculated that a grey-market of DIY phage hackers could emerge if corporate phage treatments remain prohibitively expensive.

- A Springer paper claiming it is “unusual” for the DIYbio community to maintain multiple ethics codes was criticized; the channel argued that pluralistic ethics is normal and healthy for open science.

- A live H.264 stream from DESY’s European XFEL control room (http://zitflash1.desy.de/liveedge/_definst_/LiveStreams/liveHSIOS/playlist.m3u8) was shared as an example of real-time open science broadcasting, illustrating how high-energy physics facilities can engage the public.

- Practical limits of open-hardware lab gear were discussed: hobbyist microscope Z-stages may lack the precision needed for expensive 100× objectives, risking costly damage.

- A crowdsourced “fake journal subscription cost” database was proposed—if libraries won’t disclose real prices, publishing plausible estimates could pressure publishers toward transparency.

- A 2 W 445 nm/450 nm blue laser module on eBay was evaluated for photolithography; it was noted that most photoresists require only ~20 mW/cm², so the high-power module would need significant attenuation.

- A PCB-design strategy for future-proofing boards was shared: lay out pads that are the union of two package outlines (e.g., 1206 + 2512 resistors or 14- vs 18-pin ICs) so alternative or end-of-life parts can be swapped without respinning the board.

- The RAML RESTful API modeling language was critiqued for inconsistent schema design, specifically the “artist” resource appearing only under /songs/{songId} and not as a standalone model, highlighting limitations in current API-description standards.