- 156 European neuroscientists publicly boycotted the Human Brain Project, refusing to apply for partnering-project funds and citing mismanagement and lack of transparency.  
- A Nature Neuroscience paper (doi:10.1038/nn.3752) on next-generation brain–computer interfaces was retrieved and discussed as a key reference for future BCI work.  
- The community debated legal routes for non-academic biohackers to obtain plasmids: Addgene requires a Material Transfer Agreement and 501(c)(3) nonprofit status, whereas IDT will synthesize sequences for anyone at a higher price.  
- Opentrons launched an open-source, <$2,000 liquid-handling robot for biology labs, moving from prototype to commercial availability in 2015; the GitHub repo and “lab-in-a-briefcase” kit were highlighted as democratizing lab automation.  
- Python 3.2’s Global Interpreter Lock received its largest overhaul since 1992, though participants noted it still ignores I/O priorities, limiting real-time performance gains.  
- Paywalled research papers—including Nature Biotechnology on DNA assembly (doi:10.1038/nbt.2786), Elsevier on biomaterials (doi:10.1016/j.nano.2012.02.014), and studies on sustainable drug development, optoelectronic phase-change films, clinical trial success rates, and nitric-oxide-releasing nanoparticles—were retrieved and mirrored via paperbot and diyhpl.us.  
- Participants identified blood–brain-barrier delivery of biologics as a major bottleneck, with promising concepts still relegated to second-tier research priorities.  
- A high-school student planning a medical-research/biotech degree asked about BBB techniques, illustrating early community engagement with advanced transhumanist topics.