- A Kickstarter campaign for an “Integrated Space Plan” poster was shared, aiming to visualize humanity’s long-term future in space.  
- A New Scientist article was circulated describing the repurposing of bubble wrap as an ultra-low-cost substrate for blood and bacterial diagnostic tests.  
- Aline Inc.’s rapid microfluidic prototyping service was discussed: $1,500–$5,000 per 10–30-part batch, 125 µm minimum channels, fluoropolymer options, and 3- to 5-day turnaround.  
- Participants weighed DIY spin-coating and etching against commercial prototyping, concluding that in-house fabrication is cheaper at scale despite higher upfront effort.  
- A friend’s familial cancer history prompted debate on whether to pursue whole-genome sequencing (~$1 k per 10× lane) versus 23andMe-style genotyping, with concerns about exhuming grandparents for DNA.  
- Practical bioinformatics advice was exchanged: BLAST is unsuitable for simple string matching; Needleman-Wunsch and Smith-Waterman implementations in Python (e.g., alevchuk’s pairwise-alignment repo) were recommended instead.  
- Octopart’s rate-limiting of scraping scripts led to frustration and consideration of embedding a full browser engine to bypass iframe security restrictions.  
- Keyboard ergonomics for mobile work were compared: Cherry MX Red, MacBook Pro, Dell XPS 15, and the ZAGGkeys FLEX Bluetooth keyboard/tablet stand were evaluated.  
- “Weird Al” Yankovic’s daily video releases were noted, with “FOIL” (a Lorde parody) explicitly referencing DIYbio and transhumanist themes.  
- Kerbal Space Program’s 64-bit update was celebrated as a major time sink for physics-simulation enthusiasts in the channel.