• Australian researchers are experimenting with ground-based lasers that use photon pressure and ablative impulse to de-orbit highly-reflective space debris, while channel participants question whether Kessler-syndrome cascade scenarios have ever been rigorously simulated.

• IBM’s proposal to anchor IoT device identities and micro-transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain is being examined as a template for decentralized machine-to-machine payments, and BitGo’s closed-source backend plus browser-side SJCL random-number generator are under scrutiny for security gaps.

• Princeton-style cold-boot DRAM attacks remain practical: chilling memory preserves AES keys for minutes, and the AES key-schedule’s redundancy acts like an error-correcting code that aids secret recovery.

• UC Davis won iGEM 2014 with modular CRISPR tools, while Cooper Union’s BIOMOD entry “DEMOS” outlines a microfluidic, template-free DNA oligo synthesizer that uses thermostable TdT and reversible 3′-blocked dNTPs; open hardware such as the Kickstarter “miniPCR” and 3-D-printed gel boxes are lowering entry barriers for community labs.

• A radical patent-reform proposal advocates abolishing technology-specific patents in favor of a flat, government-collected industry “tax” that turns infringement into a predictable revenue-sharing dispute, aiming to eliminate examination, trolling, and litigation uncertainty (detailed at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/openmanufacturing/vS4ju1VqXb0/jD_TZ8U47b4J).

• Participants argue that patents originated as Crown-issued monopolies unrelated to invention and that even “natural” genes involve substantial design work when synthesized de novo, challenging the slogan “genes are not inventions.”

• The open-source RamanPi project—a 3-D-printable Raspberry Pi–based Raman spectrometer—and BotQueue, an 800-hour open-source distributed 3-D-printing queue system, are highlighted as examples of innovation potentially stifled by current patent regimes.

• Electromagnetic fault injection attacks on secure hardware (paper: http://www.delaat.net/rp/2011-2012/p19/report.pdf) are introduced as a practical threat vector for DIY secure-device development.