- A Nature paper on auditory training-induced plasticity (http://www.nature.com/srep/2014/141118/srep07089/pdf/srep07089.pdf) prompted speculation that Valproic acid might make such neural changes permanent.  
- Brain aging discussion highlighted thymic involution (from ~30 g at puberty to ~6 g by age 75) and intra-bone-marrow transplantation (IBM-BMT) as a potential systemic rejuvenation therapy.  
- Cryopreservation of one’s own young stem cells was proposed as a hedge against future immune rejection; males can bank sperm easily, whereas females face hormone-intensive egg-storage protocols.  
- A literature review concluded that healthy aging preserves total neuron counts but neurons shrink, glial numbers rise, grey-matter volume declines linearly, and white-matter loss accelerates after mid-life.  
- Curcumin was noted as the only non-caloric-restriction intervention shown to extend mouse lifespan (~10–12 %) and to preserve youthful cortical cell density in human post-mortem samples.  
- The “C. elegans connectome in Lego” AI project (http://www.i-programmer.info/news/105-artificial-intelligence/7985) was cited as an example of bottom-up whole-brain emulation efforts.  
- Current direct-to-consumer whole-genome sequencing costs ~US$2,500 via ScienceExchange Illumina services, but physician sign-off is still required, prompting discussion of gatekeeper circumvention.  
- Peatio (https://github.com/peatio/peatio) was highlighted as an open-source Rails-based crypto-exchange codebase, though participants warned against replicating its security or regulatory practices.  
- Wired’s hype around OpenTrons’ low-cost pipetting robots was criticized, yet the project’s open-source licensing was acknowledged as filling a long-standing void in community biology automation.