- nmz787 released an open-source sinusoidal microfluidic-mixer design in ExtOpenSCAD (https://github.com/nmz787/microfluidic-cad) and debated CAD workflow trade-offs—STL bloat at high resolution, STEP/SVG alternatives, and the need for derivative-based geometry to keep channel cross-sections constant.  
- News that Len Sassaman’s brain samples were preserved (Google Groups diy-bio thread) triggered discussion on the practical limits of emergency cryonics, sample size, and why suicide often precludes timely preservation.  
- Participants criticized current longevity funding as “a club, not an industry,” noting <12 companies and <$4 B market cap versus >$1 T biotech; kanzure advocated 100- to 10 000-year road-maps and 1000× cheaper molecular-biology tools as leverage.  
- Orbital fuel economics: LEO rocket fuel estimated at ~$40 k per gallon; debate over refueling satellites versus orbital tugs, plus non-rocket propulsion ideas—electrodynamic tethers, Hall-effect thrusters, and “geodynamic” ion drives using ambient LEO ions.  
- Asteroid-deflection brainstorm ranged from nuclear explosives to charging an asteroid with electrons or a particle beam so solar wind slowly alters its trajectory, alongside small gravity-tractor spacecraft.  
- Gamma-ray-burst mitigation: subterranean colonies deemed the only realistic countermeasure; atmospheric gamma absorbers or large-scale atmospheric charging judged impractical.  
- Early-childhood math education: community shared resources like LivingMath.net, “Introductory Calculus for Infants,” and “Quantum Physics for Babies” in response to claims that kids grasp higher math before arithmetic.  
- Cutting-edge photonics links: kragen’s Twitter thread on the optical Kerr effect and nmz787’s paper on terahertz metamaterials with “unnaturally high refractive index” via stacked H-shaped resonators.