• A speculative high-bandwidth neural interface was proposed: micro-electrodes bonded to the roots of tooth nerves could turn each tooth into a data port, offering a discreet, high-density pathway into the peripheral nervous system.

• The group converged on a practical protocol for preserving gel-filled pH electrodes—store them in 3 M KCl plus pH 4 buffer with a biocide (sodium azide or benzoate) to prevent biofilm and maintain glass-junction accuracy—resolving conflicting vendor instructions.

• An effort is under way to run the OpenWorm connectome on an embedded target that lacks a native C compiler; participants recommended the lightweight simulator cnrun and pointed to Intel Edison (dual-core 500 MHz Atom, 1 GB RAM, $50) as a suitable low-power host.

• Rhino 5.0 was identified as the de-facto standard for industrial NURBS modeling, while McNeel’s open-source OpenNURBS library was criticized for omitting robust surface-surface intersection code; a new open project nicknamed “lolcad” is re-implementing those missing algorithms in Python with full test coverage.

• The channel debated open-source CAD futures: ImplicitCAD stewardship was announced, FreeCAD was dismissed as unmaintainable legacy code, and users were steered toward PythonOCC or CadQuery for programmatic solid modeling, with Rhino ($140 edu) and Alibre (~$100) cited as affordable proprietary options.

• Intel BioSport wired earbuds (heart-rate via headphone jack, $150) were reviewed; users reported that the wireless version suffers from collar-wire breakage and Bluetooth dropouts.

• A mechanistic hypothesis was advanced that metabolic syndrome and autoimmune disorders stem from epithelial failure and oxidative stress, with inflammation acting as a protective buffer against sepsis and cancer.

• Historical trivia: the first USB flash drive patents date to 1999 (M-Systems/IBM), while solid-state storage roots trace back to 1956 PROM/EPROM used in ICBM targeting computers.