- A $49.5 k bench-top DNA synthesizer (SGI-DNA BioXp 3200) was debated as the first sub-$50 k automated gene-synthesizer, but participants questioned whether its mandatory cloud interface and real-time web monitoring justify a 100× price increase over prior open-hardware options.  
- Transcriptic’s “cloud lab” model was dissected: the ban on conditional logic in protocols is a deliberate design choice to simplify validation, prevent contamination, and allow algorithmic experiment refactoring and resource scheduling rather than expose a generic VM to users.  
- A teardown of an older DNA synthesizer was completed and documented on takeitapart.com; the Z80-based controller, PROM firmware, valve-driver circuits, and PVC plumbing were identified, with offers to dump the EPROMs for further reverse engineering.  
- A Cell paper (DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2015.01.041) was highlighted for showing that the human-specific enhancer HARE5 accelerates neural-progenitor cell cycling and enlarges the mouse cortex by 12 %, offering a concrete genetic handle on human corticogenesis.  
- Participants proposed repurposing hard-disk voice-coil actuators as ultra-smooth, laser-steered galvos for micro-scale photolithography or microinjection systems, and offered sub-10 µm pulled-glass pipettes to anyone willing to work on microinjection.  
- A compact “Flow” honey-extraction frame (honeyflow.com) was analyzed: rotating plastic comb halves let honey drain out of the hive without removing frames, cutting labor, bee mortality, and contamination; participants brainstormed non-invasive monitoring with RFID bee-counters, capacitive hive-mass sensors, and computer-vision inspection.  
- Insect bioproduction ideas included using giant crickets or engineered hornworms as high-turnover factories for recombinant proteins, venoms, or metal-binding peptides for seawater “bio-mining”; venom expression was favored over silk or honey because secretion is already specialized and easily harvested.  
- An inventory-tracking wish-list emerged: low-cost passive UHF RFID tags (~$0.05) plus networked scales/readers to log who took which tool or how many SMT resistors remain; no turnkey hackerspace solution yet exists.