- **Toxoplasma gondii as a behavior-modifying neuro-parasite**: Discussion centered on how T. gondii infection removes rats’ innate fear of cats and can even make cat urine sexually attractive, leading to predation and parasite reproduction; links to papers on “fatal attraction” and dopamine metabolism were shared.

- **Human implications of latent toxoplasmosis**: Cited studies showing ~30 % seroprevalence in humans, associations with slower reaction times, increased testosterone, more masculine facial features, and elevated risk or symptom intensity in schizophrenia.

- **Speculative engineering of Toxoplasma strains**: Participants mused about deliberately breeding parasite variants that enhance cognitive traits such as maze-solving ability in rats, with the idea of tracking performance gains across successive infections.

- **Mechanical surface waves during action potentials**: A newly published Nature Communications paper (doi:10.1038/ncomms7697) was highlighted, noting that physical surface waves accompany neuronal action potentials—evidence the group felt had been unduly delayed for ~60 years.

- **Teaching anecdote on source quality**: A cryptography instructor lamented that after forbidding Bitcoin term-paper topics to avoid low-quality sources, students instead produced shallow reports on quantum computing drawn only from D-Wave press releases and popular media.