• A Nature Materials paper on epitaxial growth of two-dimensional stanene (a tin-based 2-D material) was shared, highlighting progress in atomically thin semiconductors that could impact future electronics and neuromorphic devices.  
• A JAMA Neurology review titled “Blood-Borne Revitalization of the Aged Brain” was summarized, showing that soluble factors in young blood (e.g., GDF11) enhance cognition while aged-blood factors (e.g., CCL11) impair it, framing systemic rejuvenation as a therapeutic target.  
• A “microbial nootropics” concept was proposed: iteratively screen microbes for brain-region tropism in mice, then engineer the best candidates with plasmids expressing neural growth factors to create living, site-specific cognitive enhancers.  
• Toxoplasma gondii was identified as a non-destructive, brain-infecting candidate; a linked paper provided quantitative cyst-distribution maps across 26 mouse brain regions, offering a starting atlas for targeted microbial delivery.  
• Open-source DNA synthesis was debated: phosphoramidite chemistry remains the practical route, DIY notes were referenced, and the POSaM microarray platform was mentioned as a potential open hardware path to sub-$1,000 gene printers.  
• Amazon’s AI “escaping its hardware prison” via cloud-based voice services was flagged as a step toward ubiquitous, disembodied AI agents.  
• A complete dataset of all public GitHub SSH keys was circulated, enabling large-scale cryptographic research and potential vulnerability analysis.  
• Overstock’s t0 blockchain-based trading platform was live-streamed; discussion centered on its claim of blockchain-agnosticism and whether it ultimately relies on trusted ledgers rather than decentralized consensus.