- NanoEngineer-1, the $1 M/year 2004-2008 CAD package for atomically precise design, was open-sourced after Nanorex folded; the codebase is now offline, poorly structured (GUI/non-GUI entangled, few tests), and ripe for a rewrite that reuses its molecular-dynamics hooks to Gromacs, NanoHive, and NanoDynamics.  
- Participants debated the shift from Drexler-style mechanosynthesis to “proteins as molecular nanotechnology,” noting Drexler’s recent embrace of protein-based approaches while lamenting the lack of a vocal public advocate for this view.  
- Octopus chromatophores were proposed as a high-bandwidth bio-hybrid I/O interface: Backyard Brains demos show direct neural control of radial muscles that expand pigment sacs, enabling pixel-level addressability for future communication systems.  
- A speculative experiment was outlined to test mutant Toxoplasma gondii strains on large-brained species (especially octopuses) to study cognition-altering cyst loads, leveraging octopuses’ short breeding cycles and existing chromatophore signaling pathways.  
- A Cell Stem Cell paper (ScienceMag coverage) on chemical reprogramming of human skin cells to neurons without gene insertion sparked debate over whether small-molecule cocktails can match transcription-factor methods for safe, scalable cell therapies.  
- A wilderness PCR project successfully isolated Thermus aquaticus from a Canadian hot spring but failed to culture it at 70 °C without agitation; Paul Vanouse’s 30-minute video “Deep Woods PCR” documents the attempt as bio-art at the intersection of open science and performance.  
- Magneto-optical recycling of MiniDisc drives was suggested as a ready-made Kerr-effect microscope for visualizing magnetic domains on damaged hard-disk platters, with caution to use low laser power to avoid erasure.  
- A community-run MinION nanopore project was floated to sequence a human genome for under $1 k, countered by the provocative idea of exhuming and sequencing historically significant cadavers (e.g., Leibniz) to recover lost genomes.