• A circulated list highlighted nine early-stage synthetic-biology start-ups, including projects to create allergen-free peanuts, engineer microbes for fragrance production, grow CO₂-consuming algae that excrete plastic precursors, and build a DNA-based diagnostic “computer” targeting neglected tropical diseases.

• The “Sinkhole” x86 hardware vulnerability (Black Hat 2015) was discussed: a legacy ring-bus circuit still present in modern CPUs enables privilege escalation and is effectively un-patchable in silicon, underscoring the need for security-by-design rather than post-hoc fixes.

• Participants debated the economic feasibility of formal verification for hardware designs, arguing that rigorous mathematical proofs must be integrated from the earliest architectural stages instead of relying on antivirus-style retrofits.

• Practical lab-supply sourcing advice was shared: Thermo Fisher was recommended as a less restrictive alternative to Sigma-Aldrich for chemical reagents, and Alibaba was noted as a viable source for iron nanoparticles.

• Open-source tools for embedded security research were linked: PySWD, a Python ARM Serial Wire Debug stack, and ScratchABit, a Python/IDAPython-compatible disassembler framework.

• Large-scale scientific data-exploration platforms were showcased via links to Battelle’s health-analytics visualizations and the Starlight information-visualization system.