- Bitcoin block-size debate: participants shared links to analyses of how the scaling dispute could cause Bitcoin to “fail” (medium.com/@sdaftuar, gendal.me, and two bitcoin-dev list posts) and noted the 2011-era posts by alonzotg on header-fetching sync ideas.  
- DIY biology lab economics: a community-maintained bill-of-materials (http://diyhpl.us/cgit/skdb/tree/doc/BOMs/diybio-equipment.yaml) prices a functional lab at US $1–20 k, with the caveat that cheaper gear “always breaks.”  
- Open-hardware DNA synthesis experiment: yashgaroth outlined a plan to test ligase-mediated assembly of 8–10-mer oligos using an ink-jet printer; kanzure offered to fund a dedicated technician if a suitable biologist can be hired.  
- Low-cost cell-culture strategy: discussion contrasted Pichia (yeast) versus human cell lines, noting that yeast needs only cheap defined media (yeast extract, tryptone, trace metals) while mammalian culture demands expensive hormone-supplemented media, slower growth, and stricter sterility.  
- Modular, mobile GMP labs: delinquentme linked two vendors (Biologics Modular and Germfree) that build cGMP-compliant biology labs inside shipping containers, enabling portable or “mobile bioweapon” deployment.  
- IP work-around for cell-line access: yashgaroth intends to create a shell company to purchase proprietary cell lines, destroy them after one year, or negotiate licensing—an explicit attempt to navigate restrictive patents in open-source biotech.  
- Hardware-hacking resources: chris_99 posted two 31C3 conference videos—“Hardware Attacks: Hacking Chips on the Very Cheap” and “Singing Capacitors and Whining Inductors”—as educational material for reverse-engineering and side-channel analysis.  
- JOVE publishing cost shock: an Hacker News comment claiming a US $20 k fee to publish a single JOVE video article was circulated as evidence of excessive paywalls in open science communication.