- A Science Advances paper on “electronic plants” (http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/10/e1501136) was circulated, showcasing the nascent field of plant-based bio-electronics and its potential for integrating living systems with circuitry.  
- A GWAS pre-print (http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/11/20/032417) identifying nine genetic loci linked to neuroticism in >106 000 individuals was shared, highlighting large-scale psychiatric genomics efforts.  
- Channel members generated 7-year (2008-2015) IRC heat-map visualizations at 1-minute resolution, revealing pronounced daily and seasonal activity patterns; log-scale color mapping was implemented to handle extreme text bursts.  
- Log-parsing artifacts were debugged, leading to improved timestamp ordering, recalibrated visualizations, and open release of updated PNGs and the Python script textmass.py.  
- Future log-mining proposals included keyword-specific heat-maps, concept-intersection mining (e.g., “microfluidics + cheese”), automated WordNet hypernym tagging, and creation of a curated technology index and sci-fi reading list extracted from the archives.  
- Marketing strategy for the transfection reagent Fugene HD was debated, with consensus favoring targeted ads, partnerships with community labs (IndieBio, Genspace, Counter Culture Labs), and funnel-based email campaigns over simple forum posts.  
- A Hacker News comment about “open-source Jurassic Park DNA on GitHub” sparked debate on the dangers of oversimplified software metaphors in synthetic biology, cautioning that biological complexity can mislead newcomers.