- Hyperspectral imaging was introduced as a topic; participants discussed how each pixel carries a full spectrum and speculated that newer “scanning-less” sensors may rely on compressed-sensing techniques to avoid mechanical scanning.  
- Compressed sensing was explained as a signal-processing method that reconstructs sparse signals from under-sampled data, enabling faster or cheaper hyperspectral capture.  
- The open-source parametric CAD program SolveSpace (http://solvespace.com) was highlighted as an impressive, lightweight alternative to commercial solid-modeling tools.  
- Ongoing work on the verb NURBS library (https://github.com/pboyer/verb) was reviewed, focusing on its tessellation-based intersection pipeline and the planned roadmap for full B-rep support in version 3.0.0.  
- A Hacker News discussion about a “secret meeting” on creating a synthetic human genome was shared, prompting jokes about simply merging curated genetic-modification notes (http://diyhpl.us/wiki/genetic-modifications/) into the NCBI reference sequence.  
- Mouse life-extension data were cited: the alpha-glucosidase inhibitor acarbose reportedly increased median lifespan by 22 % and maximum lifespan by 11 % in NIA-tested male mice, with parallel human benefits on glycosylated hemoglobin and post-prandial glucose.  
- A pre-print paper (arXiv:1103.4649) proposing senescence as an adaptive rather than purely entropic process was circulated for comment.  
- PianoText, a system that maps linguistic input to piano-key chords for high-speed text entry via MIDI instruments, was demonstrated (http://annafeit.de/pianotext/), with discussion of extending it to organ pedals for stenographic use.  
- A technical paper on wireless power transfer (http://www.jpier.org/PIERM/pierm34/09.13101401.pdf) was linked, arguing that longitudinal EM-field components can yield 1/R power-drop behavior under specific coil geometries.