- The Human Genome Project-Write (HGP-Write) was dissected as a $250 M initiative; participants argued whether the critical path is external control of polymerases/enzymes or solving large-scale DNA-assembly bottlenecks, and they floated using the same infrastructure to synthesize billions of interacting proteins for deterministic molecular-nanotech systems.  
- Synthetic-biology priorities were contested: some pushed for direct human-genome upgrades (metabolism tweaks, sperm-flagella redesign), while others favored replacing entire cellular functions with engineered mechanical organelles or ghost synthetic B-cells that present antigens yet evade immune detection.  
- Open-source hardware projects showcased included BluBeam (a scanning-laser microscope) and a 3-D printer with magnetometer mapping to visualize magnetic fields; technical threads also covered pushing confocal resolution to 50–100 nm via 4Pi microscopy and calibrating spectrometer diffraction gratings with variable pinholes.  
- Neuroimaging links circulated: Duke Mouse Connectivity atlas, Cambridge functional-module renderings, and INRIA 2014 connectivity diagrams—together illustrating the current state of open, large-scale brain-wiring maps.  
- Cognitive-neuroscience findings shared: creative-language ability correlates with precuneus structure; pathological narcissism maps to reduced cortical thickness in right DLPFC, right IFG, left mPFC, and right post-central gyrus; posterior ventral cingulate enlargement predicts working-memory decline.  
- Ferret(connect)ome (ferretome.org) was introduced as an open, CoCoMac-style database for ferret architectonic and tract-tracing data, accompanied by a preprint on vertebrate evolutionary connectomics and the origins of the mammalian neocortex.