- OpenDrop microfluidics platform: Two-part YouTube tutorial on applying hydrophobic coatings to the open-source OpenDrop digital microfluidics board was shared (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDuUhBvmfzw and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQGMmZwpI).  
- Material stability for precision optics: Discussion of why granite optical tables outperform plastic or cellulose pegboard—granite’s coefficient of thermal expansion is ~100× lower than plastics and ~10× lower than most metals, and cellulose can swell ~500 µm across a 1 m board for a 5 % RH change, introducing ~¼-wave optical error.  
- Tissue-engineered soft robot: Hackaday article highlighted a light-powered stingray-like swimmer built from optogenetically modified rat cardiomyocytes laminated to a gold “skeleton” and encapsulated in silicone, demonstrating bio-hybrid actuation (http://hackaday.com/2016/07/07/tissue-engineered-soft-robot-swims-like-a-stingray/).  
- Ultra-fast bacterial chassis: Vibrio natriegens noted for 10-minute doubling time, proposed as a rapid-expression host for synthetic biology.  
- Dip-pen nanolithography (DPN): Key advantage cited—feature size is force-independent, eliminating need for AFM-style feedback electronics when using robust SiN tips.  
- Bitcoin relay network optimization: Links to Bitcoin FIBRE project and Matt Corallo’s blog post on low-latency block propagation networks (http://bitcoinfibre.org/, http://bluematt.bitcoin.ninja/2016/07/07/relay-networks/).  
- 3-D printing titanium: Reference to “the bin of broken dreams” post-mortem on practical challenges of titanium additive manufacturing (http://pencerw.com/feed/2015/3/15/3d-printing-titanium-and-the-bin-of-broken-dreams).  
- Phage therapy update: Pherecydes Pharma’s PhagoBurn trial mentioned as ongoing bacteriophage-based treatment effort.