- Foldscope, an origami-based paper microscope, was highlighted; the project’s FAQ states they are still deciding on an open-hardware license that balances mass deployment with sustainability.  
- A 2014 arXiv paper on Foldscope (1403.1211) was shared, positioning it alongside the group’s earlier “paperfuge” as ultra-low-cost lab hardware.  
- Discussion of Marvin Minsky’s role as inventor of confocal scanning microscopy surfaced, adding historical context to DIY microscopy efforts.  
- Links to PETA and PETRL (People for the Ethical Treatment of Reinforcement Learners) framed a debate on vegan-compatible materials, noting that traditional photographic film contains gelatin.  
- A commercial 100-element ultrasonic phased-array kit (SoundLazer) was reported as shipping, potentially useful for directional audio or haptics experiments.  
- A 1989 study on chronic CDP-choline in aging mice—showing altered striatal dopamine and acetylcholine receptors—was circulated as pharmacological data relevant to cognitive enhancement.  
- Python packaging frustrations were aired: install_requires does not accept wheel-only distributions, complicating dependency management for projects like python-bitcoinlib.  
- ImplicitCAD was critiqued for lacking mouse-driven geometry selection, constraint-based modeling, and access to generated geometry for downstream operations such as automatic chamfering.