- Balaji Srinivasan—then rumored as a possible Trump FDA pick—was discussed on Hacker News for his strong, long-standing criticism of the FDA’s regulatory model.  
- A deep dive into “young blood vs. old blood” research ensued, centering on Irina Conboy’s 2016 paper showing that a single heterochronic blood exchange rapidly suppresses neurogenesis and other tissue functions in young mice, implying old blood contains potent systemic inhibitors.  
- Participants debated the poor design of Ambrosia’s human “young plasma” trial—no placebo arm, $8 000 fee, self-reported outcomes—and noted that blood-bank records could allow patients to request younger donor blood for ordinary transfusions.  
- Links to key papers: “A single heterochronic blood exchange reveals rapid inhibition of multiple tissues by old blood” (PMC5121415), “Notch-mediated restoration of regenerative potential to aged muscle,” and a review on the Notch pathway in aging.  
- DIY electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) microfluidics was explored: GaudiLabs’ OpenDrop platform (11 V drive, HV507 high-voltage shift register, cheap Rain-X/foil dielectric) was highlighted, along with a $99 Cytonix FluoroPel coating and KiCad scripts for generating electrode matrices.  
- Kanzure circulated two canine-neuroscience papers: “Neural mechanisms for lexical processing in dogs” (Science 353) and “Voice-sensitive regions in the dog and human brain revealed by comparative fMRI” (Current Biology).  
- A wood-frog freeze-tolerance project seeking to sequence Rana sylvatica was noted; frustration was voiced over a two-year delay justified by waiting for Illumina HiSeq 3000/4000 instruments, despite modest cost savings.  
- The MIT 6.S094 lecture playlist “Deep Learning for Self-Driving Cars” was shared as an educational resource.  
- David Clark’s IETF credo—“We reject kings, presidents and voting. We believe in rough consensus and running code”—was quoted as a guiding ethos for open-transhumanist development.