• A 2014 paper on a 1536-well oligonucleotide synthesizer was shared, reporting $0.00277 per base, 1.53 errors per 717 bp, and 99.5 % coupling efficiency for strands up to 80 bases—cost still 2–3 orders of magnitude too high for large-scale use.

• Discussion of a “repetition-replacement enzyme” concept revealed a design problem: without distinct nucleotide types, the system cannot tell encoded repeats from decoded ones.

• A Frontiers in Neuroinformatics article on “Constructing Neuronal Network Models in Massively Parallel Environments” was linked, highlighting efforts to simulate large-scale brain networks on parallel hardware.

• PYNQ (Python productivity for Zynq) was mentioned as a Xilinx-based platform for FPGA-accelerated prototyping, with a preference voiced for the fully open-source iCE40 FPGA toolchain.

• Nanopore’s MinION sequencer was revisited; participants noted its requirement for continuous online connectivity for updates and telemetry, prompting criticism about vendor lock-in and data privacy.