- Open-source medical-device security: the OpenAPS community is crowdsourcing a crack of the AES key protecting the OmniPod insulin-pump wireless protocol, offering hardware bounties to researchers, while another unnamed pump model has already been trivially compromised to run 300+ DIY closed-loop artificial-pancreas systems—raising both empowerment and life-safety questions.

- CRISPR technique updates circulated: kanzure linked the 2016 “Easi-CRISPR” preprint demonstrating efficient germline editing with long ssDNA donors, its 2017 follow-up, and a 2017 paper on high-efficiency editing of human hematopoietic stem cells via nano-silicon-blade delivery.

- A new optogenetic actuator, “Opto-T7RNAPs,” was highlighted—engineered blue-light-inducible T7 RNA polymerases offering >300-fold induction range, near-zero background in darkness, and sub-minute off-kinetics, enabling precise spatiotemporal gene-expression control (preprint: http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/05/23/140871).

- Heavy scientific-equipment logistics: members are self-moving a Focused Ion Beam microscope by renting a hydraulically-lowering trailer, 5,500-lb pallet jack, and manual winch after commercial riggers refused to quote, illustrating the cost and coordination barriers faced by grassroots labs.

- A 2014 gene-therapy wish-list resurfaced, cataloging desired targets such as HAS2 overexpression for cancer prevention, serving as a historical snapshot of community research priorities.

- Participants observed that large interdisciplinary open-source projects often stall because constant re-explanation of basics exhausts advanced contributors, suggesting that better knowledge organization and onboarding could prevent quiet project death.

- Personal lifelogging ambitions were discussed: catern aims to build Manfred-MacX-style integrated memory-capture tools to overcome the difficulty of searching one’s own IRC archives.

- kanzure noted that the covert Bitcoin mining optimization “ASICBoost” received an official CVE designation (CVE-2017-9230), marking its entry into formal security literature.