• A Berkeley nanofluidic-transistor paper (http://nanowires.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/102.pdf) on “Electrostatic Control of Ions and Molecules” was circulated as relevant to future bio-interfaces and wet-lab automation.

• Discussion of possible contamination in The Odin’s DIY CRISPR kits surfaced on the diybio list; participants argued the samples had simply been stored improperly for months and suggested re-ordering or cross-border collaboration to bypass EU restrictions.

• Lightning Network was defended as production-ready: all three implementations (c-lightning, lnd, eclair) passed 75 cross-compatibility integration tests in mid-November, despite external “vaporware” claims.

• Sci-Hub’s ongoing domain seizures prompted sharing of multiple mirrors (.tw, .la, .hk), its Tor onion address (scihub22266oqcxt.onion), and custom DNS servers (80.82.77.83 / 80.82.77.84) to maintain access to pay-walled literature.

• China’s 2016–2020 Five-Year Plan (full PDF linked) was circulated for insights into state-level biotech and AI priorities; participants joked it lacked explicit mention of sexbots.

• A post-mortem on the Kickstarter “Glowing Plants” project was shared, noting key staff had already left for companies such as Gen9 or Twist, underscoring the difficulty of consumer synthetic-biology products.

• OpenTrons was highlighted as actively hiring; its lab-automation robots were spotted advertising on an AI podcast, and community members encouraged qualified candidates to apply.

• The ethics of withholding powerful technologies from amateur communities was floated as a potential funding topic in response to a new NSF “Engineering Biology” ethics call.