• A prosthetic arm demonstrated by violinist Manami Ito uses a shoulder-actuated cable system: a wire running from the shoulder socket to the elbow retracts the forearm when the user moves the entire socket forward, enabling nuanced bow control.

• The ReSeq project (reseq.hackteria.org) documents how to repurpose retired Illumina HiSeq DNA sequencers as open, high-resolution fluorescence microscopes with precision stages and microfluidics, constrained mainly by the lack of open-source control software.

• A community teardown of the Illumina GAIIx and a Roche 454 GS FLX+ sequencer (linked Swarthmore blog and YouTube video) provides detailed hardware insights for DIY repurposing efforts.

• An independent DIY DNA-sequencer build is underway on Hackaday.io (project 160183), aiming for an open hardware nanopore or CMOS-based platform.

• DARPA’s SHIELD program was highlighted: it is developing microscopic “dielets” that can be embedded in integrated circuits to cryptographically authenticate chips and make counterfeiting economically unviable across the electronics supply chain.

• A Hacker News thread on sequencing reagent costs and sourcing was shared as a resource for low-budget biohackers trying to run or repurpose sequencing hardware.

• Discussion of MSP430 microcontroller firmware revealed that Energia’s default long start-up delay (to detect external crystals) frustrates developers, prompting calls for more sensible default configurations in open toolchains.