- Early photolithographic DNA-synthesis array: nmz787 linked a 2004 paper describing microwell-array chips that use photogenerated acid-catalyzed parallel oligonucleotide synthesis—an antecedent to the commercial Twist DNA foundry approach.  
- Definition of “death by old age” debated: participants questioned David Sinclair’s claim that only ~50 % of deaths are from biological aging, arguing that medical progress continually reclassifies terminal events (stroke, cancer, heart attack) so the category “aging” may be shrinking.  
- Conrad Waddington’s epigenetic landscape was highlighted as a conceptual tool for understanding cell-fate stability and reprogramming.  
- Open-source therapeutics: the Open Insulin Project (openinsulin.org) was shared as an example of community-driven bio-manufacturing of essential biologics.  
- Autism and intelligence relationship: kanzure posted Scott Alexander’s long-form survey “Autism and Intelligence: Much More Than You Wanted to Know” for nuanced data on the topic.  
- Designer-baby timeline: two mainstream articles (Yahoo, Futurism) were circulated claiming genetically edited human embryos could be used in IVF “within two years,” prompting implicit ethical discussion.  
- Performance tooling: kanzure shared Mitogen (mitogen.networkgenomics.com) and the Operon Ansible accelerator as ways to speed up large-scale infrastructure automation—relevant for DIY lab IT.  
- DIY FIB cost inquiry: heath asked for ballpark pricing on Thermo Fisher’s cheapest focused-ion-beam system, indicating interest in open-source semiconductor or micro-device fabrication.