- A debate on sequencing nanofabrication capability: fltrz argued that building a micro-EDM (electro-discharge machining) system first is more practical because it would supply the jigs, micromanipulators and tooling needed to handle whatever nanoscale devices are later produced, whereas lsneff replied that his immediate goal is simply a low-cost AFM and that other capabilities can follow.  
- fltrz proposed using holographic imaging on a Raspberry Pi NoIR v2 camera plus GPU processing to obtain real-time focus-stacked images with effectively zero depth-of-field, eliminating the “circle of confusion” at shallow depths for mesoscale work.  
- Discussion of whether micro-EDM in a gaseous dielectric might generate soft X-rays: fltrz noted that if the mean free path of electrons is comparable to the electrode–workpiece gap, some electrons could traverse ballistically and emit low-energy X-rays.  
- lsneff shared Eric Drexler’s slide deck “200701_protein_engineering.pdf” (link: https://usercontent.irccloud-cdn.com/file/bnTr0cjW/200701_protein_engineering.pdf) on β-solenoid proteins; fltrz asked for clarification on the meaning of “orthogonality” in the context of protein binding-affinity matrices.  
- fltrz questioned academic peer-review incentives, wondering whether authors are implicitly expected to seed minor errors so that reviewers can demonstrate their value and the final paper appears more improved.  
- Historical and practical details on glass micropipette fabrication: participants recalled hand-pulling capillaries over a Bunsen burner, noted that commercial robotic pullers can reproducibly achieve 0.1 µm tips for ~US$500 second-hand, and discussed using multi-glass composites where one glass type is later dissolved to control inner/outer diameter ratios.