- Debate over whether academic publishing is inherently classist: participants argue that paywalls and journal access fees restrict non-university-affiliated individuals from reading or publishing science, while defenders note that universities, not students, pay subscription costs.  
- Discussion of the “impact factor” trap: even though open-access journals such as PLoS exist, researchers still prefer high-impact closed venues like Nature because career incentives reward prestige over openness.  
- Proposal to abandon pre-publication peer review as the gatekeeper of “truth” and instead post papers on free repositories (e.g., Zenodo) so that open, post-publication critique and iterative revision can democratize science.  
- Report that 3 % of surveyed U.S. fertility clinics (6 of 190) admitted using pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to deliberately select embryos with disabilities; extrapolation suggests ~26 such children may already have been born.  
- Speculation that deafness or dwarfism genes are the most likely targets for intentional disability selection, with discussion of medical risks to dwarf mothers carrying average-sized babies.  
- Mention that certain forms of dwarfism are linked to lower cancer and diabetes incidence, tempered by shorter life expectancy and comorbidities such as spinal stenosis.  
- Exchange on exercise-induced esophageal permeability as a possible root cause of GERD rather than simple acid reflux, with literature pointers on intestinal permeability triggered by endurance exercise.  
- Link shared to Lex Fridman’s podcast interview with Michael Mina on rapid viral testing and the engineering mindset.  
- Google Groups thread circulated on protocols for isolating adipose-derived stem cells as an open-source biology project.