# Key Points from IRC Log

• A paper on thermodynamic analysis of manufacturing processes was shared, with discussion of PDF viewer compatibility issues: http://heybryan.org/books/papers/Thermodynamic%20Analysis%20of%20Resources%20Used%20in%20Manufacturing%20Processes%20-%20Gutowski%20-%202009.pdf

• Discussion of MIT becoming the first university to commit to making faculty research papers publicly available, ahead of partial policies at Stanford and Harvard.

• Conversation about microfluidic DNA synthesis technology, with shared resources at http://heybryan.org/books/papers/microfluidics/synthesis/ and discussion of polymerase-based DNA synthesis methods.

• Reference to a new DNA sequencing technique using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) or atomic force microscopy (AFM) to measure hydrogen bonding in base pairs, with a paper shared: http://heybryan.org/books/papers/Tunnelling%20readout%20of%20hydrogen-bonding-based%20recognition.pdf

• Brief discussion of the Cosmic Engineers mailing list, noting criticism of the group's tendency to "retreat to simulations" rather than focusing on practical self-sufficiency.

• Mention of BOINC distributed computing and "Transhumanism@home" as a collection of transhumanist BOINC teams for volunteer computing projects.