# Key Points from IRC Log

• Google announced a donation of 1 billion CPU hours to academics, potentially providing significant computing resources for research projects.

• Discussion of 3D printer options including the Cupcake CNC ($700), Prusa Mendel kits from MakerGear ($825) and TechZone ($799), with participants weighing cost versus build quality.

• A researcher shared development of a plasmid designed to make cloning in Bacillus subtilis easier, faster, and antibiotic-free, though it hadn't been tested yet.

• Backyard Brains demonstrated work with optogenetics, showing Drosophila EMG hooked up to /dev/audio with spikes triggered by UV light.

• Participants discussed CAD software development challenges, particularly implementing NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) and boolean operations in open source tools without relying on proprietary libraries.

• A paper on real-time observation of transcription initiation and elongation on endogenous yeast genes was shared, representing a breakthrough in observing polymerase activity in vivo.

• Several technical papers on surface intersection algorithms were discussed, including "An Efficient Surface Intersection Algorithm Based on Lower-Dimensional Formulation" and implementations in the Boole-1.1 software.