# Key Points from #hplusroadmap IRC Discussion

• A reproducibility crisis in cancer research was highlighted, with only 11% (6 out of 53) of "landmark" cancer studies being successfully replicated, raising serious concerns about scientific reliability in this field.

• The "glowing plants" Kickstarter project that raised over $300,000 faced criticism for its vague technical details and questionable marketing, while revealing significant public interest in DIY synthetic biology projects.

• Participants debated the technical feasibility of creating genuinely luminescent plants, discussing whether the lux operon or luciferase/luciferin systems would be viable and whether plants would have sufficient metabolic energy to support bioluminescence.

• The U.S. State Department's demand to remove 3D-printable gun files from DEFCAD under International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) was discussed, noting that the files remained available through alternative channels like torrents and GitHub.

• Cambrian Genomics made an ambitious prediction of reducing DNA synthesis costs to $0.0001 per base pair by 2015, representing a potential breakthrough in genomic technology economics.

• The group explored innovative funding mechanisms for transhumanist projects, including Bitcoin-based prediction markets and financial instruments where people could "put money behind synthesis predictions."

• Issues of academic authorship were discussed, with suggestions for using steganographic watermarks in scientific images as a potential solution to attribution problems in collaborative research.