# Key Technical and Conceptual Points from #hplusroadmap IRC

• A custom water-cooled 3D printer hotend was developed over four months, featuring low thermal mass and a fine-pitched thermal gradient that enables printing high-temperature materials (up to 500°C) like polycarbonate, with potential applications for aluminum, carbon nanotubes, and bioprinting.

• Permaculture dairy farming practices were discussed, highlighting how mixed-vegetation grazing allows animals to self-medicate by selecting specific plants, with supporting scientific papers on ethnopharmacology and nutritional quality of browse in forests.

• The BeagleBone Black ($45) was presented as an alternative to Raspberry Pi for DIY projects, with resources shared about its Programmable Real-time Unit (PRU) capabilities, including PyPRUSS and related tutorials.

• WikiHouse (www.wikihouse.cc) was discussed as an open-source construction system enabling anyone to design and CNC-mill houses, with one participant exploring CNC kit options to create wheeled tiny houses.

• Participants debated the comparative value of space exploration versus other frontiers like Antarctica, discussing the merits of "exploration of the entirely new, distribution of humanity, and being awesome."

• Technical discussions included pulse-density modulation and its relationship to biology, as well as methods for searching consumer genetic databases like 23andMe for specific genes and connecting them to scientific literature.