# Key Points from IRC Discussions

• Kanzure shared information about Terraform (https://github.com/hashicorp/terraform), an infrastructure automation tool, noting they had successfully implemented Consul/Serf.

• The OpenWorm project was discussed as relocating to a new IRC channel, with Kanzure later sharing their PyOpenWorm GitHub repository (https://github.com/openworm/PyOpenWorm/tree/alpha0.5).

• A technical discussion covered scientific data visualization tools, specifically VTK (Visualization Toolkit) and Mayavi2, which nmz787 was considering implementing for 3D data visualization at work.

• Participants highlighted significant challenges in biology research, including the substantial salary disparity between biology ($30-40k) and tech industry positions ($200k), as well as issues with academic publishing and lab culture.

• Kanzure mentioned acquiring an ABI 391 DNA synthesizer and shared documentation resources (http://diyhpl.us/~bryan/papers2/DNA/abi391/ and https://www.takeitapart.com/guide/94), estimating associated chemical costs at $2-5k.

• The group discussed "DropBot," an open-source digital microfluidic control system from the University of Toronto (dropbot.utoronto.ca) that offers precise control of electrostatic driving force and instantaneous drop velocity measurement.

• A nano-sized light mill capable of driving a micro-sized disk was shared, with references to research published in Nature Nanotechnology about light-driven nanoscale plasmonic motors.