# Summary of IRC Log from April 30, 2016

• A discussion about Sci-Hub revealed that someone was running a "scraping" program during December 2015 holidays to download chemistry journal papers at high speeds, highlighting the challenges of accessing academic literature.

• Users discussed technical challenges with torrenting large scientific paper collections, noting that the Sci-Hub torrents (100GB each containing 100 files of 1GB each) have low bandwidth and may be blocking certain servers.

• A conversation about laser technology covered various types including chemical oxygen iodine lasers used by the military, free-electron lasers that can work in the RF spectrum, and masers (microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation).

• Users discussed the theoretical possibility of creating a computer with a single NAND gate plus fanout and delay-line elements, referencing research from Bell Labs in the 1990s.

• A technical discussion explored the potential for 3D printing optical computers using sodium silicate and silica gel, with questions about achieving optical transparency and controlled doping in the printed materials.

• The decline of MakerBot was noted with a link to a Hackaday article titled "The MakerBot Obituary," marking a significant moment in the commercial 3D printing industry.