# Summary of IRC Log from August 24, 2016

• A discussion about microfluidic design automation took place, with links shared to papers including "Towards Microfluidic Design Automation" (2016) and "Synthesis of Microfluidics Chips using SMT Solvers," suggesting that SMT solvers could be a key component in future microfluidic development environments.

• Significant attention was given to the discovery of an exoplanet around Proxima Centauri, with users sharing the Nature article "A terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit around Proxima Centauri" and discussing potential methods for observation and exploration.

• Various interstellar travel concepts were discussed, including electrostatic solar sails that could potentially reach Proxima B in under 20 years, laser-propelled solar sails, and using the sun as a gravitational lens for communication with distant probes.

• Users shared information about Princeton's "OpenPiton" many-core parallel processor project, linking to technical papers and discussing FPGA development kits.

• A conversation about "compliant mechanisms" (flexures) referenced the 2013 "Handbook of Compliant Mechanisms," noting that flexures have significant advantages over sliding-contact mechanisms in efficiency, fabrication cost, wear lifetime, and precision, potentially making them central to nanoscale machine development.

• Several users discussed DIY spectrometer projects, with one user sharing code from an open-source spectrometer project and another showing progress on their own implementation.