# Summary of IRC Discussion on December 14, 2016

* A user described experimenting with iron nanoparticles for imaging magnetic media (like floppy disks), with the goal of developing a method to decode data by taking microscope photos of disks with magnetic developer and processing the images algorithmically.

* Discussion of a vibrating vest technology that helps deaf people understand speech through tactile sensations, with references to a TED talk by David Eagleman on creating new sensory experiences.

* A low-cost logic analyzer (SUMP2) was shared that offers 96 MSPS for $22, featuring on-chip compression and USB streaming capabilities.

* RFCat, a tool for RF (radio frequency) exploration and hacking based on the CC1111 chip, was mentioned as an interesting device for wireless communications research.

* Several iGEM 2015 synthetic biology projects were highlighted, including yeast production of graphene, carbon nanotubes for DNA delivery, TdT-based DNA synthesis methods, a cheaper OpenPCR thermocycler, and a "bacterial tape recorder" that converts chemical inputs into DNA-based memory.