# Summary of IRC Log from December 29, 2016

• A research paper titled "Life at Low Copy Number: How Dendrites Manage with So Few mRNAs" was shared, discussing how mammalian dendrites operate with surprisingly few mRNA copies relative to the number of synapses, creating a situation where most synapses lack the necessary mRNAs for translation-dependent plasticity.

• The paper explores how dendritic arbors optimize limited mRNA resources, suggesting this scarcity creates stochasticity in plasticity induction that may allow dendrites to respond to novel inputs.

• A discussion about Intel debugging technology took place, with participants exploring the requirements for using a USB 3.0 A-A crossover debugging cable for hardware debugging purposes.

• There was debate about whether expensive software licensing (mentioned as costing nearly $5000 per year) was necessary for the debugging setup, or if only the cable and free software would suffice.

• One participant mentioned needing a PCIe USB 3.0 card for their desktop to experiment with the debugging technology.