The most dangerous emerging weapons like armed autonomous drones, lethal robotic platforms, AI-targeted munitions are tightly coupled hybrids of software and hardware, which can be assembled from the open-source commons. The licenses governing that commons were not written for this threat. GPLv3 is strong copyleft, but software-only and use-neutral; CERN-OHL-S v2 reaches the physical product but is similarly use-neutral; and the ethical-source movement (Hippocratic, Do No Harm, etc.) has produced use-restricted licenses that are software-only and almost all non-copyleft. No published instrument simultaneously offers strong copyleft, cross-medium reach into the manufactured artifact, and an enforceable restriction on lethal use. This paper proposes such an instrument: a dual-licensing framework (GPL-HPC + CERN-OHL-S-HPC) that incorporates GPLv3 and CERN-OHL-Sv2 by reference and binds both with a single shared Human Protection Clause (HPC) prohibiting use of the covered Work, or any Product realized from it, in systems whose foreseeable purpose is to kill a human being. The clause enters each upstream through its own native additional-terms mechanism (GPLv3§7 ¶4 and CERN-OHL-Sv2 §7), and a scope-partitioning rule defeats predictable evasion by extraction. The restriction is deliberately narrowed to death rather than broad harm, exchanging scope for a binary, cross-culturally recognized line that maximizes adoption and minimizes vagueness objections. The article covers ethical necessity, comparison to ethical-source canon, analyzes enforceability and addresses evasion strategies. The HPC cannot make lethal robotics physically impossible; but, if widely adopted, it can make them legally impossible to build, sell, operate, or AI-generate code for within the commons they depend on.
Spark Assisted Chemical Engraving (SACE) is a promising advanced manufacturing technique for microstructural fabrication of non-conductive materials. Offering a cost-effective and high-precision solution, SACE has drawn significant attention in research laboratories to develop and optimize the process for industrial adoption. However, the complexity of the SACE process and the lack of an affordable, commercialized system setup have stopped more scientists from joining research on the topic. The construction of a stable six-degree-of-freedom (6-DOF) SACE system with real-time current signal feedback has not yet been realized. To facilitate future research within the SACE field, this work proposes a minimum viable setup at low-cost to operate the process properly.
Gravity-driven column chromatography is a widespread technique used across many disciplines, including chemistry, biosciences, geosciences, engineering, industry, and medicine. The purpose is to separate out specific (suites of) compounds from a mixed solution. A lack of commercially available or suitable racks means that many users resort to making their own custom racks for their research needs. Often, these can be inefficient in their use of valuable bench or fume-hood space, limiting the number of columns that can be run simultaneously and thus significantly reducing laboratory throughput over time. Furthermore, many do not have specialised vial holders, and misalignments between the vials and the end of the column can result in lost extracts, and increased analytical error in any subsequent data. Here we present an open-source design for a gravity-driven column chromatography rack and vial holders for which the component parts can be entirely laser-cut, or a combination of laser-cut and 3D printed, from materials of the user’s choice. These components can be assembled without the need for specialised tools and can be flat-packed for easy shipping and transport. The vial holders are constrained laterally, and embedded alignment features facilitate precise positioning of the column above the collection vial. This low-cost design is intended as a complementary alternative to existing robust metal systems and aims to improve efficiency and reduce sample loss for users of gravity-driven column chromatography.
While open source hardware has been recognized as a pillar of open science practices, it has not found its place in the scholarly communication system, yet. In this paper, we question what research hardware engineers would expect from a review and publication system dedicated to research hardware, and their putative motivation to publish in such a venue. Our analysis suggests that one of their main objectives is to find a readership and grow an inclusive community of contributors, producers and users around their project. They also appear interested in getting feedback on their work, in order to make the hardware better and learn during that process. The creation of a research output that is recognized by the academic system seems important both for their career and for the development of their community. In addition, they express wishes for a publication system that avoids financial barriers, is integrated in their hardware documentation workflow, recognize the work of every contributor, and would be pleasant or even fun to use. Importantly, a research hardware publication ecosystem should link archived and living versions of the hardware project and consider the project as a whole, providing documentation on both the hardware product and the hardware development processes. We are confident this analysis will help the research hardware community to further develop and adapt infrastructures for software and hardware publication.
Microscopy is a critical experimental tool in life sciences. However, when attempting to reproduce or scale-up a published method, researchers often meet difficulties in implementing specific protocols, often because they do not have full control over the hardware and software. We illustrate these challenges by demonstrating how we reproduced a single-cell fluorescence experiment from the literature. We describe how we leveraged Open-Source hardware and software tools to adapt the design of the original fluorescence microscope and the choices we made. Our modular approach gives researcher affordable tools to reproduce experimental setups and implement new protocols. It also gives a simple way to develop experiments with a persistent record of their prototype’s evolution, even at the developmental stage. We provide comprehensive guidance on building and calibrating the microscope hardware, implementing automation, and data analysis and storage methods. The highly modular Python software we introduce facilitate customization and reusability beyond microscopy, empowering researchers and engineers to adapt components for other scientific applications.
