Cheap protocol for DNA extraction from agarose

I've just stumbled across this lovely paper from Sun et al., which reports a delightfully cheap and simple technique for extracting DNA from agarose gel slices.

Basically it's straightforward as poking a hole in the bottom of a .5 ml microcentrifuge tube, then nesting that inside a 1.5 ml tube. Some cotton or glass wool then goes in the bottom of the .5 ml tube, with your agarose slice containing your excised DNA band on top, and you just spin it through;  apparently the agarose gets retained on the wool and the aqueous phase gets spun to the lower compartment.

DNA gel extraction kits aren't the most expensive thing you're likely to buy (at about £1.50/$2 per tube), but if you do them occasionally it might be worth trying it out for the time saving: if you are doing lots regularly, it might well save a pretty penny.

3D print lab combs

Ever since I read Cory Doctorow's Makers, I've wanted a 3D printer (or at least access to one). Completely unjustifiably, I might add; I freely admit I just want to play, maybe make some custom lego bricks or miniatures of myself or something frivolous.

So it is with great excitement that I read stories like this, about people generating standard, useful lab equipment in house using 3D printers (Russel's blog is particularly relevant, as I could do with some custom mixed-width gel combs that aren't available commercially!).

Every story I read is one step closer to 3D printers becoming standard lab items, making me able to make my own unnecessary bits of plastic fun practical pieces of lab equipment cheaply and conveniently.

Update: I just did a quick search on Thingiverse (a repository of files and instructions to construct objects with tools like 3D printers and laser-cutters), and there already is a selection of electrophoresis parts available.

I have a feeling the DIYbio movement is going to run riot with this technology.