It's not meant to be taken literally. It implies everyone including those without a BS or Phd, can do science.

Not everything published includes open protocols. A lot of important protocols are patented. Only printing open protocols just means the most restrictive license for any work we will publish is a CC-BY-NC-SA.

There is no "Us vs. Them" mentality because everyone is invited. The entire purpose of the magazine is to help people realize that science is NOT a closed operation. And that it is acessible to "mere citizens". So I'm not sure why you think we are on different sides.

As for the gene samples, its actually a cool idea playing on the inter-connectabilityof biobricks. They are just card stock with the information of the biobrick printed on them like playing cards, and then a miniprep of the dna pipetted onto the card. Heres a picture.

P.s. I know how science works, I am in a Bio lab most every day ;)