The Pentagon Wants to Make an Army of Virus-Spreading Insects. Scientists Are Concerned.

.livescience.com ^ | October 5, 2018 12:57pm ET | Brandon Specktor

[BenLurkin]

Pentagon research project called "Insect Allies." Funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the project involves using gene-editing techniques like CRISPR to infect insects with modified viruses that could help make America's crops more resilient. If a cornfield were hit by an unexpected drought or suddenly exposed to a pathogen, for example, Insect Allies might deploy an army of aphids carrying a genetically modified virus to slow the corn plant's growth rate.

According to the DARPA website, these "targeted therapies" could take effect in a single growing season, potentially protecting the American crop system from food security threats like disease, flooding, frost and even "threats introduced by state or non-state actors.

… Insect Allies, is less concerned. "Anytime you're developing a new and revolutionary technology, there is that potential for [both offensive and defensive] capability," Bextine told The Washington Post. "But that is not what we are doing. We are delivering positive traits to plants… We want to make sure we ensure food security, because food security is national security in our eyes."

Insect Allies is still in the early stages of development, and at least four U.S. colleges (Boyce Thompson Institute, Penn State University, The Ohio State University and the University of Texas at Austin)have received funding to carry out research. Bextine told The Washington Post that the project recently achieved its first milestone — testing whether an aphid could infect a stalk of corn with a designer virus that caused fluorescence. According to the Washington Post, "the corn glowed."

[Monkey Face]

Ping to #1020

[Monkey Face]

*oops!*

Ping to 1020

[ArGee]

I actually never watched much SNL. But there were a few iconic characters I learned about.

[ArGee]

What, have we started again?

Ah, well. Mood Gorning.

[ArGee]

Well, that was a very binary post number.

[NicknamedBob]

"Well, that was a very binary post number."

In other words, (so to speak);

2
4
8
16
32
64
128
256
512
1024

These are powers of two, and 1024 is the tenth power of two.

2^10=1024

[Silentgypsy]

Now that is a little darling! Thank you. Do the eyes look a little cloudy?

[Silentgypsy]

Reminiscent of the jackalope. A ca(n)taloupe? Nope, the loupe would be wolfy. I dunno.

[Silentgypsy]

G’day, y’all!

[ArGee]

You got it, Bob.

As they say, there are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary numbers, and those who don’t.

[ArGee]

You got it, Bob.

As they say, there are 10 kinds of people in the world. Those who understand binary numbers, and those who don’t.

[NicknamedBob]

Remember, back at the beginning of this, when two to the sixteenth was considered both unachievable and inadequate?

2
4
8
16
32
64
128
256
512
1024
2048
4096
8192
16384
32768
65536

65536 = 2^16

.

This may begin to indicate the problem with doubling the number of grains of rice sequentially on the sixty-four squares of a chessboard.

2^64 is a VERY big number.

[ArGee]

I remember when nobody would ever require more than 1MB of RAM.

Little did the speaker know that his own company would not be able to deliver a single program that small within 20 years.

[ArGee]

I can also remember doing some testing that required multiple boots of the new Compaq Systempro that had 256MB of RAM. The Compaq BIOS was still counting byte-by-byte on boot.

That was a looooooooooooong day.

[NoCmpromiz]

Oh lookie!

A winter weather advisory from 1pm tomorrow. Foreguesstimates are for 2 - 4 inches of solidified glowbull warmthing. Won’t stick though since the ground isn’t frozen yet. That and these early in season storms notoriously under perform.

Maybe I should fire up the Olde Deere just in case..

[NicknamedBob]

The difference between “snow” and inclement weather is a pane of glass and a cup of hot chocolate.

[Tax-chick]

Afternoon, all. Arrived at nice rental house on Fripp Island, SC. DP and kids have gone to see the beach while I get things squared away indoors. I saw a cat outside, gray with white feet. And a deer, a young male.

[ArGee]

DSNY just canceled alternate side parking for tomorrow to facilitate snow removal.

I don’t see that much in the foreguess, but DSNY has good foreguessers.

[ArGee]

Note to self: TC is OK checking the sex of a deer but not a cat. This. Means. Something.

[Monkey Face]

I’m glad to know you’re all OK. I’ve missed having you “handy” today! But I’m hoping your reunion with “Your Marine” is a good one! <3

This has been a strange day in a lot of ways, and the most recent is even stranger. However, it’s one of those “things.” The strangest is the call from Carlos, the ex-maintenance man, who, (according to Mike the OTHER ex- maintenance man) is not worthy of talking to. The reason Carlos isn’t here any more is not for any wrong-doing. It’s because his salary is higher than that of Frick and Frack. The stuff Mike told us when he showed up to gloat was pure BS, as I told Charlie it would be, when all came out in the wash.

Carlos is doing OK, and I was so happy to see his name show up on my caller ID! So I’ll have something to tell the ganag at the ramada in the morning. I know Charlie will be happy that I heard from Carlos, but before I tell anyone else, I’ll get Charlie’s input on it.

So text me if you’re bored! LOL!