Posted on 10/06/2018 2:02:35 PM PDT by 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."
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Lol!
I agree. However, from the point of view of a non-Christian, it’s one thing to recognize a historical figure’s existence, but something else to assign that figure ultimate religious significance.
Well, at least not until Galatians was written.. ;-)
Yeah, about that calendar..
There is this persistent rumor that Herod the Great died - in 4 BC..
:-)
A smoked Camel tastes exactly like a dirty ash tray..
;-)
How are things in the land of snow?
Snow, what little remains, is concentrated on top of my mini-garden plot, mostly because that’s where all that settled on the porch and walk got shoveled. The yard is proving that it is really a colloidal suspension by oozing under foot as it is walked upon.
But then, that is what clay do.
(Temps have not been low enough to transform the water component of the colloid into its more solid state.. )
Thank you for your remarks regarding our newest member of our family
Prayers for you and yours
Thank you. Happy Wednesday!
Great kitteh! Great tagline!
Good morning. Happy Odinsday. Or Glad Onsdag, in Danish. (I was looking for Norse or Swedish, but Danish was as close as I could get.)
Charlie and Sylvia will be going to the laundromat today, so I’ll be staying home and getting some things done. I need to look at my lease and see what the rules are for vacating.
Now that the time is “here” I’m having a little trouble adjusting, but I’m thinking that will ease by Monday.
Good morning. I was warm last night and left a window open, so now it’s cold. The adult houseguest was kicked upstairs, giving me access to my life again. Now I just need to do all I would have done yesterday plus what I need to do today.
Re your move, one step at a time. Oil change. Nebulizer. A dinner with Charlie. Avoid complications if at all possible!
I’m glad to know the adult houseguest has been kicked upstairs, but I’m sorry you didn’t do those things yesterday that had to be done yesterday. Today will wear you out. Sorta. :o[
I have to go to Walmart and get the cash to transfer to the account I can write checks on and Jerry told me (second call to set up the appointment after getting the fees) that he couldn’t fit my car in until Monday. *sigh*
But the nebulizer will be here this morning, and the check will be in my hot little hand. Tomorrow I’ll make the mince pie and bake up some Rhodes dinner rolls. He’ll have dinner at his place and I’ll have mine here. My table is full. His place has a strange odor.
Whatever works for you. I have to run over to Walmart and get some things for tonight’s supper. We’re once again expecting to hear from the County Building Code Enforcement guy regarding inspecting our new furnace.
I’ve taken the vacuum upstairs, but I don’t want to use it while Jake is enjoying Sunbeam Time in his bed with the purple plush blanket with dinglebobs!
Kitten must have grown up on Arrakis, the dune planet.
Beautiful, isn’t he?
I just gave She Who a bathroom-cleaning assignment, in writing. When it’s done to my satisfaction, I may remember where I put the keys to the Avalon. I’m getting dotty, you know.
Indeed, now that I think of it! Its been a very long time since I read that book, and I think the Late Igor took it as part of his divorce settlement. He did things like that. But it’s OK.
I can get another copy. :o]
She Who is on her third try at completing part of the cleaning assignment to my satisfaction. Each time she says she’s finished, she has to wait while I get on with whatever I have underway before I check it. Cebu.
She says she has a meeting of the Japanese Culture Club at school later. I will ask the Adult Houseguest to drive her so that the car doesn’t wander off to parts unknown.
Thank you for gorgeous morning kitteh!
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